Imagine Chariots of Fire without the haunting sounds of Vangelis' theme. It nearly happened...
It could be yesterday we first saw those young men, in their spattered sports whites, running along the beach, helped along by the electronic, thumping beats of the Greek composer's electric piano.
But, thirty years later, the film’s producer, David Puttnam (for 15 years, Lord Puttnam) tells HuffPostUK that the Greek composer’s stunning score that did so much to embed the film in fans’ hearts, nearly didn’t make it to the soundtrack.
Vangelis' score was an integral part of Chariots of Fire, but it nearly didn't make it to the soundtrack
“We knew we needed a contemporary score to bookend the film, to bring it up to date, and make people realise that these were real people we were talking about, not just a period drama,” remembers Puttnam.
“And the film was done, with Vangelis providing a perfectly fine piece of music – but he wasn’t satisfied. His own father had been an Olympian, and he wanted to provide something more elegiac as his own personal tribute to him.”
Nevertheless the film was literally in the can, and Puttnam and his wife enjoying a restaurant dinner, when a car screeched to a halt outside, and the Greek composer ran in, shouting ‘David, David, is it too late?’”
It pretty much was, but Vangelis persuaded Puttnam to sit in his car outside and listen to the new score…
“And the hairs went up on the back of my neck. I realised with a sinking feeling how much it was going to cost to strip the ends of the film and put it on, but I didn’t regret it.”
Many Olympic athletes have revealed they visualise the beginning of Chariots of Fire when they are running
Well, no. The film went on to receive four Oscars, cinema-goers drawn to the incredible noble telling of Britain’s 1924 Olympic running squad and their preparations and trials for the Paris Games.
Ben Cross played Jewish outsider Harold Abrahams, while the late Ian Charleson was Eric Liddell, a talented Scottish runner, whose devout faith meant he refused to run on a Sunday. In the end, both came home with medals.
Casting Cross was easy, remembers Puttnam. “He was playing a hoofer in Chicago on stage at the time, but he had a chippiness even then I knew would work.
But Charleson was a harder nut to crack. “I wanted him to play Liddell so badly that, over dinner, I couldn’t actually bear to ask him. And he couldn’t bear to ask me. So we sat there talking around the subject – it was like a gruesome dinner date.
“But what he did with the role was exceptional. I watched the film again this week and was very moved again by how he spoke.”
Ian Charleson played Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner equally talented and devout
While no great follower of athletics, like many people, Puttnam was always swayed by the romantic nature of the Olympics, particularly since his own father’s job was providing the coverage of the 1948 London Games.
And he can reflect today, on the eve of the next London Olympiad, on just what it is about Chariots of Fire that has made it such an enduring favourite for many, many people who have never reached for a pair of spikes.
“The film doesn’t shout at you, but its values are well located. It sounds pretentious, but I really believe after you’ve watched it, you feel, momentarily, like a better person.
“We all wish we had it in us to stand by our values and say no, so it’s an aspirational, wishful film. It’s about the power of no.”
Chariots of Fire is in UK cinemas again from 13 July, and, yes, it's completely, by far, my favourite sporting film. Is yours in our list below, or have we missed it? Have your say...