This article is about the 2004 film about the 1980 U.S. men's ice hockey team. For other films with similar titles, see
Miracle (disambiguation).
Miracle is a 2004 American biographical sports film about the United States men's hockey team, led by head coach Herb Brooks, that won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The USA team's victory over the heavily favored Soviet team in the medal round was dubbed the Miracle on Ice. Miracle was directed by Gavin O'Connor and written by Eric Guggenheim.
Plot summary
The movie chronicles the journey of the 1980 US Olympic Men's ice hockey team. Then University of Minnesota head coach Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) interviews with the United States Olympic Committee, discussing his philosophy on how to beat the Soviet team, calling for changes to the practice schedule and strategy. Brooks meets his assistant coach Craig Patrick at the tryouts in Colorado Springs. However, Brooks selects a preliminary roster of 26 -- later to be cut to a final roster of 20 -- indifferent of the tryouts and the preferences of senior USOC hockey officials. He convinces Walter Bush, the executive director of the committee, that he has their best interests at heart. Bush agrees to take the heat from the committee, saying, "I'll back you up on this one."
During the initial practice, tempers flare as forward Rob McClanahan and defenseman Jack O'Callahan get into a fight based on an old college rivalry. Brooks bluntly tells the players that they are to let go of old rivalries and start becoming a team. He then calls for introductions, in which each player states his name, his hometown, and for whom he plays.
The coach starts the team on an exhausting conditioning drill (which became known as "Herbies"), in which the team sprints together back and forth across the ice, over and over.
During an exhibition game against the Norwegian National Team in Oslo that ends in a 3–3 tie, Brooks notices the players are distracted by pretty girls in the stands and not playing up to their potential. After the game, in a wrenching scene, he makes them run "Herbies" far into the night. Finally exhausted forward Mike Eruzione shouts, "Mike Eruzione, (from) Winthrop, Massachusetts"; when Brooks asks him "Who do you play for?", Eruzione responds with the answer that Herb had wanted all along, "I play for the United States of America!" and the drill is over.
The team plays the Soviets in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. The Russians manhandle the young American team, winning by a score of 10-3. During the game, O'Callahan receives an injury that could keep him out of the entire Olympics, and starting goaltender Jim Craig is told he may be benched in favor of back-up goalie Steve Janaszak. Craig ends up retaining his starting job when the coach brings him to realize that he hasn't been giving his very best.
As the Olympic tournament begins, the Americans trail Sweden 2-1 in the first game. Brooks fires up the team during the break by slamming a table out of his way and accusing injured McClanahan of quitting (Doc had said his injury wouldn't get worse if he played on it.) McClanahan ends up playing despite his pain, and the inspired American team came through as Bill Baker scores a goal in the final minute for a dramatic 2-2 tie. They follow that up with a 7-3 win over heavily favored Czechoslovakia, then victories over Norway, Romania and West Germany to earn a spot in the medal round.
The Americans are considered overwhelming underdogs to the Soviets in the first medal round game. The game begins and following a slash which doesn't get called a penalty, the Russians score the first goal. Then O'Callahan, having healed enough from his injury, enters the game for the first time. He makes an immediate impact by knocking down Vladimir Krutov on a play that leads to a goal by Buzz Schneider. Following another Soviet goal the first period winds down. In the final seconds the Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak stops a long shot by Dave Christian, but Mark Johnson gets the rebound and scores with less than one second left in the period - the clock shows 00:00.
During the first intermission the Soviet coach replaces Tretiak with backup Vladimir Myshkin. In the second period the Soviets score a goal to go up 3–2. Early in the final period the Soviet team is called for a penalty, giving the Americans a man advantage. Johnson scores his second goal of the game just as the penalty is about to expire. Later Eruzione enters the game and scores to give the US a 4-3 lead. The entire team skates onto the ice as the crowd celebrates.
Now, however, the US team goes into a defensive mode, as the Soviet team becomes increasingly aggressive to score in the final ten minutes. After a long, intense and suspenseful 10 minutes, the clock ticked down the final few seconds, in which commentator Al Michaels said his now famous words, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" The Americans held off the Soviets, and completed one of the biggest (if not the biggest) upset in sports history. As the team proudly celebrates on the ice with the roaring crowd, an obviously emotional, shaken and proud Herb leaves the rink to a small, quiet room to have a few seconds of quiet with himself, to take in what he and the team had just accomplished.
Two days later, the team would then go on to defeat Finland to clinch the gold medal. The movie ends with Brooks beaming with pride as the entire team crowds together on the gold medal platform.
Cast
Notes
- The story of Boston Univeristy's Jack O'Callahan being cheap shot by Minnesota's Rob McClanahan during the 1976 playoffs is fairly accurate. However, it was not McClanahan who gave the cheap shot. In fact, McClanahan was not even playing for Minnesota at the time, as he was still in his senior year of high school. The rivalry between the two at the beginning of the movie was put into the movie for dramatic purposes.
- The movie was filmed in Canada. According to the DVD commentary, the extras who are shouting "USA, USA" are really Canadians.
- Over 280 miles of film were shot, more than any other Disney movie.
- Buzz Schneider was portrayed by his son, Billy Schneider, though when they made the decision as to who would portray Buzz, they didn't know about the father-son relation until after casting Billy.
- This movie is dedicated to the real Herb Brooks, who died a year before the movie was released. His dedication said, "He never saw it. He lived it".
- Before the match against Norway, the sentence "Seier'n er vår" (Victory is ours) is heard as the stadium is shown. This is a popular sports related "song" in Norway.
- The PNE Forum at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, served as the location of the final fight in Rocky IV for Rocky Balboa's Soviet bout against Ivan Drago.
- The scene where Herb Brooks makes the team skate back and forth on the ice all night, after their 3–3 tie with Norway, was actually done by the real actors over a span of three days - 12 hours a day. The director wanted the moment to be as realistic as possible. Also, the events that ended the sprints were altered for the movie. In real life, Mark Johnson ended the drill when he smashed his stick on the side of the rink in frustration. The actors mentioned on the DVD that they all agreed that was their least favorite part of the shoot.
- Many shots of Lake Placid were actually filmed in Rossland, British Columbia.
- During filming at a residence of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, rowdy residents disturbed filming by hanging USSR flags in the residence windows, reporting the shoot to the fire marshal, yelling distracting taunts at the actors, and even stealing Kurt Russell's chair.
- Much of Al Michaels' play-by-play during the "Miracle on Ice" game was re-created for the movie. However the final seconds, featuring the famous "Do you believe in miracles?" call from the actual game, was preserved and edited into the film.
- The movie remains mostly faithful to the actual events, with few changes. In the second period of the Soviet game, the Russians scored the goal and Craig was injured later in the period. In the movie, the producers combined the two plays into one. The Americans scored their third goal at 8:39 of the third period; in the movie this goal is moved up to 4:45.
- The shot of the scoreboard during the West Germany game showing the caption "GDR" (the conventional abbreviation for East Germany, used here by the IOC) is historically accurate. The mistake was made at the actual game in 1980. Many viewers mistakenly assume this to be a "goof" in the movie.
- The Aerosmith song "Dream On" is played in the closing credits.
- Pacific Coliseum was the arena used in the Madison Square Garden scene.
- In the bonus features, in an interview, Rob McClanahan says that he never really understood why Brooks acted the way he did toward Rob during the break of the Sweden game until he saw the scene of the incident in the film.
- ReelSports was contracted to help make the hockey action look realistic.
- Retired NHL Goaltender Bill Ranford stood in for Eddie Cahill during all on ice action sequences.
- Russell is right handed and had to learn how to write left handed because Brooks was left handed.
Awards
- Best Sports Movie, ESPY Awards (2004)
References
External links
