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Olympics: Movies compete for medals

A nice attempt to make the Olympics a backdrop for Middle Eastern politics and general human tragedy in the 1970s. But Spielberg's film is neither poignant enough to be a powerful human drama nor exciting enough to be an international suspense thriller, and it soon becomes a mechanical exercise in globetrotting revenge with the occasional political debate sprinkled in, and loses to that other politically inflected Olympics movie...

A nice attempt to make the Olympics a backdrop for Middle Eastern politics and general human tragedy in the 1970s. But Spielberg’s film is neither poignant enough to be a powerful human drama nor exciting enough to be an international suspense thriller, and it soon becomes a mechanical exercise in globetrotting revenge with the occasional political debate sprinkled in, and loses to that other politically inflected Olympics movie...   (Karen Ballard / Associated Press)

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Which Olympic films are the best of all time?

In the photo gallery that follows, pairs of similarly themed Olympic movies face off in group competition. Then the winners thrash it out in the medal round to determine the best Games-related films of all time. There’s nothing on the line--except for the most important competition these movies will ever find themselves in. The world is watching. --Steven Zeitchik

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