Sports fans who enjoy stories about runners will be here for a good reason and will love to hear plenty of memorable stories on late long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine
(1951-1975) in this fascinating documentary. Though not much of a sport fan, I got to know the man thanks to the power of cinema in two biopics about him made in the 1990's: the fine
"Prefontaine", starring Jared Leto, and the amazing Robert Towne's "Without Limits" with Billy Crudup as Pre, and those stories about the man moved me a lot since he was a special
athlete with many great qualities, plenty of fans in the early 1970's and he left a mark in the world of sports. Running was a passion to such an extreme that he even managed to keep
running until his feet start to bleed. Sadly, his career was cut short in 1975 after an auto-accident but his legacy stays on and a documentary like this proves exactly that.
Narrated by veteran author Ken Kesey ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" fame), the film presents a brief summary on Pre's life, and then moves to his trajectory as a runner
ever since high school showcasing great talent and skills, which attracted the attention of many people, including future coach Bill Bowerman, one of the many figures interviewed here.
Friends, colleagues and plenty of other people (such as comedian Dana Carvey) who watched him in college tournaments are featured here and they discuss with great detail and warmth about
who was the man, the athlete, the friend, all of his qualities and memorable moments which includes the tragic 1972 Summer Olympics - due to the Black September terrorist attack which
affected a great deal about the game dynamics and subsequently Pre under-performed when the moment came for him to act (that's why he was training extra hard for the future 1976 competition.
It's only an hour long but it contains so many facts, informations and archive images plus the interviews that one does not feel as if missing something. Everything is well
presented, well summarized and it does not disappoint sports fans or not - unless those are die hard fans who know about his whole career, then you might feel something's missing.
Considering that I might not even come across such theme doc except for my fascination about the man and the way he was portrayed in the previously mentioned films, this is a very good
piece. He seemed like a genuine cool guy and he was someone who made a difference in life. Gotta admire that. 9/10.
