The Essentials: Movies for Kansans (Part 1)

Never did I believe that I would become a life-long-Kansan. As much as I've resisted that thought in my youth and on our gloomiest winters, life outside of Kansas is unimaginable. So let's embrace the beauty, art, and talent that stem from our amber waves of grain, shall we. Inspired by the likes of TCM Presents: The Essentials, here is the Nikki Northstorm's Movie Essentials Series: Movies for Kansans.

Spring is upon us and I have the urge to run, visit Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, and watch, Running Brave. Running Brave, (1983) is a true story about Billy Mills, the only American, to date, to win the Gold in the Men's 10,000 meter at the Olympics. Mills attended Haskell and won a scholarship to run track and field for the University of Kansas and as depicted in the movie, had a hard time adjusting to life off the reservation and battling prejudices toward Native Americans.

Watching this movie was part of our yearly tradition around track season in order to inspire us enough to qualify for the Kansas Relays. Personally, this film is dear to me and I love watching the movie because the story is really good and the campus of Lawrence is so beautiful. Revisiting the lovely campus reminds me of the one year I did qualify for the Relays. Several themes including prejudices, inter-racial dating, and overcoming the odds are all quite common themes for today's sports movie genre; however, at the time the movie was made, these themes were deemed as "complex" and possibly fresh.

Even though Mills' win is a small part of Kansas history in sports, the movie is worth watching if you are a runner or love anything University of Kansas. To add more to your historic Kansas notes, our dear fellow Wichita East High alum, Jim Ryun, was one of two other Kansans to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and was Mills' teammate in 1964. This movie is not critically acclaimed and has its cheesy moments. Robby Benson plays the lead role and is best known as the voice of the Beast in the Disney's animated feature, Beauty and the Beast, and directing a couple of Friends episodes. For your random fashionable tidbit pleasure, Benson's most famous sibling is the Shelli Segal. The most notable of all the actors in the movie is Pat Hingle, who plays the famed track coach, Bill Easton. Please note Hingle. Oddly enough, he will have more of a Kansas connection in future blogs that I have lined up.

Since the movie is more than Mills' win at the Olympics, I'm not spoiling anything by posting this awesome Olympic footage of his fantastic finish in the 10,000 meter run here. It has been deemed by track enthusiast as the most exciting Olympic finishes to date.

The local video stores do not carry this movie. I did plan to check the local libraries regarding this copy, but I got sick and didn't have a chance to make the phone call prior to this post. I assume you can check this rare find through the inter library loan or better yet, Netflix.