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The Main Characters
--Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is a hockey coach who is chosen to lead a group of college Americans into the Olympics. Herb himself was a hockey player who had qualified for the 1960 USA Olympic squad but he was cut mere days before they left to play. He ended up watching Team USA win the gold medal from his couch. So he has something to prove. He wants the glory that he never had.
--US Hockey Team- A team of 20 young college/amateur players who play in the 1980 Olympics. There is no really standout player I'd highlight since it was more a story of Herb Brooks than the actual team.
--USSR Hockey Team- They were considered the BEST team in hockey at that time. They had won the Gold Medal in hockey every year since the Americans won in 1960 (64, 68, 72, and 76). They had also recently beaten the NHL all-stars by a final of 6-0. They were picked to win the gold hands down, and their playing was a mere formality.
The Setting
This movie starts in 1979 with Herb becoming the head coach and picking the players while training in Minnesota. The main parts take place in Lake Placid for the 1980 Winter Olympics.
The Plot
This movie is based on a true story, so the plot is pretty easy to describe. I can just write historical facts and such. So, basically, the US hockey team had a snowball's chance in hell to even qualify for a medal in the 1980 Olympics, let alone win the whole thing. I believe they were actually ranked 6th of the 12 or so teams that play in the qualifying round. So, Herb Brooks gathers his team together and they practice, hard. He wants a team that can play a full 60 minutes. He studied the Russians a lot. He studied their style of play, how they cycle the puck and how they intimidate their opponents. He taught this lessons to his players. He also had the hard task of bringing together a team of players who didn't like their teammates due to regional rivalries. He made the players hate him so they wouldn't hate themselves. So the USA played many games against other national teams prior to the Olympics for practice and they did pretty well (though they glanced over this in the movie) until they had to play the Russians THREE DAYS before the Olympics started. In what many thought was a sign of things to come, the US team lost 10-3 at MSG and were completely outplayed. This certainly put a damper on the US' chances. So the Olympics start and the US played Sweden in their first game. They ended up trailing with a little over a minute left and if they lost this game, it would be very hard to make the medal round. With about 30 seconds left, they somehow managed a goal and a 2-2 tie. Next up was the Czech national team, who many thought to be the second best team in the Olympics behind Russia and the US soundly defeated them 7-3. Next they played a German team (I think?) and came away with another win. With their record, they made it into the medal round and had to face, you guessed it, The Russians. Anticipations were high for this game. It wasn't just a hockey game. It was US vs. THEM. Remember when this game took place. It was in the midst of the Cold War and the USA was in a bad place. They recently had hostages taken in Iran, the gas prices were soaring and morale was at an all time low. The USA needed something; anything to lift their collective spirit, and no one thought that thing would happen on a hockey rink in upstate New York. On to the game, it ended up being 3-2 in favor of Russia going into the third period. The USA got a goal to tie it at 3 and midway through the third, Mike Eruzione scored from just beyond the face-off circle to take the lead and send the crowd into a frenzy. 10 minutes left. 10 minutes to defeating the vaunted Russians. The USA managed to hold them off, thanks to many great saves by goalie Jim Craig. As the seconds counted off the clock the crowd got louder, and louder and louder. Finally, 3 seconds remained and the USA cleared the puck as Al Michaels, play by play man for the game, asked one of the most memorable questions in sporting history, "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" And with that, the USA defeated the Russians. We had defeated Russia. Of course, people don't remember they had to play a Finnish team in the Gold Medal round and ended up winning after scoring 3 goals in the third to take the gold.
My Review
This was an awesome movie. I love hockey so there may be some personal bias there. One thing you have to remember when going into the movie. This isn't a documentary; it's a story of Herb Brooks. They focus on Herb's personal mission to win, trying to replace the emptiness he felt from being cut from the 1960 team. It shows how he coached a group of youngsters to become one team, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With that said, it is still a great movie. It is almost 100% historically correct (some dates are a little off, and the way Russia scored its third goal in the medal round is also made up, to add drama to the game). The action scenes are the best I've seen in a hockey movie. The filming was incredible especially the angles of the goals. I was blown away. I honestly didn't want to see this movie. I thought I've seen stories about it before, why do I need to see the movie? I am so glad I went. It isn't the story of it as I've said; it's about the man. We never really saw the emotion behind Herb; we never knew why he was a great coach. It was awesome to look at it from his point of view. You have to see it. I guarantee that even non-hockey fans will like it, since it is a great source of national pride. It was voted the number sports moment by ESPN recently and one of the few times where international affairs took on added importance to what was just a hockey game. Highest recommendation ever.
Overall Rating
****
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