Four Minutes

The breaking of the 4 minute mile was a milestone (pun intended) in competitive sports. Years later, sports fans remembered where they were when they heard of the achievement. At the time it occurred, it was considered THE transcendent sporting achievement. The movie tries to capture this sentiment primarily through the Christopher Plummer character's dialogue and the repeated comparisons to the Everest expedition. Unfortunately, however, the magnitude of the event doesn't come across to those of later generations. I didn't live during the time of Seabiscuit or Cinderella Man but both of those movies made me feel the drama and significance of what was happening. Four Minutes does not provide that type of emotional involvement. Another quibble is that Bannister's teammates (Brasher and Chataway) get short shrift. Both had very successful running careers that merit some mention at the end.

It is your typical sports film recalling (or loosely based upon historical events) where you know at some point the protagonist is going to triumph at some point - or why else would they make a feature film on his life?

Even though it follows the typical historical sports film steps and format, it is worth the two hours to watch it. I stayed up late one evening watching it until the end on ESPN Classic because it is enthralling. Roger Bannister is painted as a dedicated and intense young man who's focus can never be diverted. This is very likable and the viewer identifies with him and wants him to succeed; despite some moments of him being distant, unfriendly, and on occasion a bit pompous. Although a disclaimer at the beginning of the credits explains that this is based on fact, some fictitious moments have been added, I still was drawn in by the filmmaker's attempt to capture personality and character in Mr. Bannister. It left me curious if the filmmaker's interviewed and got to know the real Sir Roger Bannister before creating the film, and included some traits of him in the character in the film.

The film is also successful in creating interest in the rest of Sir Bannister's life after his running career. I'm sure there are dozens of books on the man's life, and after searching the IMDb I see other TV films and documentaries have been made (although these seem to be about the mile-running portion of his life). This film focuses on his dedication and skill at being a medical student; there indeed was curiosity raised about his life after sports, and how successful he became afterwards. Also left out of this film was how the Olympics influenced his life later on, if at all.

Bottom line, this film is very interesting and makes the viewer aware of human achievement, especially in the wake of WWII when the power of machine was never more apparent. I gave this an 8 out of 10, definitely worth your time.

A film with a lot of heart and fun for everyone! When someone achieves what seems to be the impossible, (Everest, the Moon, Four Minutes,) it opens the door for all of us, and that's it's appeal. Great performances, music and photography as well. Great stuff! I am a mile runner and found the races accurate and an inspiration. The four minute barrier was clearly a physiological brick wall and Bannister the doctor who ran for fun sets about examining the limits of human endurance. There aren't enough movies that celebrate human achievement, so congratulations to ESPN for backing this project. I wonder why it was left to an American network to celebrate the achievements of a British athlete?

Obviously, this is a sports movie so its going to be predictable. I really enjoyed this movie because the individual aspect of track and field makes it extremely hard to make an effective movie about it.

Roger Bannister's breaking four minutes for the first time is probably the single greatest event in track history. It was a huge mental barrier which stood for nearly 20 years as something man couldn't break. Al though this movie didn't perhaps focus on that as much as it could, it still got that point across well. It was also very good at showing the world of sport back then - very white, gentile, amateur and elite, especially in Britain. And Roger Bannister was someone who personified all of it. That was shown well in Four Minutes, with him struggling to choose between medicine and running. The only real discrepancy I noticed was that they changed who was coaching him (it was in reality Franz Stampfl, an Austrian).

Overall, this was a well-done movie which really covered all the bases in terms of the story of Roger Bannister. It showed who he was, what he was up against, and how he pulled it off.

I rather enjoyed this biopic (at least up until his sub-4 minute mile triumph) of the great English athlete Roger Bannister. While athletics is more difficult than most other sports to make exciting, I thought the director did a good job employing a variety of shots to convey the excitement of the races, in particular his historic run of 6th May 1954, although one senses the omission of his pivotal failure at the 1952 Olympics was likely due to budgetary constraints, with the race instead being played out on radio - possibly archive footage could have been utilised.

The concentration on Bannister's running exploits in an already shortish running-time means the characterisations are a little light, but Jamie McLachlan, besides his strong physical resemblance to Bannister, seems to catch the spirit of an initially single-minded loner who relents on himself to make friends with his co-athletes, the two Christophers Brasher and Chataway, fall for two girls in the film and most importantly accept the coaching and encouragement of aged, retired, wheelchair-bound coach, Archie Mason well played by Christopher Plummer, although I was disappointed to learn that this was an invented character, presumably for dramatic purposes, Bannister's real coach being a perfectly healthy Austrian.

Perhaps this production treats its subject too reverently and is likewise light on characterisation. I noticed that the source book entwined Bannister's ultimate achievement with Hillary's conquering of Everest, which would explain his numerous references but for me distracted from the story here.

Evocation of place and period (the rarified atmosphere of Oxford), although you'd never know the country at large was still on rations, while there's an attractive background score skilfully interwoven into the action. The acting is good too, especially Plummer who cleverly restrains himself from hamming it up and the recreation of the famous record- breaking race is rendered convincingly.

I found this on the whole a refreshing watch, no intruding profanity, sex or violence and certainly on a level with say, "Chariots Of Fire" in terms of entertainment.