The Boys in the Boat (2023)
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A group of struggling students from the University of Washington form a rowing team to compete in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
The story
In 1936, Joe Rantz is a poor engineering student at the University of Washington living in an abandoned car with no job and looming tuition fees. When fellow student Roger Morris informs him that the 8+ rowing team offers jobs and boarding, Joe joins the squad. Despite not being traditional rowers, they make the junior varsity team under coach Al Ulbrickson, who is under pressure to beat rivals and qualify for the Olympics. Joe and Roger are primarily motivated by the need for steady food and a dorm room, gladly mopping floors for their tuition while training to find their rowing 'swing'.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
As elderly Joe Rantz watches his grandson rowing, he recalls his time as a poor engineering student at the University of Washington in 1936. Living in an abandoned car, Joe joins the junior varsity rowing team with Roger Morris to secure food and housing. Under the guidance of coach Al Ulbrickson, the inexperienced team trains to find their 'swing.' After a surprising victory at the Pacific Coast Regatta, the rowers become campus stars. Al eventually promotes the JVs above his varsity boat to seek an Olympic berth. During practice in New York, Joe is benched after a poor performance following a meeting with his estranged father, but he returns to the boat, realizing it is all he has. The team raises $5,000 to fund their travel to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. In Nazi Germany, despite the illness of stroke oarsman Don Hume and the presence of Adolf Hitler, the team overcomes obstacles. In a tense final, the crew achieves a photo finish victory over Italy and Germany to win the gold medal. The film concludes with the elderly Joe telling his grandson that his eight-man crew was always one.
- First release year
- 2023
- Runtime (minutes)
- 124
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- George Clooney
- Writers
- Mark L. Smith · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Joel Edgerton · Al Ulbrickson Sr.; Callum Turner · Joe Rantz; Peter Guinness; Jack Mulhern; James Wolk; Hadley Robinson; Courtney Henggeler
- Genres
- biographical; sports drama
- Themes
- underdog perseverance; teamwork; overcoming poverty
- Tone and mood
- earnest; slick; relaxing
- Premise and plot tags
- biographical; sports; historical; underdog
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2013 book by Daniel James Brown
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, though it was well-received by audiences.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 54 · scale: 100 · review count: 35; The Messenger · score: 6.2 · scale: 10
- Production trivia
- The film was first screened at the reopened SIFF Cinerama Downtown in Seattle.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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