Chariots of Fire (1981)
Ben Cross: Harold Abrahams
Photos
Quotes
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Harold M. Abrahams : If I can't win, I won't run!
Sybil Gordon : If you don't run, you can't win.
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Harold M. Abrahams : You, Aubrey, are my most complete man. You're brave, compassionate, kind: a content man. That is your secret - contentment; I am 24 and I've never known it. I'm forever in pursuit, and I don't even know what I am chasing.
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Sam Mussabini : Eric Liddell? He's no real problem.
Harold M. Abrahams : [having already lost to Liddell] You could have fooled me.
Sam Mussabini : Yeah, he's fast! But he won't go any faster. He's a gut runner, digs deep! But a short sprint is run on nerves. It's tailor-made for neurotics.
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Sybil Gordon : Do you love running?
Harold M. Abrahams : I'm more of an addict. It's a compulsion, a weapon.
Sybil Gordon : Against what?
Harold M. Abrahams : Being Jewish, I suppose.
Sybil Gordon : [laughs incredulously] You're not serious!
Harold M. Abrahams : You're not Jewish, or you wouldn't have had to ask.
Sybil Gordon : Fiddlesticks. People don't care.
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Harold M. Abrahams : And now, in one hour's time, I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor - 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But will I?
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Harold M. Abrahams : Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing - but now I am almost too frightened to win.
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Harold M. Abrahams : That was the miscalculation of my life.
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Henry Stallard : [the athletes are playing cricket in the ballroom of their hotel. Henry Stallard is the umpire; Aubrey Montague bowls a delivery to Eric Liddell, batting] No ball!
Harold M. Abrahams : [desperate to get into bat] Come on, Aubrey, the old leg-break!
Harold M. Abrahams : [Aubrey bowls another delivery, which deceivingly appears to have gotten Eric out] HowZAT!
Henry Stallard : Not out!
Harold M. Abrahams : What do you mean, not out? You could've heard it from bloody Bournemouth! Come on, Liddell, my innings.
Eric Liddell : I didn't touch it, I swear it, must've been the crack of my wrist!
Harold M. Abrahams : He's out I tell you, you're all deaf - deaf and bloody blind! Aubrey I ask you, for God's sake!
Harold M. Abrahams : [No response from Aubrey, dramatic pause]
[punching the air]
Harold M. Abrahams : It's not FAIR!
[the athletes break into laughter, Abrahams eventually joining them]
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Harold M. Abrahams : [making a toast] To Sam Mussabini, the greatest trainer in the world.
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Sam Mussabini : So you've traveled 300 miles just to see me?
Harold M. Abrahams : You and Liddell. I'd heard you were both the best.
Sam Mussabini : And what do you think now?
Harold M. Abrahams : Eric Liddell? I've never seen such drive, such commitment in a runner. He runs like a wild animal. He unnerves me.
Sam Mussabini : So he should. Frightens the living daylights out of me.
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Aubrey Montague : You're quite an advocate.
Harold M. Abrahams : Hey. A rare ethnic advantage. It's called the gift of the gab.
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Master of Caius : It's said that you use a personal coach.
Harold M. Abrahams : Mr. Mussabini, yes.
Master of Trinity : Is he an Italian?
Harold M. Abrahams : Of Italian extraction, yes.
Master of Trinity : I see.
Harold M. Abrahams : But not all Italian.
Master of Trinity : I'm relieved to hear it.
Harold M. Abrahams : He's half Arab.
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Sybil Gordon : If you can't take a beating, it's for the best.
Harold M. Abrahams : I don't run to take beatings. I run to win.
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Harold M. Abrahams : Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing but now I am almost too frightened to win.
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Sybil Gordon : The great Harold Abrahams. My brother will be insanely jealous.
Harold Abrahams : So will mine.
Sybil Gordon : You don't look very ruthless.
Harold Abrahams : Should I?
Sybil Gordon : According to my brother. Tim says that's why you always win. Why running?
Harold Abrahams : Why singing?
Sybil Gordon : My job... No, that's silly. I do it because I love it.
Sybil Gordon : Do you love running?
Harold Abrahams : I'm more of an addict. It's a compulsion, a weapon.
Sybil Gordon : Against what?
Harold Abrahams : Being Jewish, I suppose.
Sybil Gordon : [laughs] You're not serious?
Harold Abrahams : You're not Jewish, or you wouldn't ask.
Sybil Gordon : Fiddlesticks. People don't care. Anyway, being Jewish hasn't done you any harm.
Harold Abrahams : I'm what I call semi-deprived.
Sybil Gordon : That sounds clever... What does it mean?
Harold Abrahams : It means they lead me to water, but they won't let me drink.
Sybil Gordon : You're a funny old stick, Mr. Harold Abrahams. Funny...... but fascinating.
Harold Abrahams : I'll settle for the fascinating.
Sybil Gordon : Life isn't that gloomy, is it?
Harold Abrahams : [quietly] Not tonight... You're so beautiful.
Sybil Gordon : Like you.
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Harold M. Abrahams : Perfect. You can be Queen of the Fairies!
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Harold M. Abrahams : It's an ache, a helplessness, an anger. One feels humiliated. Sometimes I say to myself, "Hey, steady on, you're imagining all this." And then I catch that look again. Catch it on the edge of a remark, feel a cold reluctance in a handshake.
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Master of Trinity : Here in Cambridge, we've always been proud of our athletic prowess. We believe - we've always believed - that our games are indispensable in helping to complete the education of an Englishman. They create character they foster courage, honesty and leadership. But most of all, an unassailable spirit of loyalty, comradeship, and mutual responsibility. Would you agree?
Harold M. Abrahams : Yes, sir. I would.
Master of Trinity : Abrahams, there is a growing suspicion in the bosom of this university - and I tell you this without in any way decrying your achievements, in which we all rejoice - that in your enthusiasm for success, you have perhaps lost sight of some of these ideals.
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Master of Trinity : For the past year, you've concentrated wholly on developing your own technique in the headlong pursuit, may I suggest, of individual glory. Not a policy very conducive to the fostering of esprit de corps.
Harold M. Abrahams : I am a Cambridge man, first and last. I am an Englishman, first and last. What I have achieved - what I intend to achieve - is for my family, my university, and my country. And I bitterly resent your suggesting otherwise.
Master of Caius : Your aim is to win at all costs, is it not?
Harold M. Abrahams : At all costs, no. But I do aim to win within the rules.
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Harold M. Abrahams : Gentlemen, you yearn for victory just as I do. But achieved with the apparent effortlessness of gods. Yours are the archaic values of the prep-school playground. You deceive no one but yourselves. I believe in the pursuit of excellence - and I'll carry the future with me.
