Review: I really enjoyed this Jesse Owens biopic, which shows how he won his many Gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, under heavy racial tension from the Germans but I was hoping to see more about the man himself, who was truly an amazing athlete. Jesse Owens is played by Stephan James, who leaves the streets of Cleveland Ohio, and goes Ohio State to pursue his dreams to become a track and field star, with his close friend Dave Albritton (Eli Goree). Meanwhile Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) is having problems as the coach at Ohio State, because he hasn't had an national win since he has arrived, so his job is on the line and he isn't impressed with the daily candidates, who lead to nothing. After watching Owens train, and being very impressed with his times, he decides to take Owen under his wing and he shows him the ropes of becoming a star. Behind the scenes, Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) is fighting to allow Black and Jewish competitors at the Olympics but with the racist political views from Hitler and his assistants, it takes some time for Avery to convince the Germans that it would make a better games if they are allowed to compete. Anyway, once the games eventually get going, Jesse Owens smashes loads of records and wins numerous gold medals for his country. Its a truly great achievement for a black man, in that day and age, and the relationship between Owens and Snyder was quite emotional. I would have liked to have seen some more depth to the characters but apart from that, it's an entertaining movie which portrays a time in sports, which changed the game forever. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: Personally, I think that this movie needed a top director to bring the intense emotion across to the big screen but Jamaican born Stephen Hopkins done a decent job. His previous titles include A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Predator 2, which wasn't close to the first movie, Judgement Night, Blown Away, The Ghost in the Darkness, Lost In Space, Tube Tales, Under Suspicion, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and The Reaping in 2007, starring Hilary Swank. He has also worked on numerous TV series like, 24, House of Lies, Californication, Shameless and the Unusuals, so he has quite a decent portfolio to date. With so much information available about Jesse Owens achievements, this movie seemed a bit safe, but with that aside, it's great that he brought this amazing story to light. I would have liked to have seen a top actor play the main role, like Will Smith did with Ali but that's not to say that Stephan James didn't do a good job. Although this film made a decent profit, it would be good to see a BIG budget version of Jesse Owens life, because it's truly an inspiring story that a lot of people can learn from.

Budget: $5million Worldwide Gross: $25million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/history/dramas, starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Carice van Houten, David Kross, Shanice Banton, Tim McInnerny and Glynn Turman. 5/10

This successful film biography traces the life and career of Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The film is well acted, and the closing sequence recreating the Berlin Olympics was especially dynamic.

Stephan James is a clearly a gifted athlete and a fine young actor, as apparent in his interpretation of the role of Jesse Owens. Much of the film was presented through the lens of Owens' relationship with his Ohio State track coach Larry Snyder, convincingly played by actor Jason Sudeikis. The cast included Jeremy Irons, who was excellent in the role of the controversial Olympic administrator Avery Brundage.

Another strength of the film were the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of the Nazis in Berlin. The most interesting character interpretation was that of the filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, which was played very well by Dutch actress Carice van Houten. The unique spin taken by the screenwriters was to make Riefenstahl a very sympathetic and even impartial filmmaker, who defied Goebbels' edict to ban the filming of the final relay race, which was Owens' fourth gold medal. Some of the best scenes of the film were those of Riefenstahl at work in filming her famous documentary "Olympiad." This revisionist view of Riefenstahl may serve in thawing the longstanding prejudice about her as a pawn of the Third Reich and a director associated exclusively with Nazi propaganda.

Overall, "Race" was a well-made and well-performed historical drama and biography of one of the great athletes and heroes of the twentieth century.

The best thing about this movie is the performance of the star, Stephan James. He is very good as Jesse Owens.

The biggest problem with this movie is the length, 134 minutes. It is WAY too long for what it has to offer. As one of the other reviewers on here says, the director tried to put far too much material into it. The first hour or so, before we get to Berlin, plays like a so-so made-for-TV movie and should have been cut drastically. Once we get to Berlin, things get much better, but even then, it could have used cutting. We spend a lot of time with Leni Riefenstahl, for example, but why? We never see what she ends up doing with her Owens footage in *Olympia*, her documentary of the 1936 Olympics.

That leaves the other problem, the script. Too often it isn't very dramatic. (Contrast it with *42*.) Yes, some of the events in the Olympics are very moving, but that's largely because of the events themselves, not because of the way they are presented. A good script doesn't just repeat historical events, it puts them together in a way that makes them effective, leaving out what isn't effective, and presents them in powerful language that makes them stick in the memory. This script doesn't do that.

If it's true that this is the first feature-length film about Owens, then it's good to have it. There isn't anything here that will harm his reputation.

But neither, alas, is there a movie here that will fix it indelibly in the minds of viewers. That movie remains to be made, and, I hope, will start with a much better, much shorter script.

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Since writing the above, I've read Jeremy Schaap's book *Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics*. (It's not a very good book, I'm sorry to report. A lot of personal opinion, often not enough documentation. For a better, if much shorter, account of Owens in Berlin, see Ch. 6 of William J. Baker's *Jessie Owens: An American Life*) It would seem that this movie hews fairly closely to the historical truth, for whatever that's worth. (This is a feature film, after all, and not a documentary.) Sometimes it "fills in the gaps," perhaps most notably with its explanations of why Avery Brundage did what he did and why Owens was put on the 4 x 100 relay team to the exclusion of one of the Jewish runners who had practiced for it. The movie makes Brundage out to be venal, willing to do dishonest things for money. For me, that detracted from what appears to have been his fundamental racism against both Blacks and Jews.

I also found it strange that this movie does not deal with the immediate aftermath of the Olympics for Owens - he was barred from further Amateur Athletic Union competitions, and all the offers of money from various American individuals and groups vanished. Before he had even returned to America, in other words, Owens had already been cheated of part of his success.

Now I need to watch the movie a second time, to see where else it diverges from or extrapolates on history.