Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981)

I'm not sure how fresh 1981 audiences found the spinning newspapers, training montages, overused sound advances, and witless dialogue ("So where does the power come from to see the race to its end?" "From within." For real??). But today, this dreary biopic comes off like an SNL parody. It's not even all that solid as a narrative; Harold and Sybil meet in one scene and they're already an item making heavy life decisions in the next? That's Oscar material? Yes. The only thing that could save it is amped-up homoeroticism and Top Gun surpassed it in that realm. As parables about the waning of empire go, I'll take Titanic.

Grade: C and dropping