Cool Runnings turns 25 today, and to celebrate the story of the Jamaican bobsled team who dared enter the 1988 Winter Olympics, we're getting nostalgic.
You'll laugh, you'll cry. If you haven't seen this cult film, it's time. Here are the 10 best moments to get you started.
- Yul Brenner's pep talk. When baby of the group Junior is feeling the pressure, Yul's rallying cry is nothing short of legendary and let's face it, we could all use a hype man like him. Try it at home by facing a mirror and repeat: "I see PRIDE, I see POWER, I see a bad ass mother, who don't take no shit off of nobody."
- When they realise it's cold. Even know-it-all Yul is blindsided by the icy conditions when the Jamaican squad arrive at Calgary for the Winter Olympics. Cue about fifteen funny moments from Sanka who cannot. Handle. It.
- When Sanka's egg survives. Joker of the team Sanka is mocked by those pesky East Germans and even his own mates for his poultry good luck charm. So when the egg survives the hairy bobsleigh sesh, it's actually a bit emotional. (Fun fact: Jamaica's IRL bobsledder Marvin Dixon also brought a lucky egg with him to the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014. Life made.)
- The training montage. If you don't have a training montage that helpfully shows months of hard graft exercising in a handy two minute clip, are you actually even a warm-hearted, overcoming-adversity sport movie? No you're not.
- When Junior stands up to his dad. After that seminal pep talk from Yul and a little session practicing with his dog, Junior feels ready to face his dad to tell him he's going to be a bobsledder. We're convinced, but it doesn't work on his dad, who slaps him down, hard. Luckily for us, Junior disobeys him anyway and goes to follow his dream.
- Irv's speech to the Olympic baddies. When the team are disqualified on a technicality by Olympic officials to punish Irv for cheating in a past life, he storms the headquarters to make things right. A lesson to us all, people. And all the more poignant now the actor who plays Irv, John Candy (yes, AKA Uncle Buck) is no longer with us. Weeps.
- When Sanka line dances. Everyone likes a joiner-inner. While his friends act, er, cool, on the sidelines, good-time-guy Sanka gets stuck in with the weird white people dancing. Lord knows where he found that outfit.
- When Derice starts to "bobsled Jamaican." Long before we all worried about 'being authentic,' Sanka was flying the flag. When dedicated, hard-working Derice wants to copy the slick Swiss team's techniques, Sanka steps in and persuades his earnest captain to do it their way: Jamaican. And you really believe they're going to make it.
- The tragedy on the bend. The apex of the movie and arguably one of the most dramatic, heart-lurching moments of cinema history (yeah, we went there), is when, having worked so hard to get to the final race, the team's old sled lets them down. A wheel comes loose and it loses control on a bend, flipping over and leaving them meters short of the finish line. Waaaa.
- THE SLOW CLAP ENDING. The team lift the sled over their shoulders and walk across the finish line to rousing applause from spectators, the East German captain go all soft and start one of the best, non-sarky slow claps in film. Including Junior's cold-hearted dad. How you'll cry.
Topics: TV Entertainment