Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)

Wilma is a television movie that is based on a true story: the life and career of Wilma Rudolph, the African-American athlete, who won three gold medals during the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. It was shown on US television in 1977 and released on DVD in 2015. Here is some basic information about it:

*** Written, produced and directed by Bud Greenspan

*** Run time: 100 minutes

*** Bonus features: four items = 32 minutes

*** Total run time: 132 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Shirley Jo Finney as Wilma Rudolph

** Rejane Magloire as Wilma (age 12)

** Piper Carter as Wilma (age 4)

** Cicely Tyson as Blanche Rudolph – Wilma’s mother

** Joe Seneca (1919-1996) as Ed Rudolph – Wilma’s father

** Denzel Washington as Robert Eldridge (age 18)

** Larry Scott as Robert (age 12)

** Norman Matlock as Dr Gordon

** Charles Blackwell as CC Gray – basketball coach

** Jason Bernard as Ed Temple (1927-2016) – track coach

** Pauletta Pearson as Mae Faggs (1932-2000) – Olympic athlete

[Wilma is played by three different actors, to mark three different ages. Her childhood friend Robert is played by two different actors, to mark two different ages. The older Robert is played by a young Denzel Washington who appears in his first television movie. On the set he met Pauletta who plays Mae Faggs. When they married in 1983, she took his last name; and now she is known as Pauletta Washington.]

Since the movie is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them here. If you wish to know more about the main characters, you can simply google their names.

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) won a bronze medal during the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956. At the time she was only 16. Four years later, in 1960, she won three gold medals during the Olympic Games in Rome: the 100 m dash, the 200 m dash, and the 400 m relay where she was one of four runners.

No woman had ever done anything like this before. After her triumph in Rome she was described as “the fastest woman in the world.” This was no small accomplishment, but her performance is even more impressive when we know that Wilma had been struck down by polio at the age of four and had been told that she would never walk again.

She proved the doctors wrong. Not only did she walk; she went on to become the fastest female runner in the world. This movie presents the story of her life and her career as an outstanding athlete.

The first scene is from the opening of the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, but this is merely an introduction. From 1960 we go back in time, back to 1944, when Wilma was just four years old and was paralyzed by polio. From this point in time the story moves forward, step by step, until we reach the starting point, the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. This time we get to see the three races in which Wilma won her gold medals. The movie ends with her great triumph.

There are four bonus features on the DVD:

** An interview with Bud Greenspan – 24 minutes

** A brief biography of Wilma Rudolph – 6 minutes

** A photo gallery – 2 minutes

** A trivia quiz

What do reviewers say about this movie? On IMDb it has a rating of 61 per cent, which corresponds to three stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is quite appropriate.

On the US version of Amazon there are 37 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.2 stars. If you ask me, this average rating is too high. Why? I cannot give this movie four or five stars, because it has two major flaws. Let me explain:

First of all, there is too much focus on the time before 1960 and nothing about the time after this year. Moreover, one important event before 1960 is not covered: the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne during which Wilma won a bronze medal.

Australia is mentioned in a scene set in 1955, because Wilma is going there. Australia is mentioned in a scene set in 1957, because Wilma has been there. But no scene is set in Melbourne in 1956.

The journey to Australia? Not covered. The race in Melbourne in which she won a bronze medal? Not covered. The journey back to the US? Not covered. At the time, Wilma was only 16, and she had never been abroad before. This must have been the journey of her life. But it is not covered. The decision to eliminate this event is most unfortunate.

The movie was made in 1977 (while Wilma was still alive). The movie-makers could - and should - have covered her life until 1975. But there is nothing. The movie stops with the triumph in 1960. It would have been good to show what happened to this famous athlete after she retired. Her life did not stop in 1960, so why does the movie have to stop with this year?

Secondly, one important aspect is totally missing from the movie: this story takes place during the Jim Crow era. Segregation was the order of the day in many US states. Here are three examples:

# 1. When Wilma and her team were in Texas preparing for the Olympic Games in 1960, a bus driver refused to drive an integrated team to the stadium, i.e. a team which included black athletes. He was replaced by another bus driver after a while. This revealing episode is not mentioned in the movie.

# 2. When Wilma was in Rome in 1960, she had a personal reason to hope for victory: she wanted to win in order to pay tribute to Jesse Owens, the famous African-American runner, who won four gold medals during the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936. He was a big inspiration for her, but he is never mentioned in the movie.

# 3. After the triumph in Rome, Wilma returned to the US where her hometown Clarksville wanted to celebrate her victories. Wilma insisted that the homecoming parade and the gala banquet should be an integrated event, and the city accepted her wish. The parade and the banquet were the first fully integrated events in the city’s history. But this event is never mentioned in the movie.

To sum up: (1) the structure of the movie is unfortunate, with too much focus on (often irrelevant) scenes before 1960, and nothing about the time after that year; (2) the question of civil rights, of human rights, is completely ignored.

The main character is a black woman, who is winning races all over the world, at a time when women were facing discrimination by men and a time when African-Americans were facing discrimination by whites. But this aspect is completely ignored.

The story of Wilma Rudolph is important. It deserves to be told. But this movie is not quite successful. It has two major flaws, which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star for each of them. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of three stars.

PS # 1. Wilma’s autobiography Wilma was published in 1977.

PS # 2. Ed Temple’s autobiography Only the Pure in Heart Survive was published in 1980. The foreword is written by Wilma.

PS # 3. For more information, see the following books:

** Wilma Rudolph: Champion Athlete by Tom Biracree (1988)

** Wilma Rudolph: A Biography by Maureen Margaret Smith (2006)

** Wilma Rudolph by Isabel Martin (2014) (only 24 pages) (a book for young readers)

PS # 4. The following articles are available online:

** Bob Bagchi, “50 stunning Olympic Moments. No. 35: Wilma Rudolph’s triple gold in 1960,” the Guardian, 1 June 2012

** Matt Schudel, “Ed Temple, who molded Olympic champions and built Tenn. State dynasty, dies at 89,” Washington Post, 23 September 2016

PS # 5. This disc is from the US (region 1). Do not worry about region codes. The disc runs without any problems on my European laptop when I use a program called VLC Media Player.

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Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)

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