Personal Best (1982)

Personal Best: Directed by Robert Towne. With Mariel Hemingway, Scott Glenn, Patrice Donnelly, Kenny Moore. The intertwined lives and loves of three highly-ranked athletes striving for the national team; Chris bounces between the beds of male coach Terry and her female friend, competitor, and role model Tory.

“I believe this movie was the first, and best, movie to treat the relationship between sex and athletic performance in a serious and non stereotypical way. Other films treated athletes as either eunuch/priests whose only concern was their athletic performance, or as over sexed satyrs who required sex as a release and/or distraction from the rigors of training, or sexual relations were gratuitously thrown in as a prerequisite romantic line to draw in a bigger audience.In Personal Best the sexual aspect was actually integral to the plot. We see how sex gets people better opportunities, drives wedges between competitors, and induces self sacrifice–albeit in this case all for naught.I will admit that some of the nude scenes appeared to be gratuitous on the surface, but when you analyze the film you see it was really necessary to show how all those firm toned naked bodies in semi-erotic poses (necessary for maximum athletic performance, I might add) could lead someone down the path to homosexuality.Overall, this movie is a masterpiece of its genre that is interesting, stimulating, and exciting for people of all persuasions.”