8 Times Hollywood Got It Wrong (And It Made Films Better)

2. Cool Runnings

The best feature-length Disney film ever made about a Jamaican bobsled team competing at the Olympics, Cool Runnings is actually based on the real-life 1988 Winter Olympics that took place in Calgary. Well, to an extent, anyways. First of all, the bobsledders that actually competed in those Olympics weren't track sprinters, like in the film. They were recruited directly from the Jamaican army. So although their personalities may have differed, they likely weren't quite the oddball group portrayed by the likes of Doug E. Fresh and Rawle D. Lewis. Nor were they the unwanted outcasts that provides so much of the dramatic tension throughout the film. In fact, they were welcomed by most of their fellow competitors and the media took a great liking to them right away. They were so popular that they didn't want to leave the Olympic Village, as they were afraid of being mobbed. In a good way. And that super-inspirational moment in the final race of the movie that has the team crashing and burning? Yeah, in real life they didn't dust themselves off, hoist the sled over their heads, and proudly walk across the finish line in solidarity. According to Devon Harris, who was on the real Jamaican team that year, they simply pushed the sled the rest of the way, with more than a hint of embarrassment. Also, the crash wasn't caused by a technical issue. It was driver error. To add insult to injury, at no point did the real Jamaican bobsled team say the words "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's bobsled time!" So I think we can definitively say that Disney did the right thing in crafting part of this story themselves.