The Blog of Mr. Buckner

Prefontaine is the tale of Steve Prefontaine who was the spearhead for the track movement of the 1970’s. It stars Jared Leto as Prefontaine. This isn’t the only movie revolving around the story of Pre’s life that came out in the late 90’s. Without Limits is another which stars Billy Crudup who looks less like Pre than Leto does. R. Lee Emery(as Bill Bowerman) and Ed O’Neil(as Bill Dellinger) also star and Prefontaine was written and directed by Steve James.

I went into this expecting the same story I’ve already been told in Without Limits but in that one Billy Crudup didn’t make a good Pre as he looked less like him. Leto though had the hair, the moustache, and the running style down. Overall I thought Prefontaine stood over Without Limits by a head just because of the documentary spliced in with the telling of the events how they occured.

The story is what is really the selling point. You can’t make it up. Steve Prefontaine was a young man who never gave up even when no one cared. He strived to run no matter what and made it happen. He became an American sensation and ultimately was the face of track and field for many years. He held all kinds of records, upset all kinds of opponents, and wore the first Nike’s. What more can you say? He fought his way to what he wanted and I admire such a thing.

Jared Leto as Pre is one of his better performances of his career. I’m already a huge Leto fan but its so easy when he puts in stellar performances in most of his movies. Most might not agree with me but he has been the shining moment in movies that are dull and ludicrous. He emotionally invests himself into the role as Prefontaine. He isn’t the only fine acting in this as R. Lee Emery pulls rank and brings in a performance that he usually isn’t known for; calm and collected. Ed O’Neil also provides his great talent and in the most important scene of the movie he and Leto play very well off each other.

The only gripe I have with the movie is at times it rushes itself to the point sometimes. It almost completely skips over Pre’s foot injury in a montage. I almost had to rewind. They also did not get too involved into the love story. They tried though and when they did it was great as Pre was a ladies man.

Go buy this for a great story of an American hero, Leto’s portrayal, and an all around great cast. Also compare it to Without Limits. Crudup does well but he doesn’t resemble Pre.

Final Verdict: 3.9/5