There has been much fascination with Steve Prefontaine, for his courage, his will-to-win, and for his far too early death. A man who was the ultimate competitor, denied his just due not only by the tragedy in Munich, but an even bigger tragedy on a roadway in Oregon. Such fascination led to 2 movies chronicling the life of Steve Prefontaine were made in the 1990's.
For first release, the battle of the PRE-bioflicks was won by this movie, and its release and luke-warm reception shelved the Robert Towne-directed Without Limits' for more than a year.
Perhaps this story would have been better served as a Made-for-HBO film, where one-name titles like `Prefontaine' give stars like Matt Damon a chance for some good work, and media recognition.
This version, directed by Steve James of Hoop Dreams fame is very watchable, with strong support of Jared Leto (Prefontaine) by Lindsay Crouse, Ed O'Neill, Amy Locane, and R.Lee Ermey-excellent in the role of Pre's coach and mentor, Bill Bowerman, the man who subsequently founded Nike.
Maybe not an overly familiar story for the non-runners, this story needed to be told, once
and is told well here.
