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32 reviews in total

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14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Inspiring And Haunting, 3 April 2004

Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

This is the real-life story of Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine who, despite physical imperfections, draws on inner strength of character, to set American track records, and race in the 1972 Munich Olympics. As a runner myself, I found this 1997 docudrama inspiring.

But "Prefontaine" is far more than a cinematic pep talk for runners. It's a character study of an extraordinary young man from an ordinary background, his personal relationships, and his date with destiny. It is a story that has lasting value.

The film's visuals and music effectively convey the look and sound of the early 70's. The acting is above average. Jared Leto is superb as Steve. Just as good is R. Lee Ermey as Steve's coach, the legendary Bill Bowerman, a man who found a way to make running shoes with the help of a waffle iron. Ed O'Neill, Breckin Meyer, and the lovely Amy Locane are good, in supporting roles.

Leto's acting, combined with a clever script, portrays Pre as gutsy, determined, intense, charismatic, vulnerable, at times reckless, self-absorbed, brash, and arrogant. One of my favorite segments of dialogue has Steve and his teammate Pat Tyson jogging along, and talking about the great runner Jim Ryun. Steve comments: "Forget Jim Ryun; he's done; I'm gonna be the first Steve Prefontaine", to which Pat responds: "It must be nice to want to be yourself".

Later, Pre frustratingly says to his girlfriend Nancy: "All of my life people have said to me: you're too small Pre; you're not fast enough Pre; give up your foolish dreams Steve."

Pre's story is told in another film: "Without Limits"; both now available on DVD, and both good, though I prefer this Steve James directed movie.

Often and rightly compared to other sports films, "Prefontaine" reminds me of a film one might not think of. Pre's life was similar in some ways to another notable person from an ordinary background, one who set out bravely on a personal quest, of sorts, and who, in the process, like Pre, made a powerful and lasting impression: Karen Silkwood.

Coincidentally, Pre's fate and Karen's fate were tragically similar, and only six months apart. In both "Prefontaine" and "Silkwood", the message to the rest of us ordinary mortals is: don't underestimate your life; do your best; and make each day count. You never know when "fate" may intervene.

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11 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Excellent Sports Film, 12 July 2002

Author: bliss66 from London, England

I saw this last night on the BBC--I don't think it ever had a theatrical release in Britain--and thought it was excellent. I remember this film and it's rival, Without Limits, when they were released in 1997 but never saw them. Users have commented on how much this film resembled the '70's era, right down to the soundtrack and overall style of the film, as if that kind of authenticity is to it's detriment. It does remind one of that '70's TV movie classic, Brian's Song, but then, what other era should this film resemble?! It's no surprise that the documentary storytelling style works so well since the director and writer, Steve James, made one of the most acclaimed documentaries of the '90's--the basketball flik, Hoop Dreams (highly recommended as well). But shooting a documentary and recreating the style of one are two different things and though they probably both have their perils, recreating that style in service to drama must have much steeper pitfalls. Steve James (and company) completely succeed here. Jared Leto gives a compelling performance as Pre and forces the viewer to sympathise with him in very unique ways. He's not immensely likeable but when he runs...one understands that great athletic performers, like Steve Prefontaine, did not win races on personality alone. But it's the way that the rest of cast responds to him, their admiration completely palpable and on the surface, that moves the viewer to embrace him as well. He's heartbreaking when he asks, "Do I look like a runner?" American sports films usually obscure their central figures by ladling on heavy doses of heavy-handed inspiration. Not so with this film. Pre emerges a gifted, young, confused but determined individual who inspires not through his athletic performances but through the strength of his character and what he did for amateur athletics. The ending doesn't so much jerk tears from the viewer as it allows them to flow freely and copiously. An underrated, lost gem of a film.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Pre is god., 23 August 2002

Author: Jesse Dunklee from Dummerston, Vermont

As a runner, I cannot resist but love the story of Steve Prefontaine's rise and fall. He is an inspiration to all who lace up and head out the door for an hour long trek through the woods trails and roadsides. The movie truly captured the spirit of Pre and the emotions experienced by many athletes, not just runners. This was the one movie I watched on the bus ride up to Vermont's State Track meet. As I ran, my lungs and legs burned and all I could think of is this one scene: Pre running and all that can be heard is his breath, the camera focuses on his chest, up and down. When running, I am in my own world, just as the movie shows, everything around me is just a backdrop, a supplement to my race against myself, my own times, and my fellow runners. They push me, I push them, like Viren does Pre. This movie captures all of the aspects of a race and the qualities of a true runner. If you run for fun, your drive to strive will reach unfathomable levels.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Prefontaine is the best running movie ever made., 14 November 2002

Author: DavQuigs from Macon, Georgia

Steve Prefontaine was America's best long distance runner ever. This movie shows how you can achieve your dreams and that anything is possible. Prefontaine is filled with great action, that is if you actually enjoy watching someone run on the TV. After watching this movie you will feel like going outside and running a five kilometer. This is one of the best movies ever made in my opinion.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Captures the spirit of his times, 4 March 2003

Author: Tom-207 from Boston

I was a grad student at the University of Oregon in the early seventies when Steve Prefontaine made his mark as a runner there. This film captures his life and times reasonably well, and Jared Leto's performance does a good job portraying the Steve Prefontaine the general public like me knew, though Leto has more of a preppy/Abercrombie & Fitch appearance than the somewhat craggier Prefontaine. Those who knew him then personally can make a better, further assessment. Despite the limitations of its budget (for example, they shot the film in 16mm--Super16 actually), its one of the better sports films made and should have had a stronger theatrical run. If memory serves, the release also had a woefully limited marketing budget.

An athletic apparel store in Boston has a glass case which displays one of Steve Prefontaine's running singlets. It made me pause to see it there, an inanimate object which once clothed someone so highly animated. This film does a decent job of bringing life to that persona.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A great film about a greater man ......, 25 June 2006

Author: welshNick from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

As a huge armchair sportsfan I was keen to see this when BBC 2 showed it in the UK. This was a story of a man fighting against almost impossible odds, the underfunding of the USA team, his slightly imperfect physique, and everyone telling him he was not good enough to win. But here was a man prepared to fight all of this and be a winner. After an unlucky fourth in the Munich Olympics he made his comeback and everything looked set for a rematch with Viren at Montreal. Tragically he died in a car accident before Montreal could take place. Years later it emerged that the Finland team which Viren represented were blood-doping at this time so who knows what the result would have been on a level playing field. What Prefontaine did achieve was to show how poorly amateur athletes were treated in those days and hopefully this no longer happens. Despite being British I found this film wonderfully moving and had tears rolling down my cheeks at the end. A film of bravery, courage and above all determination .... Bravo, a great film about an even greater man.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Why isn't this movie on DVD?, 25 October 2001
Author: Johnnycash

This movie was brilliantly put together and the end result is phenomenal. Every scene in the movie is important to the overall end result and I didn't feel this movie was overly long at all and I don't understand those who said it was. The movie deals well with showing Pre's determination to be the best and the emotions of overcoming failure. I wanted to buy this on DVD only to find out they don't make it on DVD, and I couldn't understand why, this is an amazing film and you don't have to know who Prefontaine was to enjoy it, although you might appreciate it more.....

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Interesting if basic sports biopic (spoilers), 19 April 2005
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Since he was young, Steve Prefontaine was always too short, too skinny or too slow to be the first choice for any sports – a thing that only made him work harder to become whatever he felt he needed to be and to make the most of any chance given to him. At age 16 he decides that he is not only to be a runner but that he will be representing his country in Munich at the 1972 Olympics. Training hard for the mile event, his coach at Oregon State, Bill Bowerman convinces him to focus on the three-mile and make the media interested in it. Keeping his goal of getting three seconds faster every year of university, Pre gets closer to his Munich date while his reputation as a cocky yet gutsy athlete grows.

First of all, I, unlike many other thoughtless reviewers have put a spoiler warning on this review because I, like countless others, had never heard of Steve Prefontaine and therefore didn't know how the film would end; didn't know, that is, until the very plot outline on this site proclaimed it. Anyway, despite this I decided to watch it because it didn't strike me as the sort of film that knowing the end mattered (of course I would rather have been allowed to decide that for myself). From the start of the film a picture is painted of Preforntaine as a cocky but driven individual who worked to overcome anything that life threw in his way but was ultimately (and untimely) beaten by the obstacle that defeats us all. In telling this story the film tries to develop a character while also making sure it delivers the basic memorable moments in his career. As such it doesn't quite succeed but then I suppose it depends what the audience is; if you know all the milestones then it is likely that the film might bore as its focus is really on the "what happened" rather than the "who". However for a viewer like me who didn't know it then it does enough to be interesting. The docu-drama approach worked better than I expected it would and the film does have a good pace (sorry) to it and, because it made Prefontaine an interesting character it actually made for a quite emotional film.

The cast work pretty well; certainly Leto's presence had me worried but he not only had a good resemblance but did well with the material he was given. His character is not a complex person, but then with biographical films it is always difficult to write such a character and usually it is more effective to condense them down to the essence of who they were. Ermey is good value here in one of only three films where he doesn't play some sort of sergeant-major (I'm joking but it feels like it could be true) and is a nicely grizzled character. Support from O'Neill, Meyer and others is OK but really the film belongs to the lead two and, although Leto is hardly the life of the film, his character's story is worth the watch.

Overall this is a solid, if unspectacular film that may not win you over if you have a working knowledge of Prefontaine but, for me, it was interesting at the level that it was presented. An interesting story that told me what I needed to know – could have been better but did enough to work for me.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
The runner's Rocky...A four star film, that inspires and excites., 17 July 2000

Author: drvannostrand from Worcester, USA

With so few films devoted the the unique sport of running Prefontaine is a shining beakon. It is a runners movie that maitains mass apeal, so both the average man, and the avid runner will come away satisfied in the idea that they just sat through a very good movie. As a young runner I jad heard stories of this God this Prefontaine, but to me he was nothing more than a funny name with great times. With this biographical film I could see the enigma, a man I heard stories about but never really knew. With this movie a hero was born to a new generation, in a portrayal that is so inspirational that after watching I just want to go out and run my heart out. This is the runner's Rocky. A four star film than unfourtunatly received little fanfare and has thus been forgotten much like the man it tried to immortalize. Over all I give this movie 8-8.5 definatly worth the rental, definatly worth your time.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Steve Prefontaine 1951-1975, 21 July 2009

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Jared Leto plays the title role in Prefontaine, a biographical study of the American track star who rewrote all the record books in his short life for distance running. He also put his town of Coos Bay, Oregon on the map where it still proudly displays it's the hometown of Steven Prefontaine.

Of course the Holy Grail of amateur athletics is the Olympics and even Mark Spitz who was the American star in the summer Olympics of 1972 was overshadowed by the cowardly murders of several Israeli athletes in that year. Munich will probably never host another Olympics, just too much bad history is attached to that city.

It was also Prefontaine's downfall, he finished third in his big race to Finnish miler Lasse Viren. He got a rematch of sorts against Viren in Oregon, but before the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Prefontaine was killed in automobile crash.

Jared Leto does a fine job in essaying the part and showing the hopes, dreams, and frustrations of Steve Prefontaine. R. Lee Ermey and Ed O'Neill play his college and high school track coaches and Lindsay Crouse does a fine job as Leto's mother. Special mention should also go to Kurtwood Smith who plays the voice of the Amateur Athletic Union who Prefontaine faces down and wins. They've been running amateur sports in this country and in some cases arrogantly and not too well for most of the last century.

It's a good sports film and should be seen in combination with Chariots Of Fire to see how amateur athletics are dealt with in a different time and culture.

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