Happy Monday. It's time to get Mighty! Ryan is here to help review the 1993 classic, Rookie of the Year. 

ABOUT COOL RUNNINGS:

When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR COOL RUNNINGS:

October 1, 1993 | Theaters

CAST & CREW OF COOL RUNNINGS:

• Leon as Derice Bannock
• Doug E. Doug as Sanka Coffie
• Rawle D. Lewis as Junior Bevil
• Malik Yoba as Yul Brenner
• John Candy as Irving “Irv” Blitzer

BRAN'S COOL RUNNINGS SYNOPSIS: 

We're in Jamaica, and it's not quite bobsled time. We meet Jamaican sprinter Derice running through town. It's November 1987, and Derice is preparing to qualify for the Olympics. He runs until he reaches the pushcart competition, where his best friend Sanka competes in the big pushcart race. Sanka crashes, but no problem—Derice keeps running.

It's time for the qualifying race. Derice is the clear favorite. The top four finishers will represent Jamaica in the Olympics. Unfortunately, the runner next to him, Junior, stumbles and takes Derice down with him.

Derice tries to convince the Olympic committee leader to rerun the race, but it's a no-go. On his way out, he notices a picture of his late father standing next to another man. He asks who it is, and learns that it’s Irv Blitzer, a fellow gold medalist who once competed in bobsledding. Irv lives in Jamaica now, working as a bookie and living a miserable life.

It takes a while, but Derice finally wears him down, and Blitzer agrees to give him a shot. They gather a group of people together, but Blitzer scares them off by showing a reel of bobsled crashes. By the time it ends, the room is empty—except for one of the other runners who fell with Junior, a grumpy guy named Yul. The problem is, there’s no such thing as a three-man bobsled team. That’s when Junior shows up. Yul tries to fight him when he walks in, but—like it or not—that’s their squad.

They get to work, and after a lot of crashing and falling, they finally manage to get into the bobsled in under six seconds.

Now they need funding. After failing to land a sponsor, they try random fundraisers, but still fall short. Junior steps up and sells his fancy car to cover the rest of the costs.

To Calgary they go. Blitzer registers the team and borrows a rundown bobsled from a former teammate. The Jamaicans struggle to adapt to, well, ice. Derice talks to an opponent who warns him that Blitzer is holding him back—that he hasn’t been the same since he was caught cheating.

Meanwhile, the other teammates get into a bar fight at a honky-tonk. Derice gives them a pep talk about locking in and focusing.

It’s time for qualifying, and Blitzer surprises them with their very own uniforms. They need to make it under 60 seconds—and THEY DO IT!

They celebrate by painting their sled and naming it Cool Runnings. But soon after, they receive a letter: they’ve been disqualified. Blitzer storms into the rules committee meeting, insisting they not penalize the team for his past mistakes. After deliberation, the committee reinstates them.

It’s Olympic time. Back home, everyone watches as they march in the opening ceremonies. Junior’s dad tries to pull him back home, but Junior stands up to him at last.

The team’s first run on the track is a disaster, and they finish dead last. Derice tries copying the Swiss team’s methods, but Sanka pushes back—telling him they need to be themselves. On the second day, they race in their own style and finish eighth.

During their final race, a loose screw causes one of the bobsled’s blades to detach, sending the sled crashing and flipping over. Determined to finish, the team lifts the sled and carries it across the finish line. The crowd erupts in applause—including Junior’s father.

The epilogue explains that the team returned to Jamaica as heroes, and came back four years later to the Winter Olympics to compete as equals.

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