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Running Brave
View on Wikipedia| Running Brave | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Donald Shebib (credited as D.S. Everett) |
| Written by | Henry Bean Shirl Hendryx |
| Based on | life of Billy Mills |
| Produced by | Ira Englander |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | François Protat |
| Edited by | Peter Zinner |
| Music by | Mike Post |
Production companies | Walt Disney Pictures (uncredited) Englander Productions |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million |
| Box office | $3 million |
Running Brave is a 1983 Canadian biographical sports drama film[1][2] based on the story of Billy Mills, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe located in South Dakota. Mills was born on the reservation, and later attended the University of Kansas [3] where he was recruited by the Olympic running team[1][4] and won the gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics for the 10,000 meter race.[5] In one of the great upsets in sports history, Mills sprinted from third place for the win. After Mills won gold, he served his community by working to provide scholarships to Native American youth. Mills is still the only American in history to win the Olympic 10,000 meter run. Robby Benson portrays Mills. Pat Hingle and a young Graham Greene also star.
Plot
[edit]The story of Billy Mills, the Native American who came from obscurity to win the 10,000-meter long-distance foot-race in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
Billy Mills Background
[edit]Billy Mills was born on an Indian reservation in South Dakota named Pine Ridge. As Mills grew up, he never knew that his family lived in poverty, and he did not get to experience the life of an American child. Mills would leave the reservation with his family and experience an unsettling amount of racism due to Mills being Native American. As he was growing up, Mills had a stellar school system for his part of the reservation, but he never learned what it was actually like outside of the reservation, and what it meant to live the “American Dream”. As a child, Mills was always an extremely active kid; he would constantly go on long bike rides and swim across lakes and bodies of water with his friends. He claims that most of his cardiovascular strength is attributed to the amount of time he spent running around and building stamina as a child.[6]
When Mills was eight years old, his mother passed away, and then four years later, when Mills was twelve, his father passed away as well. Due to this, Mills was sent to a Native American boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas, where he started to run. As Mills ran throughout his high school years, he began to become a standout runner and was able to earn a scholarship to run at the University of Kansas.
As Mills spent four years at the University of Kansas, he experienced many hardships and racial outstrikes against him, because it was extremely uncommon to see a Native American runner. Mills claims that his support system at Kansas was the reason why he found success, and that his teammates and coaching staff always had his back when he faced racial discrimination. When Mills was at Kansas, he was a three-time All-American and helped the Jayhawks win two national championships.
After Mills graduated from Kansas, he joined the United States Marines, hoping to work to be an officer. Although he was enlisting in the Marines, he was still training for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. He went on countless amounts of 25-mile runs and pushed his body to be in the best shape possible. He qualified for the 10,000-meter race and was determined to win gold to prove all the people wrong who said he could not do it.[7]
Mills proved the world wrong and won a gold medal in the 10,000-meter race in dramatic fashion. Up to the present day, Mills is still the only American to win gold in the 10,000-meter. Now, Mills created and works for a non-profit organization named Running Strong for the Native American Youth, where he provides ten $10,000 scholarships to Naive American kids to make their dreams and aspirations come true. In 2012, President Barack Obama heard about Mills' story and awarded him a Presidential Citizens Award for his work with the Native American youth.[8]
Cast
[edit]Per Turner Classic Movies.[9][10]
- Robby Benson as Billy Mills
- Pat Hingle as Coach Bill Easton
- Claudia Cron as Pat
- Graham Greene as Eddie
- Wendell Smith as Chris Mitchell
- Jeff McCracken as Dennis Riley
- August Schellenberg as Billy's Father
Production
[edit]The film was directed by Donald Shebib, ultimately crediting himself with "D.S. Everett" due to an editing dispute.[11] Donald Shebib has also directed other popular films, including Goin' Down the Road, Down the Road Again, Nightalk, and Between Friends. During the filming of Running Brave, Donald Shebib actively used Billy Mills to make sure the film would be historically accurate.[12]
Reception
[edit]Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[13]
Rotten Tomatoes polled Running Brave an 84% on the popcornmeter out of 100%[14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Harkness, John (February 1984). "D.S. Everett's Running Brave". Cinema Canada (104): 18–19.
- ^ Berumen, Frank Javier Garcia (2019). "Representative Films: Running Brave". American Indian Image Makers of Hollywood. McFarland. pp. 200–201. ISBN 9781476636474.
- ^ "Billy Mills: Hero to Native Americans and Olympians everywhere | NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA". www.ncaa.org. Archived from the original on 2015-05-01.
- ^ Paraschak, Victoria (2000). "Billy Mills". In Kirsch, George B. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States. Greenwood. p. 317. ISBN 9780313299117.
- ^ Burfoot, Amby (2009). "Appreciating Your Opponents". Runner's World Complete Book of Running: Everything You Need to Run for Weight Loss, Fitness, and Competition. Rodale Books. p. 142. ISBN 9781605295794.
- ^ "Billy Mills at Tokyo 1964 Olympics - One of the Greatest Upsets in Olympic History | USOPMuseum". United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
- ^ "Billy Mills". SDPB. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
- ^ "Billy Mills - Co-Founder & Olympic Champion". Indian Youth. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
- ^ "Running Brave (1983) - Full Credits - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- ^ Running Brave (1983) - Full cast & crew - IMDb. Retrieved 2025-11-14 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ Walz, Eugene P., ed. (2002). Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films. Amsterdam; New York: Editions Rodopi B.V. p. 21. ISBN 9042012099. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "Donald Shebib | Director, Editor, Writer". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
- ^ The Spokesman-Review. The Spokesman-Review.
- ^ "Running Brave | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
External links
[edit]Running Brave
View on GrokipediaHistorical Basis
Billy Mills' Background and Challenges
Billy Mills was born on June 30, 1938, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, as a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe.[5] His mother, of one-quarter Lakota ancestry, died of complications from tuberculosis and cancer when Mills was eight years old, leaving him in the care of his father and extended family amid pervasive reservation poverty.[6] Five years later, at age twelve, his father—who was three-quarters Lakota—passed away, orphaning Mills and prompting his placement with relatives and eventual institutional care, where he confronted alcoholism, hopelessness, and limited opportunities common to the reservation environment.[6][7] In response to these hardships, Mills channeled his energy into running, initially as a means of physical escape and discipline, while attending the Haskell Institute, a federal boarding school for Native Americans in Lawrence, Kansas.[8] His high school achievements in cross-country and track, including national-level mile times, secured an athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he competed under coach Bill Easton despite facing racial discrimination, such as being excluded from team photographs due to his skin tone and rejection from fraternities over ethnic biases.[9][10] These encounters underscored broader societal prejudices against Native Americans, yet Mills persisted through personal determination, graduating in 1962 with a degree in physical education.[11] Following graduation, Mills commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1962 to 1965 and resuming rigorous training that rebuilt his competitive edge after college setbacks.[12] During this period, he married Pat Krievans, whose emotional support proved instrumental in navigating his internal conflicts over mixed heritage—half Lakota and half white—which fueled a sense of cultural dislocation and self-doubt about belonging in either world.[13] Mills later reflected that societal acceptance of his "white half" contrasted sharply with rejection of his Native identity, reinforcing his reliance on individual resilience rather than external validation to overcome hypoglycaemia, depression, and underestimation as an athlete.[14][11]1964 Olympic Triumph
Billy Mills qualified for the 1964 U.S. Olympic team by finishing second in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Trials, having ramped up his training to approximately 100 miles per week while serving as a Marine Corps officer.[15] Entering the Tokyo Games as a relative unknown with personal best times lagging behind favorites like Australia's Ron Clarke, Mills was viewed as a long-shot underdog, with his victory later described as one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history.[16][17] In the 10,000 meters final on October 14, 1964, under cool and overcast conditions on the red cinder track at the National Stadium, Mills employed a strategy of staying close to the leaders amid a field of nearly 40 runners.[18] With about 200 meters remaining, he surged from sixth place, overtaking Clarke and Mohammed Gammoudi in a dramatic final straightaway to cross the finish line first in 28:24.4, shattering the Olympic record by over three seconds and marking the first U.S. victory in the event.[18][19][20] Mills' success stemmed from rigorous preparation that built endurance, tactical discipline in conserving energy by tracking pacesetters, and mental resilience rooted in personal resolve rather than external expectations.[15][5] He drew inner strength from honoring his Oglala Lakota heritage, incorporating rituals like prayer and symbolic feathers for focus, which sustained him through the race's grueling demands.[21] The win propelled Mills into national prominence, shifting his life toward advocacy while underscoring that his drive prioritized self-validation and cultural pride over acclaim.[22][17]Film Synopsis
Plot Summary
The film opens with Billy Mills as a young Oglala Sioux boy on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, coping with the death of his mother at age eight and later his father, which leaves him orphaned and searching for purpose. He discovers running as an outlet for grief and begins training informally, eventually excelling in high school cross-country competitions and catching the eye of University of Kansas track coach Bill Easton.[23][3] Mills accepts an athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he joins the track team and trains rigorously under Easton, achieving victories such as the 1961 Big Eight Conference championship in the two-mile race. Amid these successes, he grapples with racial discrimination on the predominantly white campus, including derogatory treatment and social isolation, while developing a romantic relationship with Pat, a white student, which draws opposition from her family and his cultural heritage.[24][3][23] Following his college career, Mills enlists in the United States Marine Corps, continuing his distance running training as an officer. He qualifies for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo through the U.S. trials, entering the 10,000-meter event as an underdog. During the race, Mills maintains a mid-pack position before mounting a dramatic late surge to overtake the leaders, securing the gold medal and setting an Olympic record of 28 minutes 24.4 seconds.[2][24][23]
