Steve Prefontaine: Der Langstreckenläufer (1997)

Steve Prefontaine: Der Langstreckenläufer: Directed by Steve James. With Jared Leto, R. Lee Ermey, Ed O’Neill, Breckin Meyer. Based on the life of Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine, a long distance runner who lived in Oregon and died young.

“I was a grad student at the University of Oregon in the early seventies when Steve Prefontaine made his mark as a runner there. This film captures his life and times reasonably well, and Jared Letou0026#39;s performance does a good job portraying the Steve Prefontaine the general public like me knew, though Leto has more of a preppy/Abercrombie u0026amp; Fitch appearance than the somewhat craggier Prefontaine. Those who knew him then personally can make a better, further assessment. Despite the limitations of its budget (for example, they shot the film in 16mm–Super16 actually), itu0026#39;s one of the better sports films made and should have had a stronger theatrical run. If memory serves, the release also had a woefully limited marketing budget.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAn athletic apparel store in Boston has a glass case which displays one of Steve Prefontaineu0026#39;s running singlets. It made me pause to see it there, an inanimate object which once clothed someone so highly animated. This film does a decent job of bringing life to that persona.”