WITHOUT LIMITS A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
The sports movie formula is etched somewhere in Hollywood stone.
The semi-sadistic but benevolent coach takes his untalented minions and drives them hard right up to the big game. Heavy music and showy camerawork highlight every twist and turn, as if the future of the nation rides with the team. And when, in the movie's long finale, the final game arrives, the team triumphs while something approaching the Hallelujah chorus plays in the background.
Sports movies are considered innovative in the small degrees to which they vary from this rigid prescription.
Director Robert Towne's WITHOUT LIMITS, a movie which basically throws out the recipe, is the second and only movie about American long-distance running star Steve "Pre" Prefontaine worth watching. Containing an intense performance by Billy Crudup as Pre and an Oscar-worthy one by Donald Sutherland as Bill Bowerman, Pre's coach at the University of Oregon, WITHOUT LIMITS is one of the best sports movies in quite a while and is worth seeing, whether you are a sports fan or not. (Director Steve James's trite PREFONTAINE, from early last year, was not very good when evaluated on its own merits, and it suffers dramatically when compared to WITHOUT LIMITS.)
As a wise old coach, Sutherland always has a twinkle in his eye. Bill Bowerman was the type who didn't talk a lot, but, when he did, it was worth hearing. In the movie he stays at loggerheads with his cocky star over running strategy. Rather than yelling at him on the track, Bill argues with Pre off the field using back-of-the-envelope calculations about the best strategy for winning.
"When you set the pace, you control the race," Pre argues. This technique of leaving them in the dust from the first is a crowd pleaser, but Bill argues that it's a loser when you're up against the best.
Pre doesn't believe in talent, and he truly believes that he has a secret weapon. He can endure more pain than anyone else can. In one race, he competes even though he has 12 stitches in his foot. By the end of the race, he is running on a bloody stump. Running for him isn't about winning, but about doing your best even if that is precisely what prevents you from winning.
Bill, who spends as much time in the movie measuring feet and cooking shoe soles on his wife's waffle iron as he does coaching, has his own secret weapon for his team. His real gift in life is as an athletic shoe inventor, and he makes shoes for his athletes. Eventually, he names his shoes "Nikes." You may have heard of them.
Being a cult hero on the track, Pre attracted girls like flies to honey. One of the film's important subplots concerns his main girlfriend, Mary Marckx, a devout Catholic who doesn't believe in premarital sex. Mary, played with big-eyed beauty by Monica Potter, is just as committed to her faith in God as Bill is committed to himself. In one telling exchange, she asks him pointblank if he believes in God. "I believe in myself," he retorts with such innocence that it shows he doesn't comprehend how blasphemous his answer might appear to her.
To the extent that the movie has a big game, it is the 1972 Munich Olympics. Those tragic 1972 games forever altered the lives of many young athletes, Pre among them.
Even at almost a full two hours in length, the movie feels as trim as its star. Conrad L. Hall's cinematography, which focuses on the facial expressions during the races rather than the theatrics, helps us get inside the heads of the runners. Feeling more like participants than spectators, the audience gets some real appreciation for Pre's devotion to his goals. If there ever was one who marched to a different drummer, it was Pre.
WITHOUT LIMITS runs 1:57. It is rated PG-13 for brief sexuality and a little profanity and would be fine for kids around 11 and up.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews