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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 date; UK critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato

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: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2008 07:23 AM

Channel 4 Film

splat

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: | comment Comment | Jan., 26 2006 03:15 AM

Time Out

tomato
3/5

Clint Morris

A brilliantly performed, gut-wrenchingly sad flick

comment Comment | Feb., 03 2009 03:07 AM

Brag Magazine

tomato

Richard Schickel

Whether he would have won at the next Olympics, we'll never know. What we do know is that Towne, a man of ruefully romantic temperament, has found a soulmate in Steve Prefontaine.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2008 07:30 AM

TIME Magazine

tomato

Todd McCarthy

With a very good part for a change, Sutherland invests the imposing Bowerman with a host of subtly expressed attitudes toward his most illustrious charge.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2008 07:26 AM

Variety

tomato
2.5/4

Sandra Contreras

Except for a few lapses, co-scriptwriters Kenny Moore and Towne allow Pre's aura to remain undisturbed by overdramatization and psychological speculation.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 05 2008 07:25 AM

TV Guide's Movie Guide

tomato
3/4

Michael Dequina

A couple of sterling lead performances by Billy Crudup and Donald Sutherland.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 14 2007 01:07 PM

TheMovieReport.com

tomato
3/5

Emanuel Levy

No review available.

comment Comment | Jul., 22 2005 05:04 PM

EmanuelLevy.Com

tomato

Louis B. Parks

Without Limits wins as a sports film precisely because it's not really about sports or a great victory.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 21 2005 03:25 AM

Houston Chronicle

splat
1/5

Fiore Mastracci

No review available.

comment Comment | Sep., 22 2004 12:00 PM

Outtakes With Fiore

splat
2/5

Daniel Eagan

Bland biopic about runners

comment Comment | Jul., 26 2004 09:01 AM

Film Journal International

tomato
4/5

Sarah Chauncey

No review available.

comment Comment | Jun., 10 2004 09:03 PM

Reel.com

tomato
4.5/5

James Rocchi

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 07 2002 01:22 PM

Netflix

tomato
3.5/5

John A. Nesbit

'... the biopic plays fine as an intelligent character study of a mythologized athlete who died far too young.'

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 30 2002 12:34 PM

ToxicUniverse.com

tomato
3/4

Rick Groen

Without Limits is an admirable departure from the norm, but its greatest strength doubles as an undermining weakness.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 12 2002 08:08 AM

Globe and Mail

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 24 2002 08:06 AM

Boston Phoenix

tomato

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 03 2002 08:11 AM

Spirituality and Practice

tomato

Peter Travers

As Pre, Billy Crudup is dynamite -- a magnetic star presence who's unafraid to show how Pre's drive also makes him a bit of a prick.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 11 2001 07:38 PM

Rolling Stone

tomato

Kenneth Turan

Towne's most important contribution, aside from his gift for structure and willingness to direct this story in a classic, straight-ahead manner, is the power of his words.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 14 2001 12:38 AM

Los Angeles Times

tomato
3/4

No review available.

comment Comment | Jan., 01 2000 12:00 AM

USA Today

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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