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Cool Runnings

1993 film directed by Jon Turteltaub

Cool Runnings is a 1993 comedy film about the exploits of the Jamaican Bobsled Team at Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Written by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow, and Michael Goldberg.
One Dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty Below Zero.

Dialogue

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Derice: [knocks the wheels off a pushcart] That's a Bobsled.
Sanka: Oh, so a bobsled is a pushcart with no wheels.
Derice: [opens a book] It's what it looks like here.
Sanka: Let me see that, [Derice hands Sanka the book] Alright... "The key elements for a successful sled team are a steady driver and three strong runners to push off down the ice..." ICE? [to Derice] Ice!
Derice: Well... it's kind of a winter sport, ya know?
Sanka: You mean winter, as in ICE?
Derice: Maybe.
Sanka: You mean winter, as in igloos and Eskimos and penguins and ICE?
Derice: Possibly.
Sanka: [hands the book back] See ya.
Derice: Where you going?
Sanka: I'm going to take a hot bath, I'm getting cold just thinking about all this ice.
Derice: No man, you're going to be part of my bobsled team.
Sanka: What do you need me for?
Derice: Who is the best pushcart driver in all of Jamaica?
Sanka: You're looking at him!
Derice: Then you gotta do it?
Sanka: NO!
Derice: Hey man, you could be famous, you could have your picture on a Wheaties box. But you said no and that's alright because I don't need ya, everybody is gonna want to be on my bobsled team.
Sanka: Look Star, let tell you a little somethin', alright? When you need somethin' from me, you don't have to hand me a bunch of lines. All you have to do is look at me in the eye and say, "Sanka, you are my best friend, we been through a whole heap together and I really, really need you."
Derice: Sanka, you right, and you are my best friend, and we been through a whole lot together...
Sanka: Heap, heap.
Derice: Sorry man, whole heap together.
Sanka: "And I really, really need you."
Derice: And I really really need you.
Sanka: ...Forget it!
Derice: But you just said if I said that, mon...
Sanka: Alright, alright, alright, alright, mon.
[They hug.]
[Sanka is arguing with Irv over who should be the team driver.]
Sanka: You don't understand. I am Sanka Coffie. I am the best pushcart driver in all of Jamaica! I must drive! Do you dig where I'm coming from?
Irv: Yeah, I dig where you're coming from.
Sanka: Good.
Irv: Now dig where I'm coming from. I'm coming from two gold medals. I'm coming from nine world records in both the two- and four-man events. I'm coming from ten years of intense competition with the best athletes in the world.
[pause]
Sanka: That's a hell of a place to be coming from!
[Belittled by the East German team, Junior gets shoved into a bathroom by Yul and stood in front of its mirror]
Yul: Now look in the mirror and tell me what you see.
Junior: I see Junior.
Yul: You see Junior. Well, you want to know what I see? I see pride. I see power! I see a bad-ass mother who don't take no crap off nobody!
Junior: You really see all that?
Yul: Yeah, man. But it's not about what I see. It's about what you see. Now look in this mirror and tell me again what you see.
Junior: [clears throat, hesitantly] I see...
Yul: Pride!
Junior: Pride. Right.
Yul: Power!
Junior: [more confidently] Power. And I see...
Yul: ...a bad-ass mother...
Junior, Yul: ...who won't/don't take no...
Junior: ...crap off of nobody!
Yul: Again!
Junior: I see pride!
Yul: Can't hear you!
Junior: I see power! I see a bad-ass mother who won't take no crap off of nobody!
Yul: Once again!
Junior: I see pride!
Yul: Junior!
Junior: I see power! I see a bad-ass mother who won't take no crap off of nobody!
Yul: That's right!
Junior: [storming out of bathroom] That's right! Junior Bevil!
Yul: Wait. W-W-Where you going?
Sanka: So what are we going to name the sled?
Junior: How about...Talulah.
Rest of team: [Laughing] Talulah!
Sanka: Sounds like a two-dollar hooker. How'd you come up with that?
Junior: It's real. That's my mother's name. [Embarrassed silence, then Team converses in agreement that Talulah is a good name]
Sanka: [to Derice] What's it gonna be, star? What are the people gonna be screaming when Jamaica takes the hill?
Derice: I say we call it, 'Cool Runnings.'
Junior: Beautiful, I like it.
Yul: Very strong.
Coach Irv: Nice, very nice, but... what exactly does it mean?
Derice: Cool runnings means, "peace be the journey."
Team: [Toasting] Cool Runnings.
Messenger: Excuse me... [gives Coach Irv a letter and leaves]
Sanka: [Toasting] To the man in the orange suit. [Toasting after man leaves] To the messenger.
Coach Irv: [Ashen-faced, after reading the letter] We are officially...disqualified.
 
Hell, it doesn't matter if they come in first or 50th. Those guys have earned the right to represent their country. They've earned the right to march into that stadium and wave their nation's flag. That's the single greatest honor an athlete can ever have. That's what the Olympics are all about.
[At the IAWS meeting, Irv confronts the council about why the Jamaicans were disqualified]
British Alliance Member: We must also be concerned about the potential for embarrassment.
Irv Blitzer: Oh, forgive me. I didn't realize that four black guys in a bobsled could make you blush. [British panelist goes quiet]
IAWS Officer: I think we've heard enough.
Irv: [pleads] Come on, Kurt, what you're doing is wrong and you know it! Now if this is about you and me, let's get it straight right now.
[Kurt stops for a moment as well as the IAWS. He expects a confession from Irv and isn't disappointed when Irv speaks]
Irv: All right, 16 years ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life - I cheated. I was stupid. I embarrassed myself, my family, my teammates, my country... [points to Kurt] and my coach. If it's revenge you want, take it. Go ahead, disqualify me, banish me! Do whatever you want, but do it to me! It was me who let you down, Kurt! It wasn't my guys! They've done everything you've asked of them! And they did it with all of you laughing in their face. Hell, it doesn't matter if they come in first or 50th. Those guys have earned the right to represent their country. They've earned the right to march into that stadium and wave their nation's flag. That's the single greatest honor an athlete can ever have. That's what the Olympics are about. Sixteen years ago, I forgot that. Don't you go and do the same. Sorry if I interrupted your meeting. [walks out]
[Junior Bevil is conflicted about his father coming to Calgary to fetch him]
Whitby Bevil Sr: Now you listen to me, boy. You might not have done what you were asked, but you will do what you're told. You're coming home.
Junior Bevil: Yeah, but father, you know, I just–
Whitby: But nothing!! I didn't send you to the finest school for you to... go around sliding on your back side! You must be mad.
Junior: Yeah, but the team needs me-
Whitby: I don't want to hear any more about it. [Elevator door opens] Go and get your things. [Junior Bevil stands aside to usher his father into the elevator] I'll wait in the lobby.
Junior: [Murmurs] Pride, Power... [Stops elevator] Father, when you look at me, what do you see?
Whitby: I don't have time for games, Junior.
Junior: Tell me what you see, please!
Whitby: All right, I'll tell you what I see. I see a lost little boy, who's lucky to have a father who knows what's best for him.
Junior: [Stops elevator again] No, no, no, no, you don't know what's best for me, Father. I am not a lost little boy, Father. I am a man, and I'm an Olympian. I'm staying right here. [Elevator door closes with a sad Whitby Sr inside]
Yul: [having seen the exchange] Hey, Junior Bevil. You're a bad-ass mother.
 
If we look Jamaican, walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican and IS Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican.
[Coach Irv has reprimanded the team over their run earlier in the day]
Derice: You know, when the Swiss want to ge....[Team groans]
Sanka: Ah, will you shut up about the damn Swiss! I mean, it was all that "eins, zwei, drei" nonsense that got us all nervous in the first place.
Derice: Hey, man, look here, I'm just trying to get us off on the right foot.
Sanka: Well, the right foot for us is not the Swiss foot. I mean, come on, Derice, we can't be copying nobody else's style. We have our own style.
Derice: Kissing an egg is no kind of style. It's the Olympics here, it's no stupid pushcart derby. [Long pause]
Sanka: Let me tell you something, rasta, I didn't come up here to forget who I am and where I come from.
Derice: Neither did I. I'm just trying to be the best I can be.
Sanka: So am I, and the best I can be is Jamaican. Look, Derice, I've known you since Julie Jeffreys asked to see your ding-a-ling. [Derice smiles] And I'm telling you as a friend...if we look Jamaican, walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican and IS Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican.
[at a club somewhere in Jamaica, as the team's second run goes surprisingly well]
Olympic Announcer: Where did these guys come from?
Crowd At Bar: [shouts at TV] JAMAICA!!!!
Irv: Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it.
Derice: Hey, coach, how will I know if I'm enough?
Irv: When you cross that finish line, you'll know.
[the team has just crashed in the medal run]
Sanka: Derice! You dead?
Derice: No, man, I'm not dead. [removes his helmet] We have to finish the race.
Irv: [pushing through spectators to reach the crash] Excuse me, please. Excuse me.
[sees the team carrying the sled over the finish line, to applause and cheers from the crowd]
Grool: [shakes Derice's hand] Sehr gut, Jamaica. We'll see you in four years, ja?
Derice: Yeah, man.
Yul: [grabs Junior] Junior Bevil! [kisses him on the forehead] That doesn't mean that I like you.
Junior: We split. [they laugh and hug each other]

Taglines

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  • One Dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty Below Zero.
  • Jamaican Bobsledders?
  • Inspired by the true story of Jamaica's first Olympic bobsled team.

Cast

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