Chariots of Fire Page #5

Get it level.

That's it.

[DOGS BARKING]

Faster, come on.

Pass the car. Go on.

Go on. Go on. Go on. On, on!

Come on, now. Keep it up, come on.

Rhythm, Mr. Abrahams. Rhythm!

[CHOIR SINGING HYMN]

JENNIE:
Training, training, training.

All I ever hear is training.

Do you believe

in what we're doing here or not?

Look, Jennie, I'm sorry.

I was late. I apologize.

JENNIE:

That's all very well, Eric.

Look, I said I was sorry.

To me. It's not me you've insulted.

Away with your bother.

The Lord will not feel slighted

in the missing of a bus.

Yes, Eric, you missed a bus. But why?

Your mind's not with us anymore, son.

It's full of running, starting

and medals and pace.

Your head's so full of running

you've no room for standing still.

Jennie, Jennie, Jennie.

Don't fret yourself.

But I do fret myself, Eric.

I'm frightened for you.

I'm frightened for what

it all might do to you.

Ahem. Please, Mr. Liddell.

- Would you sign your name, please?

- Sure.

Pick yourself a pen.

- There you are.

- Thanks.

Come on, Jennie, let's go for a walk.

I've got something to say.

[WIND WHISTLING]

It's a sight and a half, isn't it, Jennie?

Auld Reekie. I'll be sad to leave it.

I've decided. I'm going back to China.

- The missionary service have accepted me.

- Oh, Eric!

Oh, I'm so pleased.

But I've got a lot of running to do first.

Jennie.

Jennie, you've got to understand.

I believe that God made me for a purpose.

For China.

But he also made me fast.

And when I run I feel his pleasure.

To give it up would be

to hold him in contempt.

You were right. It's not just fun.

To win is to honor him.

Jennie.

Jennie.

I've got my degree to get.

All that work.

Then there's Paris.

The Olympic Games.

There's just not enough of me.

I'm asking you to manage

the mission on your own until then.

Will you do that for me, Jennie?

SYBIL:

Andy, I've lost him. I can't reach him.

ANDY:

You will, old girl, you will.

SYBIL:

He says he needs to clear his mind of me.

He can't love me and say that.

[ANDY CLEARS THROAT]

Syb...

...the world's against him,

or so he believes.

Now he's got a chance to prove himself.

He can't see or hear anything

beyond that, not even you.

It's hard, I know,

but you've got to try and understand.

- Why should I?

- Because he's what you want, isn't he?

What about you, and Stallard,

and Aubrey? You're still the same.

- The chance is there for you, too. - To be

a fastest, yes, but not the fastest.

The fastest man ever before.

Heh.

Father's never going to learn

how to do that.

That's immortality.

Just think what that means

to a man like Harold.

To me the whole thing's fun.

I don't need that.

"Cast care aside" and all that. Heh.

But for Harold, it's a matter of life...

...and death.

- So all I can do is wait.

- Afraid so.

And pray like hell that he wins, right?

And if he doesn't?

You mustn't worry, old thing.

Now, I've never, ever seen

a man so smitten as our Harold.

It's just that I'm a little envious,

that's all.

Oh, Andy.

- Your parasol, Miss Gordon.

- Oh, thank you, Mildred.

Good luck tonight.

He's a damned fool.

I always thought the Irish

had all the luck.

- John, Savoy Theatre.

- Yes, sir.

Splendid.

[ENGINE REVS]

Mildred, would you get my spikes.

Ready, my lord.

Now, if I shed a drop I want to know.

Touch but not spill, what.

MASTER OF TRINITY:

Life slips by, Abrahams, life slips by.

But this fine old university...

...she offers some rare consolations,

wouldn't you say?

Beyond measure, sir.

I can take it, then,

that you would be acutely grieved...

...to discover that any behavior or action

on your part were causing her grief?

Naturally, sir, I would, deeply.

Good. I was sure of it.

Here in Cambridge, we've always

been proud of our athletic prowess.

We believe, we've always believed,

that our games...

...are indispensable in helping to complete

the education of an Englishman.

They create character...

...they foster courage,

honesty and leadership.

But most of all...

...an unassailable spirit of loyalty,

comradeship, and mutual responsibility.

Would you agree?

HAROLD:

Yes, sir. I would.

[BELL TOLLING]

Abrahams, there is a growing suspicion

in the bosom of this university...

...and I tell you this without

in any way decrying your achievements...

...in which we all rejoice...

...that in your enthusiasm for success...

...you have perhaps lost sight

of some of these ideals.

May I ask what form this disloyalty,

this betrayal, takes?

- Oh, hardly betrayal.

- The word "grief" was mentioned.

MASTER OF CAIUS:

It's said that you use a personal coach.

Mr. Mussabini, yes.

Is he an Italian?

HAROLD:
Of Italian extraction, yes.

- I see.

HAROLD:

But not all Italian.

- I'm relieved to hear it.

- He's half Arab.

Do we take it that you employ this

Mr. Masambini on a professional basis?

Sam Mussabini is the finest,

most advanced...

...clearest-thinking athletics coach

in the country.

I'm honored he considers me

worthy of his complete attention.

- Nevertheless, he is a professional.

- What else would he be? He's the best.

Oh, but there, Mr. Abrahams,

I'm afraid our paths diverge.

You see, this university believes

that the way of the amateur...

...is the only one to provide

satisfactory results.

I am an amateur.

You've been trained by a professional.

You've adopted a professional attitude.

For the past year,

you've concentrated wholly...

...on developing your own technique...

...in the headlong pursuit, may I suggest,

of individual glory.

Not a policy very conducive

to the fostering of esprit de corps.

I am a Cambridge man first and last.

I am an Englishman first and last.

What I have achieved, what I intend

to achieve, is for my family...

...my university, and my country.

And I bitterly resent

your suggesting otherwise.

Your aim is to win at all costs, is it not?

HAROLD:
At all costs, no.

But I do aim to win within the rules.

Perhaps you would rather

I play the gentleman and lost?

To playing the tradesman, yes.

MASTER OF TRINITY:

My dear boy, your approach has been...

...if I may say so, a little too plebeian.

You are the elite...

...and are therefore expected

to behave as such.

Thank you, sir...

...for your hospitality.

The evening has been most illuminating.

Good night to you, sir.

You know, gentlemen...

...you yearn for victory just as I do.

But achieved

with the apparent effortlessness of gods.

Yours are the archaic values

of the prep-school playground.

You deceive no one but yourselves.

I believe in the pursuit of excellence...

...and I'll carry the future with me.

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Well, there goes your Semite, Hugh.

A different god, a different mountaintop.

MAN 1:
Harold! Harold!

MAN 2:
Hey, Harold!

All of us, you, Henry,

Andy and me, we're all in.

You, 100 and 200, Andy, 400 and hurdles.

- Marvelous news.

- Henry the mile, and me the steeplechase.

Paris, here we come.

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