MIRACLE

The sixties saw the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby and Dr Martin Luther King. The decade had Woodstock but it also had Altamont and the brutality of the Chicago Police at the 1968 Democratic Convention. America’s morale and national pride were at an all time low through most of the seventies. The Viet Nam War had come to an end - but it’s final days had the appearance of a mighty giant being felled by a Third World Power with Americans routed to the rooftops of Saigon. Richard Nixon was impeached and forced to resign from his Presidency because of the Watergate scandal. Disco ruled the airwaves but the influence of punk left an indelible mark that would felt in the decades ahead. President Jimmy Carter tried to heal the wounds of a nation still scarred by the Viet Nam War with a general amnesty that wiped the slate clean for legitimate conscientious objectors and draft dodgers alike. Inflation was out of control under his administration. The Shah of Iran was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini became Iran’s spiritual and political leader. Hostages were taken in Tehran. A Special Forces unit failed to rescue them further humiliating the United States in the eyes of the world. Director Gavin O’Connor lets these and other historical events like the murder of Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich dissolve from to the next in chronological order to show how they chipped away at the confidence of the nation. Brilliantly, he sets the stage for the jubilation and pride that contributed to the patriotic fervor that swept the nation when the US Olympic hockey team defeated the Russians in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in "The Miracle."

Kurt Russel plays Herb Brooks the enigmatic hockey coach who lost his chance at Olympic glory before his own career as a player had a chance to get off the ground. His diligence and tenacity to his chosen profession are rewarded when he’s given the opportunity the coach the 1980 US Team. He’s been studying the Russians for years and he knows how to beat them at their own game. For Herb, it’s not good enough to be a great player. Herb needs individuals who can rise above their ego - he needs team players. Still, he not only needs great team players: he needs great players who have endurance. In order to have endurance, his team of twenty great players have to be whipped into shape if they are to have a chance at beating the seasoned Russian team who - according to their own country rules and regulations - are hardened pros. Their only purpose in life is to win. In the twilight of Brooks career, his only purpose in life is to beat the undefeated Russians.

I’m not a hockey fan. What little I know about the game comes from "The Might Ducks" and all the sequels I’ve sat through with my daughter. I don’t count the occasional field hockey I played in College gym or Nok Hockey from my prepubescent life; but Gavin O’Connor and crew give a puck’s eye view of the action that helped me more than compensate for my ignorance of the game. The outcome of "Miracle" is a given, the visceral excitement in the rink is not. "Miracle" is an exciting, uplifting experience thanks to O’Connor, screenwriter Eric Guggenheim, and a great cast that includes all the players - some pros according to the press releases - Patricia Clarkson as Herb’s wife, Noah Emmerich as Herb’s assistant coach and a performance by Kurt Russell worthy of Oscar gold.

Copyright 2004

"Tumbleweeds" (1999) - O’Connor’s debut feature garnered an Oscar nomination for newcomer Janet McTeer as a proverbial trailer trash mom on the go with her daughter in tow leaving a trail of broken hearts and woman beaters in her wake. Gavin O’Connor co-wrote the screenplay and has a small part as a sympathetic trucker who befriends them.

"Slap Shot" (1977) - Paul Newman is a star player on a second rate hockey team who decides to lead his team to glory and boost attendance by giving the people what they want - violence on the ice. Beware the Hanson Brothers (real life players Steve Carlson and David Hanson), two goons with eye glasses as thick as their skulls. With Michael Ontkean.

Note:The story of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team was told once before in 1981 in the HBO movie, "Miracle on Ice," with Karl Malden as Herb Brooks. Andrew Stevens and Steve Guttenberg also starred.