List of films about the sport of athletics
 |
The following is a list of films featuring thesport of athletics,includingtrack and field.
List[edit]
| Title | Year | Genre | Event(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College | 1927 | Comedy | Silent film withBuster Keatontrying multiple sports. | |
| Olympic Games | 1927 | Comedy | Our Gangchildren's version of the Olympics. | |
| Local Boy Makes Good | 1931 | Comedy | Sprints | Shy librarian (Joe E. Brown) joins a college track team to impress a girl. |
| Million Dollar Legs | 1932 | Comedy | Shot put | W. C. Fieldsfable of team from "Klopstokia" competing at the 1932 Summer Olympics. |
| A Million to One | 1937 | Drama | Decathlon | After his dad is stripped of an Olympic gold medal, Johnny Kent trains to win one. |
| The Bob Mathias Story | 1954 | Biographical | Decathlon | A look at career of two-time Olympic gold medalistBob Mathias. |
| Geordie | 1955 | Comedy | Hammer | Story of Scotsman out to get to the Summer Olympics. |
| It Happened in Athens | 1962 | Comedy | Marathon | Jayne Mansfieldin story set at 1896 Olympics in Greece. |
| The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner | 1962 | Drama | Distance running | Acclaimed film from UK starringTom Courtenay. |
| Billie | 1965 | Comedy | Sprints | Patty Dukeas a high school athlete who competes with boys. |
| Walk, Don't Run | 1966 | Comedy | Race walking | Final film ofCary Grant,set during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. |
| The Games | 1970 | Drama | Marathon | Ryan O'NealandMichael Crawfordas fictional distance runners. |
| The World's Greatest Athlete | 1973 | Comedy | Track | Disneytale of a jungle boy who becomes a star athlete. |
| The Loneliest Runner | 1976 | Drama | Marathon | Made for TV, written and directed byMichael Landon. |
| See How She Runs | 1978 | Drama | Marathon | Made for TV |
| Crossbar | 1979 | Drama | High Jump | Made for TV |
| The Jericho Mile | 1979 | Drama | Mile | Made for TV about a prisoner trying to qualify for the Olympics. |
| Our Winning Season | 1979 | Drama | Mile | Story of a high school senior during time of theVietnam War. |
| Running | 1979 | Drama | Marathon | Michael Douglasas fictional Olympic distance-running hopeful. |
| Goldengirl | 1979 | Sci-fi | Sprints | A scientifically enhanced girl (Susan Anton) trains for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. |
| A Shining Season | 1979 | Biographical | Running | True story ofJohn Baker,a girls' track coach dying of cancer. |
| Chariots of Fire | 1981 | Drama | Sprints | True story set during 1924 Olympics. FourAcademy Awards,including Best Picture. |
| Graduation Day | 1981 | Horror | Track | Slasher film about school's track athletes being murdered. |
| Personal Best | 1982 | Drama | Track | Mariel Hemingwayin fictional story of women's track and field. |
| Running Brave | 1983 | Drama | 10,000 m | Biographical film on the life and career ofBilly Mills,starringRobby Benson. |
| On the Edge | 1985 | Drama | Trail running | A distance runner (Bruce Dern) fights for amateurs' rights during California'sDipsea Race. |
| The Jesse Owens Story | 1985 | Biographical | Sprints, long jump | True story of legendary 1930s athleteJesse Owens,portrayed byDorian Harewood. |
| Cracked Up | 1987 | Drama | Track | A high school athlete has a serious problem with cocaine. |
| Run for Your Life | 1988 | Drama/Thriller | Marathon | Italian-British production starringDavid Carradine. |
| The Four Minute Mile | 1988 | Biographical | Mile | Record-breaking run ofRoger Bannister,made for television. |
| Across the Tracks | 1991 | Drama | Track | Brad PittandRick Schroederas brothers who compete in high school track and field. |
| Forrest Gump | 1994 | Comedy-drama | Running | Forrest Gump, among other things, runs repeatedly across the continental United States. |
| Pentathlon | 1994 | Thriller | Pentathlon | An East German pentathlete (Dolph Lundgren) defects to USA, where his former coach, now a neo-Nazi, finds and harasses him. |
| Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story | 1996 | Biographical | 100m H | True story of hardships and success of great U.S. athleteGail Devers. |
| Prefontaine | 1997 | Biographical | Running | True story of Oregon middle distance runnerSteve Prefontaine,played byJared Leto. |
| Without Limits | 1998 | Biographical | Running | Another version of life and death ofSteve Prefontaine,starringBilly Crudup. |
| Endurance | 1999 | Drama | Distance running | Biographical film aboutHaile Gebrselassie. |
| The Long Run | 2000 | Drama | Ultramarathon | Story of theComrades Marathon,an annual 55-mile foot race in South Africa. |
| Pumpkin | 2002 | Comedy | Christina Ricciin story about a developmentally challenged youth. | |
| Hitler's Pawn–The Margaret Lambert Story | 2004 | Documentary | High Jump | True story ofGretel Bergmann,kept out of 1936 Olympics for being Jewish, replaced by an athlete who turned out to be a man. Later dramatized inBerlin 36. |
| Miracle Run | 2004 | Family | Cross country | A young autistic boy (Zac Efron) becomes interested in cross-country running. |
| Four Minutes | 2005 | Biographical | Mile | Made for TV. Chronicles the successful quest ofRoger Bannisterto break the four-minute barrier in the mile. |
| The Ringer | 2005 | Comedy | Johnny Knoxvillebad-taste spoof ofSpecial Olympics. | |
| Saint Ralph | 2005 | Drama | Marathon | A 15-year-old boy attempts to run in the 1954Boston Marathon. |
| Terry | 2005 | Documentary | Road running | Made for TV. Documents the Marathon of Hope, 1980 attempt of cancer patient and amputeeTerry Foxto run across Canada. |
| Run Fatboy Run | 2007 | Romantic comedy | Marathon | David Schwimmer-directed comedy about an out-of-shape British man (Simon Pegg) who enters a marathon. |
| Spirit of the Marathon | 2007 | Documentary | Marathon | Follows six runners training for the2005 Chicago Marathon |
| Racing for Time | 2008 | Track | Made for TV. Based on a true story about youths in a correctional facility. | |
| Salute | 2008 | Documentary | Multiple events | Australian film looking back at 1968 Mexico City Olympics, focusing onPeter Norman,who stood alongsideTommie SmithandJohn Carlosin support of theirprotestafter winning medals in the200 metres.Directed by Norman's nephewMatt Norman. |
| The One Man Olympics | 2008 | Biographical | Track | Biographic of China's first ever OlympianLiu Changchunand his journey to compete in 1932 Summer Olympics. |
| Berlin 36 | 2009 | Drama | High jump | Top athlete Gretel Bergmann is excluded from Berlin Olympics for being Jewish. |
| Chasing a Dream | 2009 | Drama | Mile run | TV film on emotionally scarred boy who attempts to run a sub-4-minute mile. |
| The Runner | 2009 | Ultra Trail | ||
| Into the Wind | 2010 | Documentary | Road running | Made for TV as part of ESPN's30 for 30series. Another look at Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope, co-directed by NBA 'sSteve Nash,who followed Fox's run as a child. |
| Marion Jones: Press Pause | 2010 | Documentary | Sprints | Made for TV as part of ESPN's30 for 30series. On career ofMarion Jones,her 2007 admission ofperformance-enhancing drug use,and subsequent prison sentence. |
| The Robber | 2010 | Drama | Marathon | German film about an Austrian bank-robbing runner. |
| Paan Singh Tomar | 2012 | Drama | Steeplechase | Indian film based on the true story of an athletePaan Singh Tomar. |
| 9.79* | 2012 | Documentary | 100 m | Made for TV as part of ESPN's30 for 30series. Onmen's 100 metresof1988 Olympics,whereBen Johnsonset world record but was disqualified after positive test forsteroids. |
| Fast Girls | 2012 | Drama | Sprints | British film about two women sprinters. |
| Ethir Neechal | 2013 | Comedy/Drama | Marathon | Story about a Common Young man having talent as a runner, who strives to make his identity into a pride one. |
| Bhaag Milkha Bhaag | 2013 | Drama | Running | Indian film based on true story of an athleteMilkha Singh. |
| Runner | 2013 | Documentary | Distance Running | Made for TV as part ofESPN'sNine for IXseries. The stunning collision that defined the one thing missing from the otherwise brilliant career of distance runnerMary Decker |
| Spirit of the Marathon II | 2013 | Documentary | Marathon | Runners train for the 2012Rome Marathon |
| Unbroken | 2014 | Biographical | Running | AnOlympic runnerbecomes and survives being a World War II prisoner of war |
| 4 Minute Mile | 2014 | Drama | Mile Run | A coach decides to train a student with natural athletic talent. Tragedy strikes, forcing the student to confront everything that has been holding him back. |
| McFarland, USA | 2015 | Biographical | Cross country | Kevin Costnerportrays Jim White, who built the predominantlyLatinoMcFarland High Schoolinto a California cross country power. |
| Race | 2016 | Biographical | Sprints | A new dramatization of the life ofJesse Owens,highlighted by the1936 Summer Olympics. |
| Tracktown | 2016 | Drama | Long distance running | Training for the Olympics |
| The Infinite Race | 2020 | Documentary | Ultramarathon | Made for TV as part of ESPN's30 for 30series. The story of theTarahumara,an indigenous people in Mexico famed for their long-distance running culture who inspired an worldwide ultrarunning craze, while at the same time being ravaged by thecountry's drug wars. |
| The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius | 2020 | Documentary | Sprints | Four-part film made for TV as part of ESPN's30 for 30series and premiering on theESPN+streaming service. ExaminesOscar Pistoriusfrom his childhood in the last days ofapartheid,to worldwide celebrity as the first double-leg amputee to compete in the able-bodiedOlympics,toconvicted murderer. |
| Zero to Hero | 2021 | Biographical | Sprints | Hong Kong film based on true story of para-athleteSo Wa Wai |
| Listen | 2023 | Documentary | Multi-event | ESPN+ film documenting the multiple failures of University of Utah officials to address concerns raised by Utes heptathlete Lauren McCluskey, culminating in her 2018 murder. |