History Film / CoolRunnings

-->'''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.
-->'''Sanka''': (beat) …That's a hell of a place to be coming from!

* ChekhovsSkill: Sanka is established early on as the best push-cart driver in Jamaica, so he naturally assumes that he'll be the bobsled driver. {{Subverted}} when Irv makes him the brake man, as driving a bobsled entails more responsibility than Sanka can handle.

-->'''Derice:''' I can't beleive it. I just can't believe it. ''(re their snickering)'' Go ahead, laugh. I wanna see who's laughing when Irv gets here.

* PrecisionFStrike: "Will ya shut up about the ''damn'' Swiss?"

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Junior's wealthy father stubbornly wants his son to devote his career to lucrative businesses far away from athletic sports. Usually, being an Olympian would be an asset in business, but the team's embarrassing first run gives Mr. Bevil proof enough to go to Calgary.

* BadassBoast: After Irv declares how impressed he was with Ben Bannock's 100m dash in 10 seconds flat, Derice tells him, "I've run it in 9.9."

* ChromosomeCasting: {{Downplayed}} -- there are a few prominent women in Jamaica (Derice's wife, Sanka's mom), but all the important characters in Calgary are men.

-->'''Derice:''' I can't belive it. I just can't believe it. ''(re their snickering)'' Go ahead, laugh. I wanna see who's laughing when Irv gets here.

* GrievousBottleyHarm: During the BarBrawl, one of the East Germans prepares to whack Yul with a beer bottle...and Junior hits him first. Then someone else hits Junior.

-->'''Junior:''' You go and get your palace, Yul Brenner.

----

** Mr Coolidge says "Let it go, Derice. You'll have another chance in four years." Everyone in the athletics world knows that four years is a hell of a time for an athlete to remain at peak, and that the Olympics isn't the only major competition. Mr Coolidge would have said "Let it go, Derice. You'll have the Commonwealth Games in 1990."

* BrandX: The IOC is replaced with the fictional "International Alliance of Winter Sports"

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The bobsled the team uses is [[TheAllegedCar a years old practice sled given to them by one of Irv's old teammates]]. While they manage to make it look respectable with a new paint job, [[spoiler:the years of wear and tear eventually cause it to fall apart during the final run and cost the Jamaicans a medal.]]

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Junior's wealthy father stubbornly wants his son to devote his career to lucrative businesses far away from athletic sports.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Jamaicans crash in their final race, but they prove to their countrymen, their fellow Olympians, and themselves that they are true bobsledders and the epilogue reveals the team returns to the next Winter Olympics.]]

* BaldOfAwesome: [[MeaningfulName Yul Brenner]].

* ChromosomalCasting: {{Downplayed}} -- there are a few prominent women in Jamaica (Derice's wife, Sanka's mom), but all the important characters in Calgary are men.

** A variation occurs when they're trying to find someone to sponsor their team, which leads to a montage of various company representatives all laughing at them.

* TechnicianVsPerformer: The Swiss and East German teams are technicians; the Jamaicans are performers. One of those instances where the performers lose (though they nearly win), but still earn the technicians' respect.

** It is implied that Irv's cheating in the 1972 Games got his 1968 gold medals withdrawn. Being disqualified at one Games would not have impacted on his awards from a previous clean performance [[note]]unless his '68 team-mates testified he cheated in that Olympics as well[[/note]] .

'''Derice:''' Yah, mon.

--->'''Irv:''' ''(silently mouthing)'' Yul Brynner?\\

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Yul Brenner's just one letter away.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Jamaicans crash in their final race, but they prove to their countrymen, their fellow Olympians, and themselves that they are true bobsledders.]]

* HaHaHaHaNo: The stock reaction from businessmen whom the team visit for sponsorships.