A Tribute to Charles Officer: Mighty Jerome

When Charles Officer died late last year at just 48, Canada lost one of its most accomplished and adventurous filmmakers. Officer’s career included documentaries (Unarmed Verses), dramatic feature films (Nurse.Fighter.Boy.; Akilla’s Escape), TV series (The Porter) and shorts, and he excelled in every field. In this 2010 documentary he relates the story of the rise, fall and redemption of Harry Jerome, Canada’s most record-setting track and field star. Gorgeous monochrome imagery, impassioned interviews and astonishing archival footage are used to tell the triumphant and compelling story of what Harry Jerome’s own coach called “the greatest comeback in track and field history.”

Intro by producer Selwyn Jacob

With its magnetic monochrome imagery and vintage soundtrack, the film transports the viewer back to the late ’50s in Vancouver, where Jerome’s success as a track-and-field athlete began at the high-school level. It follows his journey competing for the University of Oregon under the coaching of Bill Bowerman and his competitions during the Summer Olympic games of 1960, ’64 and ’68. During his career, Jerome won the bronze medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the gold in the British Empire and Commonwealth games in 1966 and yet another gold in the 1967 Pan American Games. At his height as an athlete, Jerome set seven world records.

POV magazine