Sutherland, also a man of considerable experience (the press material notes appearances in more than 80 films), hasn’t completely involved himself in all his parts but he’s done so here. Last year’s disappointing Jared Leto-starring “Prefontaine” was little more than an illustrated scrapbook, but “Without Limits,” starring Billy Crudup and written and directed by Robert Towne, is the exciting, thoughtful and empathetic film the man deserves.Īs difficult as he could be, however, Pre often won people over, and one of the graces of the strong performance by Crudup (“Inventing the Abbots”) is that he finds the irresistible boyishness and likability that coexisted with the cockiness of a high school senior who refused to consider the University of Oregon unless storied coach Bowerman, a hater of recruiting, personally indicated he wanted the young man to attend.īowerman, hardly a pushover, was a master psychologist, a mind games expert who joined an iron will to withering irony and took obedience from his runners as a given. records in every distance between 2,000 and 10,000 meters, and in the 1972 Munich Olympics, he was a key player in perhaps the most memorable 5,000 meters ever held.Ī confident, charismatic performer who rarely ran without partisan crowds chanting “Pre, Pre, Pre,” Prefontaine’s unusual life calls out to be filmed, and several pictures, including a documentary called “Fire on the Track,” have been made. Competing for the University of Oregon, he was the only man ever to hold the U.S. We watch their struggles with something like awe, envying, perhaps, an existence where questions of winning and losing are brutally clear-cut.ĭistance runner Steve Prefontaine was one of the premier American athletes of his age. Their personal dramas are acted out in public, their starkly outlined victories and defeats written in large, unmistakable letters. Great athletes are of life and larger than it.

Mary marckx prefontaine