Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Great Film overall

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

What's the difference between winning and victory? Is it semantics, like religious and spiritual? Maybe there isn't one. On the other hand, some would say there's all the difference in the world.Steve Prefontaine (played by Billy Crudup), was a distance runner in Eugene, Oregon with scholarship offers from Yale, Brown, Villanova, Princeton and Nebraska. The one school he wishes to attend, however, has remained silent. Two distance runners from the school and its assistant coach make a personal visit to his home but Prefontaine (Crudup) is not impressed. In the less-than-three week period between that visit and the date when he must sign his letter of intent, Bill Bowerman, head coach of the University of Oregon track team, sends a genuine plea to young Prefontaine asking him to attend. On his first day, he shows an amazing inability to notice the obvious by asking a female student, Mary Marckx (played by Monica Potter) to direct him to an area that is clearly visible ahead of him. He enters the building and sees a long line of fellow team members who recount tall tales of Bowerman's exploits in the military. He is summoned from another room and, on the floor in front of him, he finds his head coach. Bowerman (played and earlier voiced by Donald Sutherland) is making outlines of his runners' feet on tracing paper for the purposes of making shoes specifically for them, explaining that taking an ounce off a runner's shoe amounts to pounds they won't have to carry during a race. The freshman athlete sarcastically compliments him and that is the end of their first interaction. The next day, during a simple workout, Steve gives one hundred percent, finishes ahead of his teammates, and, according to Bowerman, with a pulse rate north of one hundred and ninety. So begins the struggle that would define their relationship: a coach's desire to instruct and an athlete's desire to put forth his best effort, regardless of the consequences.Much has been made of the fact that Without Limits and Prefontaine, a Disney film covering the same subject matter from a different perspective, were released within months of each other. The general consensus seems to be that, while Prefontaine is more accurate, Without Limits is the better film. As I have not seen the former from beginning to end, all I can tell you is that Without Limits is a masterpiece. Sutherland is mesmerizing as Bill Bowerman and Crudup, in the first role I ever saw him play, is just as entertaining, if not more so. The conflict between them rings true and while you understand the position of the coach, you root for the runner who seeks to leave the field knowing he's done his best. I have seen this film many times and, if you haven't even seen it once, you should. Now.

After the mid-80's debacle behind "The Two Jakes", film lovers wondered if we'd ever get another Towne lensed character study. Of course he'd keep writing, his reputation secure as the industry's most reliable script doctor. But would he put another director's credit on his resume?A decade after "Tequila Sunrise", he delivered this visceral exploration of an athlete's will to keep going, if only against his own standards when hustling through a daily ten mile exercise. The late Steve Prefontaine wasn't the world's most famous track star other icons have since become with the slick marketing machine of today. But the legacy he left is untouchable.Billy Crudup proves himself to be the ideal actor for this all out, all the time runner. And Donald Sutherland is quietly powerful as Bill Bowerman, the coach who's always got the right idea and motivation to help his star get the edge on fellow racers. (The script was co-written by Kenny Moore, portrayed by Billy Burke.) The most poignant scenes of this flame thrower of a man involve him pushing the boundaries one assumes mortals can't surpass. Steve literally runs till he bleeds! And perhaps most amazingly, slowed when in the trap of human gridlock and not fully able to go to the limit, Steve still placed fourth in the 1972 Munich Olympic's 5k race (clocking his last of three miles in that particular metric event at an astonishing 4:04 minutes). He died before being able to get another crack at the world's televised stage in Montreal for the 1976 summer games. One can only guess at the future this unique talent still had ahead. In a striking comparison, one could say Steve was to track what Bobby Orr was to hockey or Willie Mays to baseball. Or, Robert Towne to storytelling.

This movie really gets a 9/10 I know some of you may not like that fact that Tom Cruise play a role in making this movie,but if you look past that little fact you will find a lot more. This movies is about long distance runner Steve Prefontaine one of my heros, so i was happy to see this movie. You will mostly feel happy and at the same time rather sad when watching this movie, but that should not stop anyone form seeing a movie about a amazing runner who stunned the world and anyone who ever watched him run, "a race is a work of art" Pre said taht just one great quote from the film. I don't want to give anything away this movie is great to watch with the family or by yourself it will make you want to do something new it promise you wont be upset with this one!!!!!!!!!!111

How this movie has a 6+ rating is beyond me. I guess the entire 1700 people that actually like it posted, and the entire rest of the world felt it wasn't important enough o rate it at all.There is nothing wrong with the acting, directing, nor cinematography. The problem is, simply, that there's virtually no story. Prefontain's life didn't really contain much drama. Some guy is a good runner. He wins a bunch of races. The end. The writer threw in a mildly diverting love story to try to pad it out, but it doesn't help at all.I was a college runner at the time this movie takes place. Prefontain was a hero to us. I STILL find this movie painfully boring. Cant' give it a worse rating than that.Avoid this one like the plague.