pawebster I was very familiar with the 1988 version (The Four Minute Mile) before seeing this newer one. This film is less true to history, most seriously in replacing the real coach, Franz Stampfl, with the shadowy imitation one portrayed by Christopher Plummer. It also brings in Roger's future wife long before he really met her, in a crass attempt to add love interest. In addition, it somewhat misrepresents the weather problems on 6 May 1954 (see below). This newer version also omits any depiction of Landy and Santee's efforts and turns Roger's important and illustrious friends and helpers (Chris Chataway, Chris Brasher and Norris McWhirter -- see their entries in Wikipedia) into mere cyphers. These are serious omissions. On the other hand, this 2005 version has a much, much better Roger Bannister, which counts for a lot, given that he is the main character in the story. Jamie MacLachlan is believable as an athlete and does a great job in showing Bannister's combination of brilliance, modesty and stubbornness. He also convincingly embodies the post-war period in which the events take place (despite the garish American ties he is given to wear).This version also does moderately well at recreating the Iffley Road track in Oxford where the key event was run. The fact that the tower of Iffley Church in the background is clearly made of something akin to cardboard is not too detrimental. Anyone who has heard Norris McWhirter speak about that day -- the overseas channel BBC Prime has shown a clip of this hundreds of times -- knows that the main problem on 6 May 1954 was the wind -- and not so much the rain, as shown here. Roger decided to run when the flag on top of Iffley Church went limp, showing that the wind had dropped. Here, the film-makers have carefully provided the church and the flag, but the latter sadly continues to flutter merrily the whole time.There are other minor blunders, such as the wrong kind of telephones and the phrase "Get the hell out of here" ludicrously put into the mouth of a crusty old Oxford professor, but I can forgive these.It is well worth seeing -- but try to catch the other version, too.

fourmins A film with a lot of heart and fun for everyone! When someone achieves what seems to be the impossible, (Everest, the Moon, Four Minutes,) it opens the door for all of us, and that's it's appeal. Great performances, music and photography as well. Great stuff! I am a mile runner and found the races accurate and an inspiration. The four minute barrier was clearly a physiological brick wall and Bannister the doctor who ran for fun sets about examining the limits of human endurance. There aren't enough movies that celebrate human achievement, so congratulations to ESPN for backing this project. I wonder why it was left to an American network to celebrate the achievements of a British athlete?

Graham Watson This TV made for movie was obviously made to commemorate Roger Bannisters achievement in being the first athlete to run the mile in under 4 minutes. In fact it was made in in 2004 but I just saw it last week in the USA on of all things a sports cable channel.ESPN sports network is designed for the sports fan with attention deficit disorder with its quick fire sports updates of every baseball , hockey game, and college football match in about two minutes. When the pundits are not barking at each other or deliberately disagreeing with one another just for the sake of it, the shaky camera work and the high pitch wise cracking rhyming commentary leaves someone with an average IQ head spinning. It's all over the place which is part and parcel of the American jive on cable news and sports TV and which is the way American advertisers want it I suppose. I tell you it makes sky sports update on for half an hour look slow and pedestrian by contrast, unfortunately, it also sums up "Four Minutes" as a movie.As for the movie itself I really have to wonder why they bothered to make this film there was nothing interesting about it. Not only was it slow it seemed pointless when you knew what the outcome was.What made this movie worse was that Bannister was not a likable or an interesting character as far as this movie portrayed and after a while I couldn't care less if he ran under 4 minutes or not! However this is only part of the problem. It dawned on me why make a movie about an athlete that never achieved anything else meaningful in athletics before or after this? He retired from competitive athletics to pursue medicine and his record did not last long because very shortly it was broken by another runner. It would have been more interesting if he had smashed the record while running from the front or else had held it for a few years. It's not just by today standards he would still be on the back straight while the current crop of runners were running through the finishing line, it's that when you stack it up against Seb Coe's 800 meter run in 1981 or Michael Johnson smashing the world 200 meter record in 1996 and Bob Beamons jump in 1968 what he achieved was insignificant by comparison. Yes the four minute barrier being broken was a mile stone (excuse the pun) but when you line them up against the back drop of Olympic and world records Bannisters athletic achievements are minuscule by comparison. Coe's record lasted 16 years, Beamons 25 years and who knows when Johnsons is going to be beaten. In addition Coe, Beamons and Ed Moses best times/distance would still be very competitive today 25-35 years on. Today there are so many runners who can run under four minutes that you could pick any race i.e. a southern English counties one mile race sponsored by the AAA at Crystal palace, Bannister would canter in all spaghetti legged an exhausted last!The only positive thing I would say was that the period costumes of the 1950's did look good, the dull gray conditions of that day were realistic and the pace making of Chataway and Brasher was portrayed well. As I said at the beginning I wished this movie had been four minutes ---- the last four minutes only — other than that I'm afraid I can't recommend this too much!.

Adam Kelly I had seen this movie advertised for weeks and it looked very lame. Then one day I caught a replay of it on ESPN Classic and since it was the only thing on that was worth watching I kept it running. Good choice.Four Minutes is the story of Roger Bannister, the first human being to run a mile in under 4 minutes. It's based on a true story but certain events were dramatized for the sake of entertainment which is nothing new but it felt kind of cheap at the end of the movie knowing that some things may or may not have ever happened, but all the same it's a fun movie.It starts out slow with Roger the medical student and his tryings for the school sports teams. He is advised to try rowing but ultimately fails and picks up running instead. Throughout the course of the movie Roger is battled with decisions to become a doctor or a runner, ultimately choosing both.It's a by the numbers sports story. Unassuming hero has love problems, becomes good at what he does, starts to doubt himself but eventually overcomes his insecurity to triumph. You know from the get go something is good is going to happen but it suspends your belief enough where the thought of him actually triumphing starts to wain, but obviously he does.Good movie and I highly recommend it.