Badmovies.org Forum

Okay, here's another half-memory from childhood. I don't remember very many details, but the film in question was rather distinguished in its subjects. My teachers at school showed it more or less as a motivational film before we held a field day in which we had similar sports.

What I remember is this: it featured a really white guy who (I think) had been raised in Africa among one of the indigenous rain forest tribes. Somehow or other, he ends up being drafted into a huge athletic competition (possibly even the Olympics--memory's not too good on this point) for which he is very well qualified, being fast and muscular. However, the tribe's witch doctor, for reasons I've forgotten, doesn't want to see his star pupil winning the competition, and proceeds to sabotage all of his efforts with a Voodoo doll. One part I remember particularly well was a race in which the witch doctor held the doll a certain way, and this caused the fellow not to get anywhere no matter how hard he ran. (I think he just stuck there and started digging the dirt with his feet, something like that.)

The whole point of showing the film, as I say, was motivational--kind of a don't-give-up-no-matter-what pitch. They showed me a lot of weird films in elementary school at some time or other, and I may go looking for more of them eventually. Anybody got any idea what this one might be?

Sounds like The World's Greatest Athlete (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070928/), a film I vaguely remember seeing when I was a kid.

Yes, I do believe that's the one. The description isn't very thorough on the IMDB page, but the keywords include Witch Doctor and Voodoo, and it's definitely about a white athlete being drafted from Africa. I think we can send this one to the "solved" board.