Victor

The biggest problem I had with this movie when it aired, and that I still think of years later, is that it was so poorly cast. Victor Davis was 25 when he died--and in his 20s in the context of the movie--while Mark Lutz was in his late 30s when the movie was shot. Ms. Clavel was younger than Victor Davis, much younger than Ms. Shannon who portrayed her in the film.

I knew Victor Davis. I swam in the same pool, in the same training group, with the same coach; I spent time with him away from the pool in many circumstances. I did not see anything that resembled the man I knew in Mark Lutz's portrayal. As a friend of his, I found the portrayal of the generic friend "Dave Kolisnik" rather lame. A composite of more than one person Davis was friends with at the time of his death, he fits with the sappy story Lutz wrote, but not with the real story. Moreover, since this story uses real names for almost everyone, why was "Dave Kolisnik" invented? I was also disappointed with the portrayal of journalist Dave Stubbs in this film. I've met Mr. Stubbs a few times over the years and never in him have I seen the lackey that he was portrayed as in the movie.

It is understandable that a movie like this will change some things, or skip details, but as someone who knew Victor Davis in the years portrayed in the story, it just came across as weak writing and acting.