By Ian Quindoza

Without Limits is a biographical sports film released in 1998 based on one of the most interesting stories in the history of American sports: the story of runner Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine, commonly referred to as Pre, was a standout distance runner from Coos Bay, Oregon who ran at the University of Oregon in the early 1970’s. By the age of 24, he held nearly every American distance running record and had competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics. He had a legendary career ahead of him but tragically died in a car accident on May 30, 1975, at just 24 years old. 

Murals of Steve Prefontaine in his hometown of Coos Bay, Oregon. Photo credit: Felix Wong.

The film, directed by Robert Towne, stars Billy Crudup as Prefontaine and Donald Sutherland as legendary University of Oregon track coach (and co-founder of Nike, Inc.) Bill Bowerman. It received solid reviews from multiple movie critics upon its release. In a review by Empire in 1998, the author claims that, “it’s difficult to pick a sports film that offers such complementary levels of entertainment and inspiration.”

The film starts by following Prefontaine from his high school running days, as he was being heavily recruited by colleges all across the country. The University of Oregon’s track program was of great interest to him, and after receiving a late letter from Bowerman, the decision to stay in his home state was effortless. 

As Pre transitions into college, Bowerman immediately notices Pre’s aggressive race strategy of front running. Front running is a racing style in which a runner leads the group of runners throughout the entire race, paying little concern to proper pacing. This had always been Pre’s style throughout high school, and it had worked very well for him. Pre and Bowerman’s back-and-forth relationship was one of the main themes throughout the movie. Bowerman constantly tried to fix Pre’s front running race strategy, explaining why front running is not the most efficient way to win a race, and could even cause him to lose races against world-class competition. Pre was resistant to change the way he ran and would often argue with Bowerman, trying to justify his racing style. Pre’s stubbornness to Bowerman’s coaching is beautifully portrayed by Crudup. Throughout the entire film, Crudup does a stellar job of providing the audience with an accurate portrayal of the fiery, and almost cocky nature with which Pre carried himself. 

Pre was known to have unbelievable confidence in his abilities and willpower. One of Pre’s famous quotes is, “A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding.” The way they filmed the race scenes depicted very closely how Pre ran his races in real life. He would run races not to see who was the fastest runner, but to see, “who had the most guts.” Pre was the ultimate competitor. The movie contains a quote that perfectly outlines Pre’s indestructible confidence: “I can endure more pain than anyone you’ve ever met. That’s why I can beat anyone I’ve ever met.” 

The film is not strictly about Pre’s running career. Many details of Pre’s personal life were included. Monica Potter plays Pre’s girlfriend, Mary Marckx, with whom he had a very close relationship up until his death. The dynamic between Crudup and Potter’s characters creates a compelling storyline to complement the main story of Pre’s running career. 

After Pre loses the most important race of his life, the 5000 meter at the Munich Olympics, the film changes tone. Pre is distraught after his loss in Munich, and his self-confidence begins to deteriorate. Bowerman finds Pre working in a bar and takes him outside to talk. This short argument between the two spurs Pre to once again train under Bowerman’s watch in preparation for the 1976 Olympics. After this revival, Pre returns to winning races. He runs the 5000 meter race in a fundraiser meet for the Oregon track and field stadium, Hayward Field. Minutes before the race, Pre experiences a surge of self-doubt and fear that he can’t compete with these runners anymore. The monstrous chants from the crowd as the race announcer calls his name are enough to push Pre to the start line and instill a newfound confidence. Pre goes on to win the thrilling race in the last 100 meters against former college competitor and 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter. Pre’s confidence is restored, and he sets his sights on the 1976 Olympics, and breaking the American 5000 meter record. 

University of Oregon’s Historic Hayward Field before renovation. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user Cacophony.

Hours after his race, Pre attends a party with Shorter. Shorter asks Pre to take him home after being exhausted from the race. As Pre drives back to the party after dropping Shorter off, he is envisioning his race strategy to break the American 5000 meter record. As he drives along the two-way road, a large truck crosses into his lane and causes Pre to veer across both lanes and crash into a rock face just yards off of the road. His car flips, and the scene ends showing his car upside down on the side of the road. Knowing how tragic Pre’s death was, this scene was heartbreaking to watch. He had so much left to accomplish, and to have it all come to an end so quickly was absolutely devastating. 

As I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but admire the inspirational themes presented in Pre’s story. His mindset and approach to racing reveals a theme of pushing yourself to the highest possible limit of your capabilities, rather than just doing what you need to do to win. 

As a distance runner myself, I think this film is very accurate not only regarding the difficulties of the sport but also the triumphs of victory as a runner. Three-season distance runner Andrew Kauders (‘20) also praises the movie. Kauders says, “the movie was great. It felt accurate, and it showed the struggles that distance runners go through.” He also admires the film’s portrayal of Bowerman and states that the film helped clarify his understanding of Pre’s life story. Former Collegiate runner and current cross country and distance track coach, and Middle School teacher, Matthew Richardson (‘07), first watched the movie in 7th grade. He claims the movie is, “entertaining and well done,” and that it, “mixes adventure, humor, history, love, and tragedy into a storyline that is captivating.” When asked how accurate the movie is to distance running, he said, “the movie painted an accurate picture of some of the ups and downs associated with training, competing, and being on a team… It probably over-dramatized some aspects, but its goal was to evoke emotion and it does that well.”

Richardson has coached me in cross country and track for over three years. Knowing that he had a stellar running career, I asked him if his perspective on the movie has changed from the time he was competing to now coaching at Collegiate. He said, “my perspective has changed, because you realize there was a lot more to Pre than what can be shown in a movie.”

I have very little criticism of this film; I think they did a stellar job finding an actor who could make the physical running aspect of the movie very accurate, as well as the pure acting that captured Pre’s personality. Despite being a lesser-known story in the history of sports, I think Prefontaine’s life provides a different perspective from more typical sports films.