Miracle (2004 film)

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
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gavin O'Connor
Written by	Eric Guggenheim
Produced by	Mark Ciardi Gordon Gray Ross Greenburg Justis Greene Jon Mone Greg O'Connor
Starring	Kurt Russell Patricia Clarkson Noah Emmerich Sean McCann Kenneth Welsh Eddie Cahill Patrick O'Brien Demsey Michael Mantenuto
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date	February 6, 2004
Running time	135 min.
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
Box office	$64,445,708

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 Mens 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 (Sean McCann), 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, asking the team who it was that they played for. Finally exhausted, forward Mike Eruzione responds with the answer that Herb had wanted all along, "I play for the United States of America!" and the drills are ended.

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 upsets 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 win the gold medal. The movie ends with Brooks staring out over his team with pride as the entire team crowds together on the gold medal platform.

Cast

Actor	Role
Kurt Russell	Herb Brooks
Patricia Clarkson	Patti Brooks
Noah Emmerich	Craig Patrick
Sean McCann	Walter Bush
Kenneth Welsh	Doc Nagobads
Eddie Cahill	Jim Craig
Patrick O'Brien Demsey	Mike Eruzione
Michael Mantenuto	Jack O'Callahan
Nathan West	Rob McClanahan
Kenneth Mitchell	Ralph Cox
Eric Peter-Kaiser	Mark Johnson
Bobby Hanson	Dave Silk
Joseph Cure	Mike Ramsey
Billy Schneider	Buzz Schneider
Nate Miller	John Harrington
Chris Koch	Mark Pavelich
Kris Wilson	Phil Verchota
Stephen Kovalcik	Dave Christian
Sam Skoryna	Steve Janaszak
Pete Duffy	Bob Suter
Nick Postle	Bill Baker
Casey Burnette	Ken Morrow
Scott Johnson	Steve Christoff
Trevor Alto	Neal Broten
Joe Hemsworth	Mark Wells
Robbie MacGregor	Eric Strobel

Awards

• Best Sports Movie, ESPY Award (2004)

Release

The movie grossed $19,377,577 on its opening weekend, February 8, on 2,605 screens. It subsequently closed with a worldwide gross of $64,445,708.

Reception

The movie received a 68 on Metacritic showing "generally favorable reviews" and an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite a lower rating by critics, the average user score on Metacritic is 8.4 signifying "universal acclaim". Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times stated that the movie "does a yeoman's job of recycling the day-old dough that passes for its story." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times referred to the movie as "a classically well-made studio entertainment that, like The Rookie of a few years back, has the knack of being moving without shamelessly overdoing a sure thing."

Miracle is currently standing as the best sports movie of all time in the ongoing poll at Sports In Movies.

External links

• Miracle at IMDb
• Text, Audio, Video of Coach Brooks' Address to Players During Olympic Match with Sweden from AmericanRhetoric.com
• Text, Audio, Video of Coach Brooks' Address to Players Before Olympic Match with the Soviet Union from AmericanRhetoric.com