Fifty years ago there was nothing like the same mass enthusiasm for running when 20th century fox published Games, a blockbuster about a fictional Olympic marathon.

Promotional posters proclaimed “Once every four years the world goes to war and they call it the Games”.

The director was Michael Winner, later to enjoy a successful career in Hollywood.

“What attracted me to the movie was the simple gesture these people are trying to do,” Winner said.

“I mean run 42 km? It’s really crazy, you could go by bus.”

At one point, executives weren’t even sure if production would continue.

He ultimately lost millions and reviews were mixed.

Winner described him as “a movie monster”.

Entertainment newspaper Variety declared it “long on production values ​​and nothing else.”

Based on a bestselling novel by Australian author Hugh Atkinson, it was adapted for film by Erich Segal.

He received the green light from movie mogul Richard Zanuck, himself a running enthusiast. He was full of enthusiasm after attending the Olympic Games in Mexico City.

According to World sports magazine, it was “a series of colorful backdrops culminating in the beautifully simulated pain and anguish of the marathon that contains a superb film stunt”.

The winner had directed Jokers, a comedy starring Michael Crawford who was later engaged by 20th century fox.

He was chosen as milkman Harry Hayes. In a first scene, he passes the captain of the local racing club in Windsor Great Park, while carrying a crate of milk.

To the question “Who are you running for?” “He replies” the customers “.

As Hayes improves, former bitter athlete Bill Oliver appears as his coach played by Stanley Baker. The winner described the character as “manic”.

In real life, the actors were conditioned by Gordon Pirie, a three-time Olympian and 5000m silver medalist, who stood out for his high mileage in training.

Crawford quit smoking and spent five months training.

“He became convinced that he was one of the great runners in history,” wrote Winner.

French singer Charles Aznavour played aging champion Pavel Vendek, based on legendary Czech racer Emil Zatopek.

Producers were only convinced of Aznavour’s suitability when he provided a photograph showing his legs.

It was essential that the film had an American star.

Ryan O’Neal was a familiar face in the soap opera Peyton Square and play Scott Reynolds “a fun-loving American college boy” with a secret heart problem.

The character then took drugs to improve his chances and ends the movie in an ambulance.

For O’Neal himself, the performance earned him the head of the blockbuster film. Love story.

The other prominent “athlete” was Australian native runner Sunny Pintubi, played by Sydney postman Athol Compton.

He had previously auditioned for a small role on television and impressed viewers. He had raced in high school, but admitted “I was never very good at racing. Sometimes I came first in my heat, but usually only second or third in the final.”

Executives had approached world bantamweight boxing champion Lionel Rose, who was Australia’s most famous indigenous sportsman, but he declined the role.

Meanwhile, Compton flew to Los Angeles to audition.

“The producer shook my hand and said ‘How would you like to make a Sunny movie?’,” Compton recalls.

It was a time of civil rights protest and Compton took part in a march in Sydney to promote Indigenous education.

In the film, his character is approached by activists in clear reference to the demonstrations of Black Power at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

The film had a budget of over $ 5million (£ 4million / € 4.6million), equivalent to $ 200million (£ 160million / € 184million) in current terms with filming in five countries.

Following the Prague Spring and the Soviet invasion that followed in 1968, it proved impossible to film in Czechoslovakia, so they shot scenes in Vienna.

In Tokyo, production staff were chased by police as they blocked traffic.

In Australia, they filmed in the outback of Queensland in Aramac, {a settlement previously known as Marathon} despite a severe drought, but the majority of the film was shot in Italy and England.

The producers had chosen Rome, hoping that footage of the actual 1960 Olympic marathon could be cut.

This turned out to be impossible and the producers had to start from scratch.

The film’s finale was actually shot first.

Initially, the film unit also headed to the 1969 Southern Region Cross Country Championships at Prospect Park in Reading.

Local Evening shift announced: “The athletes will have the opportunity to test their abilities against a movie star next week.

“While moviegoers will see Crawford winning the race, he won’t finish the whole course, but he got into the race this week.”

Crawford was filmed as the real race was taking place behind him and was shown crossing the line as the “winner” of the race.

The record books show that the real winner was Tim Johnston of Portsmouth, an Olympic marathoner the previous year in Mexico.

Johnston finished 22 seconds ahead of Bob Holt of Hercules-Wimbledon.

Respected athletics statistician Mel Watman, then editor-in-chief of Weekly Athletics magazine received an angry letter from Holt which read: “Crawford, along with Bruce Tulloh, caught up with Johnston and myself leading the pack after three miles and additionally ran at a faster pace than we were running.

“If their activities had ceased here I probably wouldn’t have put pen to paper, but I think Crawford’s participation at the end of the race shouldn’t go without comment.

“This final ‘take’ should never have been allowed and I would be interested to know if the organizers knew in advance that this was to take place.”

The Daily Mirror‘s Seasoned columnist Peter Wilson thundered: “I’m somewhat opposed to introducing a ‘racetrack’ note into serious sport” before giving some advice to ‘intrusive’ filmmakers on ‘treading our sports’.

Terry Dooris, a leading figure in running and orienteering wrote: “The organizers were consulted by the director for each scene and it is a known fact that the finish would not have been filmed. if there had been a battle for first place and any intrusion could have affected the result. “

Major footage of the stadium was filmed at White City Stadium in London and the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

“We had two stadiums that had to be full of people, you can do that on a computer today, but that was in 1969,” Winner told the British Film Institute in 2012.

Instead, fiberglass mannequins were made to populate the booths alongside the movie’s “extras”.

Although filmed in winter, the climate race in Rome was supposed to take place in the height of summer.

There have been conflicts with the extras unions. Those who weren’t hired wore full winter clothes and tried to appear “out of the way” to disrupt the shoot.

“A deal” was made to close the roads, but word had not filtered through all sections of the Roman police trying to stop production staff as they held back the crowds.

The winner described the whole process as “anarchy”.

The International Olympic Committee threatened legal action for the use of the Olympic rings in the film, but filming continued after Winner produced a written contract from the Italian Olympic Committee that even provided Olympic flags for filming.

Shortly before the climactic run begins, there is an intriguing dialogue as Baker’s trainer sets the incredulous character of Crawford as the target.

“The two hour marathon. In a hundred years, they will tell their children about it.”

It’s strange to think that it was shot almost half a century before Eliud Kipchoge’s successful record attempt.

Australian running stars Herb Elliott, Ron Clarke and Derek Clayton were among the extras.

TV commentators filmed describing the action included 1960 decathlon champion Rafer Johnson, BBC TV ‘s Ron Pickering, also a track and field coach, and Adrian Metcalfe, Olympic silver medalist in the 4x400m relay.

the New York Times described the race as “a photographic knockout.”

Crawford’s Hayes is exhausted after his trainer harangues him one last time.

The actor’s performance at the finish echoed Jim Peters’ marathon ordeal that staggered and passed just before the finish at the Vancouver Commonwealth Games in 1954.

“I remember the photos so well that they didn’t have to show them to me again,” Crawford told his international fan club.

Peters was present to make sure the scene was accurate and said: “It was a bit strange.

“It looked so good it brought back memories.”