The movie came and went too fast in Tucson for me to see it, and I finally got around to watching it this weekend.
Yes, I know Jim Ellis very well -- or did, in my younger years -- but I didn't know a whole lot about that first year in Philly, so I didn't have the truth to compare to the movie.
That said, it hit all the sport movie cliches. Whether or not the team stood on the blocks one by one and said "This is our house, coach!" when the other team "forfeited," or whether or not a girl could actually swim in boys races in 1974 is not the point. Many of the moments were not new to the movie, even though the sport was different. I think they really did fudge a lot of swimming facts, but as we all said, the regular public will not know.
Streamlines were not popular in the 1970s. Watch any clip of the 1976 Olympics for proof. And I wanted to believe that these swimmers could transform from floundering swimmers to be able to do what they did in the end in a space of a year, but I couldn't buy that. I've been in this sport for many years, and I've never, ever heard of a group of kids who had that kind of turnaround. But, again, that actually might have happened. I don't think Jim Ellis would have approved telling that part of the story if the bulk of it wasn't true.
It did make me proud, however, to see that the community supported the team, even driving to Baltimore for the final meet. That was the most touching thing in the whole movie.
The movie came and went too fast in Tucson for me to see it, and I finally got around to watching it this weekend.
Yes, I know Jim Ellis very well -- or did, in my younger years -- but I didn't know a whole lot about that first year in Philly, so I didn't have the truth to compare to the movie.
That said, it hit all the sport movie cliches. Whether or not the team stood on the blocks one by one and said "This is our house, coach!" when the other team "forfeited," or whether or not a girl could actually swim in boys races in 1974 is not the point. Many of the moments were not new to the movie, even though the sport was different. I think they really did fudge a lot of swimming facts, but as we all said, the regular public will not know.
Streamlines were not popular in the 1970s. Watch any clip of the 1976 Olympics for proof. And I wanted to believe that these swimmers could transform from floundering swimmers to be able to do what they did in the end in a space of a year, but I couldn't buy that. I've been in this sport for many years, and I've never, ever heard of a group of kids who had that kind of turnaround. But, again, that actually might have happened. I don't think Jim Ellis would have approved telling that part of the story if the bulk of it wasn't true.
It did make me proud, however, to see that the community supported the team, even driving to Baltimore for the final meet. That was the most touching thing in the whole movie.
