| | | If you believe in yourself, anything can happen.|"If you believe in yourself, anything can happen."|The True Story Behind the Greatest Moment in Sports History.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Aspect Ratio 1.33:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Digital Surround, Audio Commentary, Featurettes, Outtakes, 2 Discs
From the studio that brought you The Rookie and Remember the Titans comes the movie everybody loves -- Miracle. Filled with exhilarating nonstop hockey action and heart-racing suspense, it's the inspiring true story behind one of the greatest moments in sports history -- the 1980 United States ice hockey team's triumphant Olympic victory against the Soviet Union. Kurt Russell gives a brilliant performance as the dynamic and determined coach Herb Brooks, who had an impossible dream -- beat the seemingly unbeatable Soviets at their own game. Starting with a handpicked group of 26 undisciplined kids, Brooks coached them to play like they never played before, and turned 20 of them into a team that believed they could achieve the unachievable -- and in the process, united a nation with a new feeling of hope.
"[A] sure-fire crowd-pleaser." Joe Leydon, Variety.com
"An effective exercise in flag-waving nostalgia." Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
"A wonderful docudrama of an undiluted great moment." Michael Booth, Denver Post
"Magnificent! More than a sports film--it's a classic!" ABC-TV
"Inspirational and highly entertaining." CNN
"...treats old-fashioned, emotional material with an intelligence that respects both the story and the audience." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"...the perpetually underrated Kurt Russell (as the late coach Herb Brooks) delivers a brilliant performance of immaculate control." Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
"An extraordinarily exciting, absorbing and satisfying movie." William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Editor's Note
From Walt Disney Pictures comes MIRACLE, an inspiring family drama that combines hockey and history in retelling the story of one of sports' all-time greatest upsets. In 1980, amidst the tense political climate of the Cold War, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) took over as coach of the U.S. Olympic hockey team. With the help of affable assistant coach Craig Patrick (Noah Emmerich), Brooks selected a group of twenty amateur hockey players who faced the daunting task of bringing respectability to their country's floundering program. While Brooks was well aware that his team lacked the talent and experience of the team from Russia, he nonetheless devoted his energy to realizing his lifelong dream: to coach a team to Olympic gold.Stepping into the gaudy wardrobe of the legendary Brooks (who was a consultant on the film and died in an automobile accident just after production wrapped), Russell delivers one of his finest performances to date. Surrounded by a cast of unknown young actors, Russell captures the complexities of a man who dared to dream the impossible dream. Director Gavin O'Connor and screenwriter Eric Guggenheim deftly balance the drama of the game itself with the larger political implications the game inspired, celebrating this truly miraculous moment in time.
| Features | "First Impressions: Herb Brooks With Kurt Russell And The Filmmakers" | | "From Hockey To Hollywood: The Actors' Journey" | | Miracle ESPN Roundtable With Linda Cohn Of ESPN Classic | | 2-Disc Set | | Audio Commentary With Director Gavin O'Connor, Editor John Gilroy And Director Of Photography Daniel Stoloff | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound; French Track | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | The Making Of Miracle | | The Sound Of Miracle Featurette | | THX-Certified, Including THX Optimizer | | THX Certified, Including THX Optimizer | | Full Screen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Audio: English Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound; French Language Track | | Mike Eruzione, Buzz Schneider and Jim Craig Join Kurt Russell in a Journey Back to The Miracle On Ice | | Outtakes | | The Making Of Miracle | | The Sound Of Miracle Behind the Scenes Featurette | | Audio Commentary By Director Gavin O'Connor, Editor John Gilroy and Director of Photography Daniel Stoloff | | First Impressions: Herb Brooks With Kurt Russell and the Filmmakers | | From Hockey To Hollywood: The Actors' Journey Featurette-Turning Hockey Players Into Actors | | Miracle ESPN Roundtable with Linda Cohn-Winning Team Members |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista (Disney) |
| Release Date: 6/6/2006 |
| Running Time: 136 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 3315103 | | UPC: 00786936231922 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
ESPY (2004) |  | Miracle, Winner, Best Sports Movie |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"The movie efficiently delivers the story points." 02/06/2004 Los Angeles Times
"Powered by an excellent Kurt Russell performance, MIRACLE treats old-fashioned, emotional material with an intelligence that respects both the story and the audience." 02/06/2004 p.E1 USA Today
"Like SEABISCUIT, the film ends on a familiar, rousing note of triumph, which is bound to move most audiences with its message of perseverance and belief in one's dreams." 02/06/2004 p.8E Entertainment Weekly
"[Russell is] wonderfully compelling as a tough, taciturn, driven leader....MIRACLE has a good offensive game as an inspirational how-to about team building." 02/13/2004 p.52 Box Office
"MIRACLE succeeds solidly at its main aim: stirringly recreating one of the great sports sagas of all time." 04/01/2004 p.165 Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "Kurt Russell is very good...and it hits all the right marks to make this an exciting and heartwarming flick." 06/17/2009 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
In recent years, Disney has scored a couple of big hits with based-on-real-life sports stories (Remember the Titans and The Rookie). There's no reason that Miracle can't succeed in the same way. The story is as crowd-pleasing as it gets, with the only possible misstep being that the first half (which deals with the assembling of the team) occasionally seems to drag. There's no need to understand hockey to appreciate the film; it has universal appeal. (That being said, anyone with a good hockey background will find that the film works on another level. Ditto for those who remember the 1980 Olympics as more than a distant, background memory.) Miracle is inspirational and uplifting-qualities we are as much in need of today as we were during the winter of 1980.
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
Rah-rah is in the DNA of this rousing film version of how the U.S. hockey team beat the world-champion Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics. When the movie tugs too shamelessly and too long (the running time is 135 minutes) at the heartstrings, there's always Kurt Russell to provide the needed edge. - Peter Travers
Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
"Miracle" is a sports movie that's more about the coach than about the team, and that's a miracle, too. At a time when movies are shamelessly aimed at the young male demographic, here's a film with a whole team of hockey players in their teens and early 20s, and the screenplay hardly bothers to tell one from another. Instead, the focus is on Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), a veteran hockey coach from Minnesota who is assigned the thankless task of assembling a team to represent America in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The United States hasn't won since 1960, and the professionals on the Soviet team -- not to mention the Swedes, the Finns and the Canadians -- rule the sport...In keeping with its analytical style, the movie doesn't use a lot of trick photography in the hockey games. Unlike the fancy shots in a movie like "The Mighty Ducks," this one films the hockey matches more or less the way they might look in a good documentary, or a superior TV broadcast. We're in the middle of the confusion on the ice, feeling the energy rather than focusing on plot points...That leaves Kurt Russell and his character Herb Brooks as the center and reason for the film. Although playing a hockey coach might seem like a slap shot for an actor, Russell does real acting here. He has thought about Brooks and internalized him; the real Brooks was available as a consultant to the film. And Russell and O'Connor create a study of a personality, of a man who is leading young men through a process that led him to disappointment 20 years earlier. He has ideas about hockey and ideas about coaching, and like the Zen master Phil Jackson begins with philosophy, not strategy. The film doesn't even end with the outcome of the Big Game. It ends by focusing on the coach, after it is all over. - Roger Ebert
ReelViews 8 of 10
February 22, 1980. For hockey fans, that day will be forever remembered. "The Miracle on Ice," as it became commonly known, was to some a battle in the Cold War and to others the greatest upset in sports history. But to those who played in the game, it was validation and an opportunity to move on to win an Olympic gold medal. In the United States, hockey has always been the runt of the major sports litter, trailing football, baseball, and basketball in popularity. But, for a few days in Lake Placid 24 years ago, it was suddenly, briefly bigger than all of its siblings...Miracle is a reasonably straightforward re-telling of how the team was assembled, polished, and pushed into battle under the relentless domination of its coach, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell). The film ends with a 20-minute re-creation of the classic game, complete with audio excerpts of the original broadcast by Al Michaels (with his immortal call - "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" - included). For the most part, Eric Guggenheim's screenplay is respectful of the historical record. He takes minimal artistic license, except during some of the quieter scenes when the participants are away from the rink...In recent years, Disney has scored a couple of big hits with based-on-real-life sports stories (Remember the Titans and The Rookie). There's no reason that Miracle can't succeed in the same way. The story is as crowd-pleasing as it gets, with the only possible misstep being that the first half (which deals with the assembling of the team) occasionally seems to drag. There's no need to understand hockey to appreciate the film; it has universal appeal...Miracle is inspirational and uplifting - qualities we are as much in need of today as we were during the winter of 1980. - James Berardinelli
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