What Do The Critics Say?

"Told in workmanlike manner by Douglas Mackinnon, best known for British television network dramas, directing episodes and series such as "Bodies", "The Last Detective", "A Good Thief" and "Silent Witness", the narrative is serviceable without allowing the film to soar to the heights of Chariots, Hugh Hudson’s landmark Scottish sporting saga. Its troubled production history (the project lurched to fruition after various funding disappointments) doubtless contributed to its downbeat aura." Richard Mowe BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE "A typically engaging performance from Johnny Lee Miller takes this slightly above the usual underdog movie cliche. .. Miller might as well change his nationality and be done with it, because three of his best performances: "Trainspotting", "Regeneration", this; have a Scottish connection." Alan Morrison EMPIRE MAGAZINE "Miller gives the right performance, though, and his Graeme is always intently listening to something the rest of us never quite hear. If you ride for pleasure or for sport; or just to get from one place to another; Scotsman is worth seeing." Ty Burr BOSTON GLOBE "The acting is fine. Miller manages to do a great deal of emoting through the film. If you like sports films, this is worth the bucks." Eric Lurio ENTERTAINMENT INSIDERS "Directed by Douglas Mackinnon, "The Flying Scotsman" boasts exciting competitive track cycling footage (one race was shot by the real Obree, riding a bike mounted with a camera). It's not a classic, although it sticks to a classic sports movie formula: maverick underdog overcomes obstacles - personal and professional - to win trophies and prove himself worthy." Steven Rea PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

"The filmmaking is unremarkable, but the obsessiveness of the lead character is infectious enough to make this drama passable entertainment. "The Flying Scotsman" doesn't even try to be much of a sports movie, instead focusing on real-life cyclist Graeme Obree's battle with depression, fights with 'The Man' and his decision to use MacGyver-like know-how to build a perfect bicycle." Peter Hartlaub SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "The film imparts a feel-good glow about the triumph of the underdog in adversity. And the training scenes against scenic backdrops should please tourist authority Visit Scotland. Think Chariots of Fire on bikes, and you’ll have some approximation of "The Flying Scotsman", the true story of Graeme Obree, a Scottish amateur cyclist who in 1994 went on to break the World Hour Record on a machine he built at home." Richard Mowe BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE "A classic tale of the heroic little guy that goes beyond the sport of cycling, told with elegant restraint in this sensitive and beautifully rendered film. Sarah Kaufman WASHINGTON POST "Tells a tale both fast and moving. And when Miller as Obree takes his whirls around the track, it gets your heart pumping and your blood up. "The Flying Scotsman" is a sports bio movie that I really enjoyed about a sport and sports hero I barely knew existed: the World Hour Record competition for bicyclists and its gutsy, tormented and most unusual champion, Graeme Obree." Michael Wilmington CHICAGO TRIBUNE "Jonny Lee Miller delivers his best performance since Sick Boy in Trainspotting in director Douglas Mackinnon’s inspiring against-the-odds cycling flick. It’s stirring stuff from start to finish which will make our friends from north of the border proud to be Scottish. Go See." Johnny Vaughan SUN ONLINE

The Inside Story In July 1993, 27-year-old Scottish racing cyclist Graeme Obree broke the world record for the longest distance traveled in one hour on a bike, previously held for nine years by Francesco Moser, with a distance of 51km. The record lasted less than a week, when it was broken by his long-term cycling rival, Englishman Chris Boardman. But Obree retook the record in April 1994 and was individual pursuit World Champion in 1993 and 1995. At home he also broke the British ten mile individual time trial record in 1993, won the RTTC fifty mile championship the same year and won the twenty five mile championship in 1996. These achievements were all the more remarkable because, until he took the ‘hour record’ for the first time, his riding had been largely amateur, and he certainly did not have large scale sponsorship and development support, unlike other professional cyclists at that time. Instead, in order to develop his technique, he developed a unique riding position (the 'crouch' or 'tuck' position) and constructed a unique bike frame out of household objects to achieve his goal. Obree lists his victory in the pursuit at the World Championships in Colombia in 1995 as the one that brought him greatest pleasure in his career, not simply for winning the coveted rainbow jersey in itself but as a settling of scores with the president of the UCI, cycling's governing body, Hein Verbruggen who had unjustly disqualified him in the previous year's competition with a rule change passed the night before Obree rode. Verbruggen was trackside at the race in Bogota. "My happiest moment was probably winning the world's in Colombia. It was an added incentive to win that Verbruggen was there to present the medals." When asked if he had any regrets he says, "The thing that frustrates me most looking back on my career was not being able to ride the Tour de France. I would have loved to have ridden the prologue and I think I would have had a good chance of winning it." So why didn't he ride? "I still feel I was robbed of part of my career," he says. "I was signed up to ride in the Prologue of the Tour back in 1995, but it was made very obvious to me I would have to take drugs. I said no, no way, and I was sacked by my team." And his feelings when he broke the world hour record? "When I broke the hour record it was my attempt to meet the expectation to feel worthy as a human being. I felt total relief when I heard the gun go off, meaning I had passed Moser's distance. It was the sound of a glass ceiling shattering; no matter what happened after this, I would still be the person who broke the hour and no-one could take that from me." So how is the 'flying scotsman' travelling these days." A recent article reports: In and out of hospital all his life, he has not been in since December. And though he still sees a therapist regularly, he is currently off medication, which given his history is extraordinary. "99.5 per cent of the time, I'm OK," he says. "I get the occasional crash, when everything seems pointless, but I have not been self-harming, which is great." The world premiere of "The Flying Scotsman", about the celebrated but troubled former world champion cyclist Graeme Obree, opened the Sixtyth Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2006. He broke the world one-hour record on a bike of his own design, made partly out of sections of a washing machine. "My biggest regret of my career is mentioning to a journalist that there was a bit from a washing machine in my bike," Obree said. "Now forever I will be remembered as the washing machine guy." The film charts Obree’s victories as well as his struggle with mental health problems. Obree attended the premiere with his devoted wife Anne and two young sons Ewan and Jamie. He is delighted with the results, calling the film "a masterpiece. It’s great that it has this platform at the Edinburgh Film Festival, because I guess it means it’s already succeeded as a film in an artistic sense, on its own merit." He also insists that the film has helped him move on from the crippling depression he has suffered: "The Flying Scotsman is historical for me. It is a kind of closure, a reminder of the man I used to be. I can get on with my life now." However he admits that his first reaction when he heard about his life story being turned into a film was "I’ll believe it when I see it, and I still had doubts until filming started. I’ve been involved in a few documentaries but I was blown away by the depth of preparation involved." Director Douglas Mackinnon put his entire life on hold to make this film. His thoughts on Jonny Lee Miller ("Hackers") who plays him in the film? Jonny Lee Miller was absolutely sound too. He did a brilliant job and took to cycling like a duck to water, coming into work on his bike even on lashing wet mornings. Within days he was copying my hand movements, almost subconsciously, and my autobiography was never out of his hand. I did some body doubling, not because his legs weren’t up to it, but because the sheer quantity of cycling you’ve got to do is amazing." Director Douglas Mackinnon says that Obree committed himself body and soul to the film: "He was completely immersed in it. He cycled behind Jonny on the velodrome track while filming him with a camera strapped to the handlebars." The tenacity of both cast and crew mirrored Graeme’s approach to his sport which he agrees was partly moulded by childhood bullying and subsequent mental health problems. The son of a firm and distant father, a policeman, the young Graeme never took a friend from school home: "I liked trees more than people. Cycling made me feel better, winning made me feel better. My worst subject at school was Physical Education. I was also useless at Metalwork and English. I started cycling with my brother when I was about eleven. It was an escape mechanism. I had this idea that one day I go out for a ride, cycle over the horizon and just disappear. I suppose at school I always wanted to be an explorer. The trouble was that the horizon never came. So Jonny and I took turns." It was his obsessive fear of failure that drove Obree to have another go at the world record, the day after the official attempt: "It didn’t happen for me on the scheduled day, just didn’t work out. But the moment I finished, I decided I was going to have another go the next day. I was feeling absolutely wretched and knew I had to get back on the bike and try again in the morning. Second time around just about everyone had gone, just a few family and friends and a couple of journalists from France were left behind. I went for it, and I did it. I’m the only person in the world to have broken a cycling speed record in a Winter Olympics stadium, on the wrong day, in front of nine people. It was a death or glory moment. I had to do it. The thing had become a complete obsession. When I was going around the track, I noticed nothing but the track in front of me, nothing but the black line I had to cross. I just went for broke." It was a fantastic achievement, prompting the French sports daily L'Equipe to give him front page billing as "L’Incroyable Graeme Obree". Obree admits that he felt compelled to write his autobiography, "The Flying Scotsman". The book so impressed former Labour spin-doctor Alistair Campbell, that he wrote "that it was one of the best books by a sportsman I had ever read, because of the passion with which he described his sporting endeavours, and the palpable, searing honesty of the accounts of his troubled mental history." "You put it all down on paper, you try to get out the feelings that are trapped. It started with a psychologist saying it would do me good and ended up as my life story," Obree explained. "I had to make the decision either to write a book with lots of pictures but not saying much, or a real autobiography saying everything. I want people to know the real person, I want people to understand what it’s like, how it feels." The film adaptation of his book charts the triumphs of a sporting underdog, but with an extra human dimension to the story; he wasn’t just chasing records, he was fighting personal demons in the shape of depression brought on by childhood trauma, bullying and a sense of his own worthlessness. Things got worse for Obree, who was diagnosed with manic depression and one day in 2001 was found hanging, barely alive, from the rafters of his barn. It was his third failed suicide attempt. Five years on, he is upbeat: "Since I wrote my autobiography I’ve found there’s more interest in the mental illness thing than the cycling side of the story, and it will probably be the same for "The Flying Scotsman". But I think in time it’ll be seen as a multi-faceted film; one that appeals to people in different ways. It’s no longer just a rocky story of a cyclist; it’s much deeper than that." Synopsis

From a humble background in Ayrshire, Scotland, Graeme Obree always had to fight for survival. As a grown man, nothing had changed. When his beloved bicycle shop went bust, Graeme had neither the money nor the sponsorship necessary to realize his dream; to compete at the highest level of world cycling. But it was always clear from his complete passion for the sport and his many local wins that he was destined for greatness. With the unwavering support of his wife Anne, despite the fact that they had recently had their first baby, and the help of his close friend and newly-appointed manager Malky, he persevered. With the use of the work shop (and occasional mentoring) of a friendly and peaceful minister, Baxter and of course his racing bike 'Old Faithful', Graeme was finally on his way to the Hamar Velodrome in Norway and the chance to go for the prestigious World Hour Record.

The Verdict "Another of those sports films that could have been a whole lot better had they put a little more emotion into it. As we soon discover, Graeme Obree suffered from bouts of deep depression, but it's safe to say that those who were trackside when he won the world title certainly weren't. The total lack of enthusiasm and emotion at Obree's winning effort detracts from what could have added atmosphere and made "The Flying Scotsman" a truly endearing film. Never the less, there is still enough, charm, mischief and fascination for most who enjoy this genre. Jonny Lee Miller is totally believable as scotish cyclist Obree. His contribution is more than noteworthy. In fact all the performances are fine. Some fine tuning would have made their efforts all the more worthwhile. Well worth a look at, especially if you are a cyclist or a competitive cycling fan. 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THE FLYING SCOTSMAN" stars .......
Jonny Lee Miller ["Hackers", "Trainspotting", "Regeneration" and "Mansfield Park"]; Billy Boyd ["The Soldier's Leap", "Urban Ghost Story" and "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy"]; Laura Fraser ["Good Day for the Bad Guys", "16 Years of Alcohol" and "Land of the Blind"]; Morven Christie ["House of 9" and "Dot.Kill"]; Sean Brown ["The Hunger Artist", "Dear Frankie" and "Accidents"] and 2004 BAFTA Outstanding Achievement Award winner Brian Cox ["Adaptation", "25th Hour", "The Bourne Trilogy", "Match Point" and "Red Eye"] as Douglas Baxter.
"THE FLYING SCOTSMAN" was .......
directed by Douglas Mackinnon [TV'S "London's Burning", "A Good Thief" and "Gifted"]; casting by Maureen Duff [TV'S "Great Expectations", "Goodbye, Mr Chips" and "Tom Brown's Schooldays"]; art direction by Ursula Cleary ["Late Night Shopping", "Ae Fond Kiss" and "One Last Chance"]; costume design by Alexandra Caulfield ["Liam", "The Parole Officer" and "The Mark Of Cain"]; production design by Mike Gunn ["The Acid House", "Late Night Shopping" and "Missing"]; edited by Colin Monie ["The Magdalene Sisters", "Young Adam" and "Hallam Foe"]; cinematography by 2000 Royal Television Society Award winner Gavin Finney ["This Boy's Story", "Alex & Emma" and "Keeping Mum"]; original music by Martin Phipps ["A Red Rose", "Do Armed Robbers Have Love Affairs?" and "Burl's"]. Who's Who?

Jonny Lee Miller Billy Boyd Laura Fraser Morven Christie Sean Brown Brian Cox Joseph Carney Steven Berkoff Philip Wright Adrian Smith Crawford McInally-Kier Jan Plazalski Niall Macgregor Julie Austin

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Graeme Obree Malky Anne Obree Katie Young Graeme Obree Douglas Baxter Child Gang Leader Ernst Hagemann Francesco Moser Chris Boardman First Child Bully Second Child Bully Graeme's Father Graeme's Mother

Run Time 98 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Rialto - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.