The Boy in Blue (1986) (2025)

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1986

Directed by Charles Jarrott

Synopsis

Every era has it's own kind of hero.

Ned Hanlan was Canada's most successful sculling champion at the turn of the 20th century. This dramatization of his life begins in his youth, when the wild young man is informally adopted by a gambler who promotes Ned on the sculling circuit, betting on the boy's rowing skills solely to make money off him. Later, a ruthless businessman named Knox takes over Ned's career, but when Ned realizes how dishonest Knox is, he finds another manager. Walter is an inventor and the first honest man Ned has dealt with in his career and, under Walter's guidance, Ned rises to great success in the sculling world.

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  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Details
  • Genres
  • Releases

Cast

Nicolas Cage Cynthia Dale Christopher Plummer David Naughton Sean Sullivan Melody Anderson James B. Douglas Walter Massey Austin Willis Philip Craig Jeff Wincott Bob Bainborough

DirectorDirector

Charles Jarrott

ProducersProducers

John Kemeny Paulo De Oliveira

WriterWriter

Douglas Bowie

CastingCasting

Jane Feinberg Mike Fenton Valorie Massalas

EditorEditor

CinematographyCinematography

Pierre Mignot

Assistant DirectorsAsst. Directors

Jacques Méthé Madeleine Henrié

Executive ProducerExec. Producer

Steven North

Camera OperatorCamera Operator

Andy Chmura

Production DesignProduction Design

William Beeton

Set DecorationSet Decoration

Jean-Baptiste Tard

ComposerComposer

Roger Webb

SoundSound

Martin Ashbee Don White David Appleby

Costume DesignCostume Design

John Hay

MakeupMakeup

Brigitte McCaughry Maurizio Silvi

HairstylingHairstyling

Aldo Signoretti Gaétan Noiseux

Studios

20th Century Fox CBC Regatta Productions Téléfilm Canada

Country

Canada

Language

English

Alternative Titles

La race des champions, Chlapec v modrém, La Race des Champions, Finish - Endspurt bis zum Sieg, Nato per vincere, Raza de campeones (The Boy in Blue), Человек в синем, 忧郁男孩, O Rapaz de Azul, Błękitny chłopak

Genre

Drama

Releases by Date

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Theatrical

17 Jan 1986
  • The Boy in Blue (1986) (3)USAR

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The Boy in Blue (1986) (4)USA
17 Jan 1986
  • TheatricalR

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  • Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 10

    STARRING: NIIIIIIIIICK FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKIIIIIIING CAAAAAAAAGGGEEEE!!!! (THE COPPOLA SAGA)

    Another solid Cage-starring role where it gets elevated by his performance. Here he plays a Canadian, so I guess you all Canadians can be proud? Anyways, he plays this rowing champion, Ned Hanlan; here he brings again the charm, especially some of that play as a romantic lead and pulls some of the dramatic too. The antagonists who wish for our hero to literally fail were solid. The rowing action is well shot by Jarrott—not precisely the most tense or action-heavy, but not that bad. The drama itself is engrossing enough to keep my attention.

    All in all, it's far from being the most exciting sports film out there, but if you are a fan of these types of movies, I’d say its worth checking out.

    STARRING: NIIIIIIIIICK FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKIIIIIIING CAAAAAAAAGGGEEEE!!!! (THE COPPOLA SAGA)

    TODAY SCHEDULE
    Dementia 13
    Lost in Translation
    The Boy in Blue
    Spun

  • Review by Kylo ★★★½ 2

    Don’t forget, Nicolas Cage once had a physique that could rival any Instagram fitness model. This was a cute movie and I love the porn vibes the poster gives off. It’s just one more example of how Nicolas Cage has undergone more transformations than almost any other actor for his roles.

  • Review by Wood ★★

    One of my white whales of Nic Cage movies, very difficult to find, you need to be proficient in strange russian search engines and willing to watch an out of sync copy in 180p.

    The movie itself is alright, there's a few very out of place scenes in this period piece straight out of an action movie. The best part is Nic Cage being impossibly shredded, absolutely shredded out of control. It's a fairly dull biopic and doesn't dive much further than he's good at rowing in a sliding boat.

  • Review by Matthew Noble ★★½

    "Where the hell's your shirt?"

    Four films left in my Cage-a-thon. Almost there!

    There is something inherently absurd about The Boy in Blue. Cage did plenty of period pieces early on - WWII in Racing with the Moon, Vietnam in Birdy - but he looks completely anachronistic in late 1800s high society. He also wears a peak cap, and takes his shirt off a lot.

    Cage is great fun as always - the movie would be a very boring experience without him - and I did get a kick out of seeing notable genre actors like Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon) and David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) in key supporting roles. However, The Boy in Blue is adequate at best. Trite sporting movie cliches, executed with a modicum of competence.

  • Review by UltimateMovieRankings ★★ 1

    This is based on the true story of Ned Hanlan. Hanlan played by Nicolas Cage was a 19th century Canadian sculler and world champion. It is probably the best boat rowing movie ever....granted it is probably the ONLY boat rowing movie. Cage looks very young and very fit....probably the physical peak of his life. Cage's fitness is probably the highlight of the movie....the rest of the movie does not fare as well. My complaints? I like Cage but he did not sell me on being a 19th century man, the supporting roles were weak, the timeline of the movie went way too fast and my biggest issue was that the boat races were not very exciting.

    This is ranked 50th of 56 Cage movies on my Nicolas Cage Cogerson Movie Score table. cogersonmoviescore.com/nicholas-cage-movies-best-to-worst-box-office.html

  • Review by jrrrdan ★½

    JACKED Nicolas Cage makes up for how uninteresting this is.

  • Review by Seven 👽 ★★★

    the canadians were so jealous of how sexy nic cage is that they buried this film.

  • Review by sykobanana ★★★

    The best rowing movie Ive seen.

    Cage is very ripped and does some flexible work on the gymnastic rings in a training montage and shows an exuberance in his acting. Plummer almost gnashes his teeth as the villain of the show.

    Enjoyable, despite a dated score and worth a couple of rewatches.

  • Review by Stein Rutledal ★★½

    I saw a picture of the real Ned Hanlan and not letting Cage have that mustache is an unforgivable crime.

    Dull biopic that doesn’t make its sports scenes seem remotely interesting.

  • Review by joj ★★★

    Nic Cage Ranked

    If anyone wondered "I want a Nicolas Cage sculling movie", well here it is.

    Showing the real life story of Ned Hanlan, this comes off as camp most of the time, and kinda dull, but Cage's sudden rage and shirtless scenes makes up for this interesting but unmeaningful biopic. It's fun so i'll give it that.

  • Review by Marianne Zumberge

    frankly it’s a little unnerving to see Nic looking this healthy

  • Review by Zandalee's #1 Fan ★★★★★

    I never have rowed in my life but as soon as I popped this bad boy in, I was on the edge of my seat! This is a fantastic lost Cage classic that is POWERFUL, Funny, Intense, Sexy, Heartwarming and BADASS, sometimes all at once! Its very hard to find a copy of this movie for less than 20 or 30 dollars since it is OOP (keep in mind i spent 50 dollars to buy a Never On Tuesday VHS to complete my Cage collection) but its totally worth it if you like good movies or are a Cage fanatic.

The Boy in Blue (1986) (2025)
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