Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 08/05/2005(USA
Release Date: 12/13/2005
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 98 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Adult Situations
Distributor/Studio: Columbia TriStar
A young man with big dreams sets out to do the seemingly impossible in this bittersweet
comedy drama.
Ralph Walker (
Adam Butcher) is a 14-year-old boy growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1954.
Ralph is convinced he's cut out to do something remarkable some day, but he hasn't quite decided what, and at the moment he has other things to worry about.
Ralph's father has recently died, as have his grandparents, and his mother (
Shauna MacDonald) is severely ill and in the hospital, leaving the boy to fend for himself at home. Despite
Ralph's tragic circumstances and his attendance at a Catholic school led by strict headmaster
Father Fitzpatrick (
Gordon Pinsent), the young man maintains a cheeky attitude and often gets on the wrong side of his teachers, and one remarkable display of poor behavior causes
Fitzpatrick to sentence
Ralph to membership on the school's cross-country team. The team's coach,
Father Hibbert (
Campbell Scott), discovers
Ralph has real talent as a runner, and encourages the boy to train seriously. When doctors inform
Ralph that only a miracle can save his mother's life, he strikes upon an idea -- it would be a little short of a miracle for a talented but inexperienced runner like himself to finish first in the Boston Marathon, so
Ralph sets his sights on winning the race, certain in his heart that a victory could restore his mother's health.
Saint Ralph also features
Jennifer Tilly and
Tamara Hope.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide