CATCH A CLASSIC
TCM Morning & Afternoon Movies: The Olympic Spirit
TCM, beginning at 5 a.m.
The 2024 Summer Olympics begin today, and Turner Classic Movies is offering a look back at previous Summer Games this morning and afternoon via several notable documentary films. Up first is The Olympic Games in Paris 1924 (1925), a roughly three-hour silent film that covers notable events and athletes at those games, including Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, who would later be famously dramatized in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. Next is Games of the XXI Olympiad (pictured), which runs about two hours and chronicles the 1976
Games that were held in Montreal, spotlighting legendary athletes like three-time gold-medal-winning Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and gold-medal-winning American decathlete Caitlyn Jenner (known at that time and competing in men’s events, prior to her gender transition, as Bruce Jenner). The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are the subject of the next documentary, director Bud Greenspan’s award-winning 16 Days of Glory (1985), which runs over 4 ½ hours and features footage of athletes such as Americans Carl Lewis (four-time gold medalist in track and field events) and Greg Louganis (two-time gold medalist in diving events). After that comes one of the most acclaimed Olympics documentaries, the Japanese film Tokyo Olympiad (1965), which, over its nearly three hours, not only captures events held at the 1964 Games in the title city but also weaves a rich, colorful and lovely dramatic tapestry while doing so. As today’s lineup concludes, we switch seasons with the halfhour 1980 short Olympic Spirit, which briefly chronicles the Winter Games that were held in Lake Placid, New York, notable for the United States’ “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union during the ice hockey tournament’s medal round.