Professor Pfinklepfunder's $1 Sunday Films
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
With Leon, John Candy, Doug E. Doug
Rated PG, 98 minutes
In English, German, and Russian with English subtitles
Next in the Winter Olympic lineup is a classic underdog sports story loosely based on the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team's goal to make it to the Olympics. When Derice Bannock (Leon) fails to qualify for the Summer Olympics as a sprinter, he sets his sights on the Winter Olympics despite being from Jamaica, a nation with no snow, no ice, no bobsled teams, and no bobsled tracks. Pulling together three others and under the tutelage of coach Irving Blitzer (John Candy), the Jamaicans face physical and geographical hurdles to qualify for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary while also facing down the scorn of the traditional bobsled powerhouse nations.