Prefontaine (film)

Prefontaine
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steve James
Produced by	Mark Doonan Peter Gilbert Shelly Glasser Jon Lutz Irby Smith
Written by	Steve James Eugene Corr
Starring	Jared Leto R. Lee Ermey
Music by	Mason Daring
Cinematography	Peter Gilbert
Editing by	Peter Frank
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures
Release date(s)	January 24, 1997
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$589,304

Prefontaine is a 1997 film dramatizing the life of the American long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine and his tragic death at age 24. It was written by Steve James and Eugene Corr, directed by James, and stars Jared Leto as the title character.

Most of the movie was filmed at the University of Puget Sound campus in Tacoma, Washington. Peyton Field was redecorated to resemble Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.

Plot

Steve Prefontaine comes from Coos Bay, Oregon and emerges as one of the premiere distance runners in collegiate track and field.

After enrolling at the University of Oregon in 1970, where Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger become his coaches, Prefontaine proceeds to win three national cross-country championships and four consecutive 5,000-meter runs, breaking the U.S. record in the latter. "Pre" gains fame as an aggressive runner who likes to be out front from the start, rather than biding his time until a strong finish.

A bitter disappointment comes in the 1972 Munich Olympics, where after leading his event with only 150 meters to go, Prefontaine is passed in the stretch by three different runners and does not win a medal. Pre devotes himself to preparing for the 1976 Montreal Olympics following his college career, but on May 30, 1975, his small car flips on a road not far from campus and Prefontaine, only 24 years old, is killed.

Cast

• Jared Leto as Steve Prefontaine
• Ed O'Neill as Bill Dellinger
• R. Lee Ermey as Bill Bowerman
• Amy Locane as Nancy Alleman
• Breckin Meyer as Pat Tyson
• Lindsay Crouse as Elfriede
• Brian McGovern as Mac Wilkins
• Kurtwood Smith as Curtis Cunningham

Comparison to Without Limits

The film is often compared to Without Limits, a similar movie on Prefontaine's life that was released a year later by Warner Brothers. While the two films both focus on the same events, Prefontaine tells the story from the point of view of the assistant coach who was with him day-to-day, Bill Dellinger, and Prefontaine's girlfriend at the time of his death, Nancy Alleman. It also explores American athlete's amateur status and the conditions and lack of resources these athletes had to endure in their attempts to compete with the world's top athletes, who were provided all they needed to train and compete at a top level, while dealing with the pressure from their American fans who expected nothing but the best from them.

Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, who as a hobby designed shoes for runners like Prefontaine to wear, would ultimately end up founding the company that became Nike.

The second version, Without Limits, was produced by Tom Cruise and directed and co-written by Robert Towne. It was told from the point of view of Bowerman, with Dellinger as a minor character, and featured Mary Marckx, a previous girlfriend of Prefontaine while at Oregon. In this film there is no Nancy Alleman, and Mary is his girlfriend all the way through. Bowerman is played by Donald Sutherland and is given guru status, whereas Ermey had portrayed Bowerman as more of a hard-line general-type.

In both films, Prefontaine is shown as headstrong and difficult to coach. Bowerman did remain active with the Oregon program and with Prefontaine after his retirement.

At the Movies with Siskel and Ebert gave Prefontaine two thumbs up.

See also

Without Limits, another film based on Prefontaine's life.

External links

• Prefontaine at the Internet Movie Database
• Prefontaine at AllRovi
• Without Limits -vs- Prefontaine at Movie Smackdown