MovieChat Forums > Chariots of Fire (1982) Discussion > Brilliant script -- favorite lines

Brilliant script -- favorite lines

posted 13 years ago by angelofvic
17 replies | jump to latest

I can certainly understand why Colin Welland's brilliant and concise script won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Every word in it seems to sparkle and shine. I often remember some of the cleverer, or the more heartfelt and poignant, lines.

Such as:

"Smitten?! He's decapitated!"

and a little later:

"He's only just set eyes on her. I've worshipped her for years!"

And a tiny bit later:

"Monty, you'd better have my glass. I've a terrible feeling you're going to need it!"

What are your favorite lines?

Here is the first half of the movie's screenplay:

http://movie.subtitlr.com/subtitle/show/64828

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[–] VikyO 13 years ago

When Harold, Aubrey and Henry Stallard were standing in front of the Gilbert and Sullivan booth. Harold asks Stallard if he sang. His reply:

"Not on your life! They kicked me out of ring-a ring-a roses!"

Sam Mussambini to Harold: "Son, if you're good enough, I'll take you apart piece by bloody piece!" Harold to Sam: "Thank you" with a smile and handshake. Sam's look of suprise is classic!!

Eric shaking hands with a competitor runner at the finale: "I don't expect I'll see you till after the race!" And it takes the competitor a moment for this to sink in.

Remember, its not a rumor, its a video

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

And how about this:

Well, Mr. Rogers, Ratcliffe ... I ceased to be called "laddie" when I took up the King's commission. Is that clear?

Yes, Mr. ... Abrahams. Quite clear.

Thank you. I'd be obliged if you'd remember it.

And the look on Richard Griffiths' (the porter's) face!

and then:

What's your friend studying, then, son? Barrack-room law?

And the look on Nicholas Farrell's face! Priceless.

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[–] VikyO 13 years ago

Yeah, my take on Griffith's reaction was a mixture of "mocked obliging" and condesension, much like what an adult would give a child who had spoken up like that.

Also, when Griffiths says "One thing's for sure, with a name like Abrahams he won't be in the chapel choir now, will he?"

Nicholas' look is definitely "Oh boy, here we go again!"

I also like it when Sybil takes Harold to task after he initially lost to Eric: "If you don't run, you can't win. Give me a ring when you've sorted that one out!"

Remember, its not a rumor, its a video

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Yeah, that one with Sybil is good. And then the way that Sam appears when they are kissing! LOL. Great way the whole script has of tying everything together in a clever but meaningful way.
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[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

And this one goes without saying:

God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.

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[–] VikyO 13 years ago

Yes, and the line that goes with it:

So where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within.

Remember, its not a rumor, its a video

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Doesn't go with it sequentially, since the line you quoted is from the speech he gives in the rain, after a race, but both lines are re-quoted, together, at the end of the film, when Liddell is running and winning the Olympic race he was never meant to win and in fact hadn't been scheduled for. Brilliant scene.
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[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

The way that Harold's ethnicity is subtly compounded by accidental blurts by other characters:

- Do it for Israel!

- And a Kosher one [frankfurter] at that!

- Pig's feet! (what gets served to him at the fancy restaurant)

There are many more, especially from the two Cambridge masters, but I'll let those wait for another time.
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[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

[–] alecto1960 13 years ago

"Why running?"
"Why singing?"

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Love that!
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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] tookoo 12 years ago

[–] atomicstuffing 8 years ago

I really think it's one of the best screenplays I've heard. The OP is right to use the words "brilliant and concise."

I also can't think of many films that say so much with so few words. Robert Bolt's screenplay for Lawrence of Arabia comes to mind.

The sentences in CoF have so much clarity and weight to them. Just as "Chariots of Fire" references an old William Blake poem, there is something gracefully poetic about the dialogue in this film.

[–] angelofvic 8 years ago

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Yes, well said! Colin Welland was a brilliant screenwriter, and in addition something special seemed to be "guiding" him in the writing of this script. For instance, the fact that he didn't have the title of the film until by accident one day he was watching "Songs of Praise" on the BBC and they played "Jerusalem" which is a musical setting of the Blake poem:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/trivia?item=tr0790519

Of course, credit for the beautiful and inspirational speech which Liddell makes to the working-men's crowd after a race goes to Ian Charleson himself, who didn't like the overly stern and religious speech Welland had written and instead wrote the wonderful speech himself minutes before the scene was shot.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/trivia?item=tr0997615
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[–] J-No 8 years ago

"I believe God made me for a purpose...for China. But he also made me faaast."