We all go to the cinema with different motivations. Some arrive at the movies with a big box of popcorn, sit back and enjoy the entertainment. Some come along and dance in their seat throughout whilst singing along to the soundtracks, while others are on the edge of their seats , investing all of their emotions into the narrative from minute one. It doesn’t matter which group you fall into – we are all cinema goers and we all love to see an underdog achieve. So let’s take a look at movies which upset the odds!
Ask anyone to name a film with an underdog and most will immediately come out with ‘Rocky’. The original in 1976 starring Sylvester Stallone in the lead role as Rocky Balboa very quickly turned into a series culminating in Rocky V in 1990. Subsequently we’ve been treated to Rocky Balboa (2006), Creed (2015) and Creed II (coming in 2018). In the original we see Rocky as a small-time boxer going nowhere in life who is randomly chosen by world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed to fight for the title. Although Creed is the eventual winner on a split points decision, Rocky has fought until the end and leaves with his self-respect and his girl.
This sports film is primarily a comedy, you can’t watch the movie without a big smile on your face and enjoying the fun! In Cool Runnings we see the 4x main protagonists (Jamaican athletes) constantly upsetting the odds throughout. After initially failing to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympics when Junior Bevil trips, falls and takes Derice Bannock and Yul Brenner out of the 100m qualifying race, Derice and his best friend Sanka Coffie resort to bringing all the fallen runners together to take Jamaica to the Winter Olympics in Calgary as a bobsled team. They initially struggle to convince a former bobsled gold medallist to become their coach but soon win him over. Then they face a lack of money with no sponsor taking them on. Initial money making schemes fail before Junior sells his car. Once in Calgary and practicing with an old practice sled, they qualify for the finals but are subsequently disqualified due to their coach’s indiscretion in 1972! Although they eventually are able to compete, the sled breaks and they are left with no medal but the hearts of the crowd when they carry themselves and their sled across the finish line. Released in 1993 but still popular to this day, Cool Runnings features continuous battles to upset the odds.
The film Rounders sees a young Matt Damon, as Mike McDermott, taking on the poker underworld. After losing his $30,000 bankroll to a dangerous criminal early in the film McDermott tried to go straight before succumbing to temptation and being involved in helping his friend so revisits the poker tables. After losing his girlfriend, getting beaten up and rowing with his poker compadre ‘Worm’ McDermott ends up shrewdly winning his money back from the same gangster who fleeced him, with some clever play – and then he avoids the customary beating – all in all a satisfying tale of upsetting the odds. It might just be easier to gamble online at a site like Casumo.
We all think about upsetting the odds on this planet but how about if you weren’t given a good chance of returning from the moon! In the 1995 film Apollo 13, we follow the true story of 3x astronauts who are on the space shuttle for America’s 3rd moon landing mission. All is going smoothly until an explosion leaves them without the majority of their oxygen and electric supply. They never make it to the moon but in spite of the odds of success v failure of getting them back to Earth rated at evens, all 3x astronauts return safely.
Will Smith stars in The Pursuit of Happyness playing San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner. This smash from 2006 shows Will Smith in a very different role to the all-conquering hero he so regularly plays. As he increasingly struggles to make ends meet he finds himself and his five year old son evicted from their San Francisco apartment. Although he successfully gets an internship at a top stock brokerage, the movie follows the narrative of constant hardships, no permanent abode and constantly beating the odds.
We can beat the odds on the sports field, in careers and in space, but sometime the biggest odds we need to upset are related to our health. Enter ‘Breathe’. Starring Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield as a married British couple, Robin Cavendish (Garfield) is given only 3 months to live after contracting polio at the age of 28, unable to breathe without a respirator and paralysed from the neck down. With no reason to live, Cavendish is determined to have his life support removed, but with the support of his wife he slowly improves and is eventually able to return home with the ventilator at his side. This heart-warming film shows how the treatment of polio survivors and other severe ailments allows them to live their lives against all the odds.
Movies are entertainment and no matter what the genre or the cast, you’re never far away from seeing a main character beating the odds.