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Movies / On DVD / Without Limits
Without Limits

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Without Limits (1998)

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76 %
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Reviews Counted:37

Fresh:28

Rotten:9

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: This drama about American track star and hero Steve Prefontaine intelligently looks at the character of this oft mythologized athlete and features a fantastic performance by Donald Sutherland as Prefontaine's trainer.

Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Robert Towne's bio-pic about the legendary long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. The picture follows Pre's Oregon upbringing, through his days at Oregon University (where he met and worked with... Robert Towne's bio-pic about the legendary long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. The picture follows Pre's Oregon upbringing, through his days at Oregon University (where he met and worked with famed running coach Bill Bowerman), through the Munich Olympics. Sadly, his career was cut short at the age of twenty-four when he was killed in a car accident, adding to the myth of this talented, inspired athlete. [More]

Starring: Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland, Monica Potter, Jeremy Sisto

Starring: Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland, Monica Potter, Jeremy Sisto, Billy Burke, Dean Norris, Gabriel Olds, Judith Ivey, Matthew Lillard

Director: Robert Towne

Director: Robert Towne
Screenwriter: Robert Towne, Kenny Moore
Producer: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner
Composer: Randy Miller

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Without Limits

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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he understated cinematography by Conrad Hall and sterling work from Crudup and Sutherland lend a patina of class, yet it's in the end a po-faced film.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Prefontaine's infectious enthusiasm is ably conveyed, although the film might have been a stronger and less earnest effort if producer Tom Cruise had played a more active part.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
08/05/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Where can a movie like this go except straight into a brick wall?

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

No review available.

comment Comment
01/01/00
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I wish I could write that he is "without limits" as a director, but it is Towne's flair for the obvious that prevents this picture from going that extra mile.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

Replete with slow-motion running, sweat-dripping faces, and gut-wrentching drama, this is a must-see for any track & field fan.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

A brilliantly performed, gut-wrenchingly sad flick

comment Comment
02/03/09
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Brag Magazine

Donald Sutherland walks away with the film.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

Bland biopic about runners

comment Comment
07/26/04
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

Beautifully made and features a marvelous performance by Donald Sutherland as the track coach Bill Bowerman, but the movie is no more than moderately interesting.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Denby
David Denby
New York Magazine

It's not a bad film, but Towne and his star, the charismatic Billy Crudup, never fire the imagination in the way their inspirational, respectful biopic is obviously intended to.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle

No review available.

comment Comment
07/22/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A zippy, straightforward and entirely superficial film that reduces its subject to Rocky in running shoes.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
Film Journal International

No review available.

comment Comment
09/22/04
Fiore Mastracci
Fiore Mastracci
Outtakes With Fiore

Offers plenty of interesting insights into the beauty, the poetry, the drama, and the science of athletic competition.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/03/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Towne just doesn't capture his subject.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
G. Allen Johnson
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Examiner

A sturdy, hero-worshipping picture that underplays the boasting which made Pre less sympathetic in last year's version by Hollywood Pictures.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/01/00
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Without Limits makes for an engrossing examination of the will to win, the importance of icons in American sports, and the interference of money in amateur athletics.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Both Crudup and Sutherland deliver superb performances in the support of a thoughtful, committed, and richly visualized film.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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