User Reviews

The story is great but the movie itself is a bit rough. Directed by a TV director, it often seems rough in its continuity. But in spite of that it is a very worthwhile movie of a great true story.

Jonny Lee Miller is Graeme Obree, Glasgow road biker who finds the reality of making ends meet. His bicycle shop is not making money so he is forced to close it and work as a bike messenger. (Not so coincidentally my oldest son, a competitive biker in his 20s in the late 1990s also worked as a bike messenger in a large city.)

Obree had some difficulties as a boy, mainly because his dad was in law enforcement. Some of the older, larger bullies who had shady dads would abuse young Obree, and in one scene holding him down as they urinated on him. But he never told on them, instead held it inside which contributed to his bouts of depression as an adult.

Billy Boyd of 'LOTR' fame plays fellow bike messenger Malky, who becomes Obree's manager when Obree decides to break the records for the one-hour interval around a velodrome track. This was in 1993/1994 and Obree, inspired from different sources, designs and builds his own bike with radical new features.

A good movie about the triumph of the human spirit amidst difficulty and controversy.

"The Flying Scotsman" tells the story of Graeme Obree, a championship cyclist from Glascow, who, in the mid 1990s, twice broke the world speed record using a bike he'd constructed out of washing-machine parts. To achieve his success, Obree had to wage battle against not merely the leaders of the World Cycling Federation - who considered him an upstart and thus did everything they could to try to keep him from competing - but his own personal demons brought on by childhood trauma and clinical depression.

This slight but engaging film boasts an intriguing locale, smooth direction by Douglas Mackinnon and endearing performances by Johnny Lee Miller, Billy Boyd, Laura Fraser and Brian Cox. These serve as effective counterweights to all the sports-underdog, hometown-hero-makes-good clichés inherent in the story.

For the movie makes it clear that Obree did become something of a folk hero for the citizens of Scotland, who are often forced to play second-fiddle to their more haughty neighbors to the south. For a brief but shining moment, however, the nation of Scotland stood atop the world of competitive cycling, all thanks to its Favorite Son, Graeme Obree.

A great movie about the live of Graeme Obree. The movie does a good job of showing the historical context of Mr. Obree's attempt at the one hour record. The intensity of the sport as well as the "inbredness" of cycling at the "hors" professional level (only insiders who are connected with major component manufacturers--and use their equipment--will ultimately be allowed to win). Some of the the timing tends to be off and is not necessarily true to the order of events. I really appreciated the caricature of the WCF officials who stood in the way of his rise to fame. They remind of of the UCI officials that they represent!

Where the movie lacks is on the telling of the story of Graeme's emotional foibles. That element of the story seems disconnected--both within the subplot and with the rest of the movie--and hard to follow. A little bit more closure and development would have been good.

What can a man do when he sets his eyes on something and backs it up with everything he has got? Its people like Graeme Obree who keep giving us answers to such questions. TFS is a tribute to Obree's superhuman determination and physical-limits-defying accomplishments. Its an inspiring work of cinema and did well in showing the viewers what Obree had to go through on his arduous journey.

For me, this movie could have been so much more. There were some high points but some factors just pulled the movie down. The highlight of this movie were a few aspects of the direction by Douglas Mackinnon. The plot was honest & all about the protagonist, Graeme Obree. Obree's personal characteristics & his ingredients for success were aptly on display - raw grit, determination, stubborn, hard-headed, persevering, the hours & hours of practice, the unending sweat. The small things were nicely shown - race to earn that extra 100 bucks, orange & sugar sandwich to provide his body more sugar, "banana" principle for measuring the distance between legs, his exercise routine. Douglas Mackinnon was successful in showing these various aspects of Obree's life and bringing it all together for the viewer. A small mention here to the background music, especially in the first half. Whenever that specific instrumental music was played, it brought about a sense of hope and the thought that either Obree will come up with a new idea or something magical from Obree would follow. Pumped up the tempo !

But the same direction & maybe sheer laziness at it, left me asking for more. I would have liked it better if more time was spent on the primary two things which were different about Obree - cycle and his position. After all, these two things were instrumental for Obree's success. I needed to understand that how can a bicycle made from washing machine parts compete with a bike made by a computer and costed half a million? Though I would not have understood the technicalities, but if the laws of physics (as applied on Obree's bike) were explained in the movie in layman's language, it would have added to the AWE factor. I still don't know why & how Obree arrived at his first cycling position and then to the superman position (was it just the box in the fridge?)

Another low point in the movie and direction/screenplay was the lack of time spent on building up Obree's character. Obree's mental health status could have been delved into in a better & detailed manner. Would have given the viewer a better perspective as to why he tried to commit suicide. I could just guess that his championship loss coupled with his disturbed frame of mind (owing to his childhood bully-memories) led him to end his life. The contrast of the character puzzled me - on one hand, this guy had superhuman grit and perseverance, and on the other hand he was easily disturbed when his childhood bully (now an adult) insults him on the loss of championship.

Jonny Lee Miller was a revelation in the movie. He aptly portrayed what Obree had to go through to achieve what he did. I am sure he could have handled a much more complex Obree's character.

Summary - TFS was a good watch. It wasn't exactly an underdog story but Obree had to fight for all his achievements. All such stories have a feel-good factor attached to them and when all the cinematic aspects come together to create a good piece of cinema, it leaves the viewer with a nice sense of the protagonist's achievement. TFS had some good parts but sadly, it wasn't inspirational. I think the confusion was whether the team wanted to make a sports movie or good dramatic cinema. It came close to both. 7 out of 10 for me.

I will be honest and say that it was more the cast that I was interested in more than the biographical element or what it involved. Basically, set in the 1990's, Graeme Obree (Scottish BAFTA nominated Jonny Lee Miller) was a misfit who started out training on a home-made bicycle to get his chance to break some speed records. His bicycle was made up with the help of some scrap metal and parts of a washing machine, and with plenty of practise he was ready for the track. He managed to set a new record for his near break-neck speed, with a little help and encouragement from friends Malky (The Lord of the Rings' Billy Boyd) and Douglas Baxter (Brian Cox). He tried to do it again, but he has a mishap and falls into a very bad clinical depression, but he does eventually buck up to do it again, and succeed. Also starring Scottish BAFTA nominated Laura Fraser as Anne Obree, Morven Christie as Katie, Steven Berkoff as Ernst Hagemann, Niall Macgregor as Graeme's Father and Julie Austin as Graeme's Mother. Miller is pretty good, but I remember him a bit better in Trainspotting, and I'm afraid I fell asleep in this, so I can't really rate it very highly, but from what I did see, it's not bad. It was nominated the Scottish BAFTAs for Best Director for Douglas Mackinnon, Best Film and Best Screenplay. Worth watching!

I had the pleasure of seeing this film last night at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The film was introduced by Douglas Mackinnon, Graeme Obree and Brian Cox. Laura Fraser and Billy Boyd were also present.

I could only spoil this film if you knew nothing about Graeme Obree's sporting achievements but I'll keep this short by saying that this is a very good film which is well acted and well directed. I found the story to be likable and informative. In the main, it's the story of Graeme's life but the latter part of the film does focus on his struggle with his own demons and with the governing body of the sport of cycling. The film is always interesting and never dull and the struggle to make the film was well worth it.

I would recommend it!