Without Limits *** (1998, Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland, Monica Potter) – Classic Movie Review 2098

Co-writer/director Robert Towne’s 1998 biographical sports drama stars the young Billy Crudup as the amazingly promising but doomed American athlete Steve Prefontaine in the second out of two simultaneously made biopic films. This one has the misfortune to be running as an also-ran in the tracks of Prefontaine (1997) with Jared Leto.

Prefontaine ran fast and died young. He was the Oregon long-distance runner who won all the major US titles, and goes to the Olympics in Munich. But he died in a car crash at 24 before his potential could be fully realised at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976, where he was tipped to win gold.

The true-life story and sterling performances are very strong, and so is Robert Towne’s and Kenny Moore‘s convincingly written screenplay. Especially first rate are Crudup and Donald Sutherland as his coach, the legendary Bill Bowerman , who later co-founded Nike, Inc. The two actors share strong chemistry, relishing the script’s valiant attempts to follow the relationship. Monica Potter is also good as Mary Marckx, Prefontaine’s girlfriend while at the University of Oregon. The story is told from Bowerman’s and Marckx’s points of view.

Also in the strong cast are Jeremy Sisto, Matthew Lillard, Billy Burke, Gabriel Olds, Judith Ivey, William Mapother, Dean Norris (as Bill Dellinger).

It is produced by Tom Cruise (Mapother’s cousin) and Paula Wagner. Towne planned role of Prefontaine for Cruise, but by 1998 he was too old. Although it got good reviews and Sutherland received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor, the $25million film grossed only $777,000 at the box office, mostly because of Warner Bros’ low-key promotional campaign and probably because it trailed after the 1997 Prefontaine. It deserved a much better fate.

They filmed for two months in Oregon, on location at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field and Heceta Beach, Oregon. Bill Bowerman’s house served as a shooting location. Then the production moved to Los Angeles to film the Munich sequences at Citrus College. Visuals of the actual Munich Olympics come from the documentary Visions of Eight.

Sutherland is a two-time Golden Globe winner, but has never even been nominated for an Oscar.

See also Prefontaine.

http://derekwinnert.com/prefontaine-1997-jared-leto-r-lee-ermey-ed-oneill/

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2098

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