When film fans argue about the worst movies to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, the debate rarely goes on for too long before someone mentions Chariots of Fire. About the only thing that’s memorable from the 1981 film – beyond its Best Picture win – is its synthesized Vangelis score, which seems as detrimentally anachronistic today as it was wildly popular at the time. What saves Chariots of Fire from even more derision, I suspect, is that the movie is hardly ever discussed. If it isn’t one of the least impressive movies to win Best Picture, it’s at least one of the most forgotten.
That said, today’s post isn’t about whether Chariots of Fire is Oscar-worthy. (At least On Golden Pond didn’t win, I say.) Today’s post is about a filmmaking blunder so significant that it deserves an award. If you’ve never seen Chariots of Fire and want to avoid spoilers, read no further. Otherwise …
To put it in a nutshell, Chariots of Fire is about running and religion. Its climactic moment finds Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) running in the 400 meters at the Olympics because the finals of his best event, the 100 meters, will fall on Sunday. Liddell, a Christian, refuses to run on the Sabbath.
Just before the 400 is set to begin, American runner Jackson Scholz (Brad Davis) hands the British Liddell a note that reads: “It says in the Old Book, ‘He that honors me I will honor.’ Good luck.” Liddell smiles, crumples the note in his right hand and gets into his crouch for the start of the race, the letter sticking up from his right hand as if he’s carrying the Olympic torch.
For all intents and purposes, this moment is what Chariots of Fire is all about. The idea that Liddell is running to honor God, and that he’s gained the respect of others by doing so, is The Point, if you will, of the film. That’s why I find it absolutely stunning that at one point during the race – more specifically, from one camera angle – this letter magically disappears from Liddell’s hand.
Let’s go to the replay (click to enlarge as necessary):
Liddell gets ready for the race …
Scholz approaches and hands the note to Liddell …
Liddell reads it …
Crumples it …
There’s the note in his right hand …
Still there …
Still there …
Still there …
And oops …
Where did it go?
It’s back! In fact, now it sticks out of both sides of his hand like a relay baton …
But now it’s gone …
Like a magician Liddell opens his hand as if to prove it’s empty …
But when he crosses the finish line – victorious, of course – it’s back again …
I’m sure most films have at least one continuity error. But as prop blunders go, this one is especially glaring, precisely because the film has directed our attention to the note in Liddell's hand and because this is the film's Big Moment. To imagine an equivalent, picture Luke Skywalker’s confrontation with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and imagine if Luke’s hand suddenly reappeared after it had been sliced off. Think of the end of Die Hard and imagine John McClane firing three shots with his only two bullets. Or imagine a scene in True Grit in which Rooster Cogburn suddenly didn’t have an eye patch.
I ask you, Cooler readers, can you think of a more egregious prop error (or continuity error) in a movie?
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