Steve Prefontaine was a larger-than-life character your teenagers should find fascinating. He’s not your holier-than- thou role model, that’s for sure, and his at-times egotistical quest to turn running into a rock-star sport makes for an unusually good sports movie.
“Prefontaine” tells the story (sometimes profanely, be forewarned) of the 1970s Oregon track star who burned bright and burned out. (Spoiler alert: If you are not a student of sports history and don’t want to know the ending, do not read on. Prefontaine died in a car crash near the height of his success in 1975.)
Before “Pre,” as he was affectionately known, and his friend Frank Shorter came along, running was an outcast pastime. Prefontaine blew out of tiny Coos Bay and into the University of Oregon, vowing to beat records in the mile and dreaming of Olympic glory.
He was cocky and gunning for world leaders in the sport. His crusty old coach, meanwhile, was making running shoes on waffle irons in his garage and eventually went on to help found Nike. Watching “Prefontaine” gives you a glimpse into a culture that started as a niche and became a worldwide movement.
“Prefontaine” doesn’t try to hide its hero’s warts (or callouses). He swears, he drinks, he cheats on his high school sweetheart, he preens and fumes. But he had a go-for- broke, can-do spirit that provides your family a discussion forum for what promotes success and what hinders it.
Prefontaine ran in the 1972 Munich Olympics, and there are some disturbing images of Palestinian terrorists attacking the Israeli athletes’ quarters. It all fits, though, with Prefontaine’s Olympic role and the awakening of more worldly parts of his soul. (“Without Limits” is another feature-film take on the Prefontaine story.)
If you’re not pumped for at least a family jog after watching “Prefontaine,” it’s time to sell the couch.
“PREFONTAINE.”
Rated: PG-13, for some profanity, drinking and intimations of violence at the 1972 Olympics.
Best suited for: Families who enjoy sports-oriented movies and true stories of controversial heroes.
