It's amazing to me why this masterpiece is not played on cable more often! It has some unforgettable attributes: - Charles Aznavour has rarely been seen as anything but a singer. Here he is a truly fine dramatic actor. - Stanley Baker has seldom if ever given such a performance - Michael Crawford, better known for his "Phantom" gives an inspired performance as a long distance runner (his early training comes from rushing deliveries as a milkman) - Ryan O'Neal plays the perfect cocky American. Here is a carefully crafted tale of 3 runners who from different worlds, live, train and survive the Marathon event in the Rome 1960 Olympic Games. Any one of the three stories would do quite well standing alone. Together, they meld and intertwine beautifully. The final competition as well as the battles leading up to it are exciting indeed. Since this fine film has not found its way to videotape, I would be extremely interested to know the next time it is scheduled to play on cable on any carrier.
