Cool Runnings

Comedy, Family, Biography

Leon	Derice Bannock
Doug E. Doug	Sanka Coffie
Rawle D. Lewis	Junior Bevil
Malik Yoba	Yul Brenner
John Candy	Irving Blitzer
Raymond J. Barry	Kurt Hemphill
Peter Outerbridge	Josef Grool
Paul Coeur	Roger
Larry Gilman	Larry
Charles Hyatt	Whitby Bevil Sr.

Director	Jon Turteltaub
Producer	Dawn Steel; Jeffrey Bydalek
Writer	Michael Ritchie; Michael Goldberg
Cinematography	Phedon Papamichael
Musician	Hans Zimmer; Nick Glennie-Smith; Jimmy Cliff

Based on an improbable but true story, Cool Runnings concerns the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even seen snow) and the passion behind it (their desire to compete and win). John Candy, in one of his last roles, is touching as a disgraced coach who seizes the opportunity to work with the Jamaicans as a chance for redemption. The bobsled scenes look good, and the races are exciting. The climax, which is entirely unexpected, takes the film to a wholly different level, even if events in the story don't quite match the facts. --Tom Keogh