Without Limits

(Warner)

Robert Towne's film is not the first big-screen treatment of long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine's life, and neither does it penetrate much beyond the television image of the athlete at the 1972 Olympics with which it opens. Yet the director does capture what Prefontaine (here played by Billy Crudup) declared to be the "art" of his obsession in all its pain, labor, triumph, and futility -- it's the best portrayal of the athletic ethos since Towne's own Personal Best.