Touchstone and Beyond: "Prefontaine"

Marquee Attraction: Prefontaine

Release Date: January 24, 1997

Budget: $8 million

Domestic Box Office Gross: $589,304

Plot Synopsis

Steve Prefontaine is trying to make his mark in life. Rejected from team sports like baseball, he seeks out success in distance running, and the young man never looks back. From setting high school records to attending the University of Oregon, where he falls under the tutelage of famed coach Bill Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine is growing in his ability.

Prefontaine is only focused on winning, and as the years pass, the young athlete makes the Olympic team, competing in Munich in 1972. After the devastating terrorist attacks that kill several Israeli athletes, Prefontaine comes up short in his race and loses to Lasse Viren from Finland.

Back home, Prefontaine tries to move forward, but he wants another shot at the Fins. When the Finish team accepts his invitation to come to Oregon to compete, everyone on the track team is elated, but not Steve. Viren isn’t coming.

The meet is approved by the governing body of track and field, and the Americans are victorious including Prefontaine. Steve is looking forward to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in hopes of meeting Viren on the world stage and beating him. The future is bright for the young runner, but tragedy will cut his life short from achieving an Olympic medal.

Standing Ovation

Jared Leto has never been better. This is easily one of his best performances from the early stages of his career, and it shows an actor who is committed to bringing realism to the part. He easily makes the viewer believe that he is the real Steve Prefontaine. Better yet, Leto’s interpretation of Prefontaine is a mostly warts and all story that allows the viewers to look at a legendary figure from a very humanistic perspective.

R. Lee Ermey as Bill Bowerman is a perfect performance of intensity, layered with a well-crafted verbal explosions of skill and the gentle rustic gravitas that Ermey brought to every role. He is simply excellent. The fact that this film failed at the box office is the only explanation for why Ermey did not get an Oscar nomination for his work.

Time for the Hook

I am not keen on the approach to the film that seemed to tell the story of Steve from the perspective of Bill Dellinger and his girlfriend Nancy Allenman. It made the film seem phony at times. I understand the vibe that the filmmakers were trying to infuse in the movie, but I just think it takes away from the power of the story.

Bit Part Player

Kurtwood Smith as Curtis Cunningham. He has the proper gravelly voice that only needs a couple of moments on screen to prove he is the antagonist that could change the course of many people’s lives.

Did You Know?

The movie was a box office failure. On its opening weekend, the film only grossed over three hundred thousand dollars.
When this movie was released, it was one day before Prefontaine’s 46^th birthday.
Steve Prefonatine joined cross country when he was rejected for basketball and football due to his height. The moment that Prefontaine made the cross-country team in junior high school team, he fell in love with the sport.
This movie would be followed in 1998 by another Steve Prefonatine film, Without Limits, starring Billy Crudup.
Leto reportedly in the lead up to the shoot for the movie got heavily involved in running and track and field. He also reportedly met with Prefontaine’s family and friends in his preparation. Steve Prefontaine’s sister Linda reportedly broke down in tears upon seeing Leto as her brother.
Most of the movie was filmed at the University of Puget Sound campus on their Peyton Field.
The movie premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.
Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film two thumbs up in their review.

Best Quotable Line

Nobody lays a line down on screen like R. Lee Ermey, and this is his best when talking to Prefontaine about desire for success.

“Nobody can coach desire, Pre."

Bill’s Hot Take

Disney had/has difficulty marketing films that tell true tales. This should have been an Oscar contender and should have been a bigger success. However, releasing a film like this in January says that Disney marketing was clueless about the value of Prefontaine.

Casting Call

Jared Leto as Steve Prefontaine
R. Lee Ermey as Bill Bowerman
Ed O’Neill as Bill Dellinger
Breckin Meyer as Pat Tyson

Production Team:

Directed by Steve James

Produced by Hollywood Pictures

Written by Steve James / Eugene Corr

My Critical Response

{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award- This Film is Cinema.}

I knew nothing about Steve Prefontaine, except that he was a famous runner. Jared Leto’s performance is simply one of his best. He transforms himself and assumes the life of Steve Prefontaine and leaves an incredible performance on screen.

As good as Leto is, pairing him with R. Lee Ermey makes the film click in a way that could easily fall apart. For all the brash arrogance that Prefontaine has, it’s Bowerman who guides the raw talent of the runner, and that is what Ermey brings to counter the enthusiasm of Leto.

Prefontaine is one not to be missed. It is a film that has heart, epic storytelling, the can-do spirit of someone who is trying to be their best and is capped by the tragic reality of an Icarus who flew too close to the sun.

Prefontaine is gets my Rosebud Award. This is what cinema is all about.

Coming Soon

Next week, a look back at Crossing the Bridge.