MovieChat Forums > Without Limits (1998) Discussion > Which movie is more accurate???

Which movie is more accurate???


Which movie, Prefontaine or Without Limits, is more accurate about his life story?

I realize they are two different movies but they ARE about the same person.
I watched these 2 movies a week apart and realized even CHARACTERs in the movie have different names ie his girlfriend and roomate.
How he hurt his foot is also different.

I prefered Without Limits BY FAR but i wonder if that is because i watched it first, and also because its more of a 'movie" and not docu-drama....i dunno

any comments please?

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Without limits without a doubt. not too mention it had the consent of Bill Bowerman. Prefontaine was horrible. read the biography written by Kenny Moore about Bowerman. "Bowerman and the men of Oregon". it explains how they suported without limits. which Kenny also co-wrote.

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Agree, its a no brainer. Without Limits gets all the details right

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Without Limits concentrated more on his actual running to the most accurate details. The side that was given in Prefontaine was given by his parents and they painted him out to be perfect and loyal to his girlfriend back home. Not true at all. He was known for being wild and a great runner.

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Gotta go with "Without Limits" on this one. Have read the book "Pre" and "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon" and both support Without Limits. As previously pointed out it had the cooperation of Bill Bowerman and others associated with Prefontaine. I liked that it showed his flaws (liked to front run; not the most coachable; ummm, liked his women) as well the positives.

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Plus, any movie with R. Lee Ermey playing Bowerman is gonna suck. But yeah, W/O Limits no doubt. They both basically cover the same ground, but that whole documentary (although I guess you could call it mockumentary) style was so annoying! It was just a poorly made movie compared to Without Limits.

Maybe Ill just sit here and bleed at you.

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prefontaine without question, have you ever seen Mac Wilkins? Hes spot on in Prefontaine, and in without limits looks nothing like him.

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Prefontaine was all bull crap. I even read a few biographies on Steve, and that movie was just stupid. Without Limits=extremely accurate. which is why all the fan sites, and his official site on Oregon's sports page, recommend this movie, and not Prefontaine.

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On the "Prefontaine" board, that film is winning, and naturally, "Without Limits" wins on its board. Having never met the principles I can't say which film is more accurate. But I prefer "Prefontaine" because it gave attention to the AAU controversy, which may actually be where Steve made his biggest impact (in organizing the un-sanctioned Finnish meet, helping amateur athletes gain independance). At times "Without Limits" seems like propaganda for Bowerman and Nike to me, and Steve seems as more of a prick. Unfortunately, maybe he was more "difficult" than as he was portrayed in the Jared Leto film.
Most informed posters say Leto ran more like Pre, Crudup looked more like him.
For total quality, of course, the imdb votes rate "Without Limits" almost a whole point higher than "Prefontaine", no matter which I personally enjoyed more.

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I agree 100% about "Without Limits" and its take on Bowerman, it seemed to glorify Bowerman and put him on a pedestal to me. Cases in point:

- Bowerman instructing someone to have the American embassy get Marines to guard the US residence in Munich (how does an assistant track coach get such pull?)
- Bowerman mapping out all of Prefontaine's strategies where he has won, where he didn't win, was some other reason
- Bowerman brings Prefontaine back to life after the Olympics loss by going and seeking him out

Aside from that I found Prefontaine translating the news for all the track members to be a bit beyond belief, maybe it's true, I don't know but I would be intrested in some fact finding on "Without Limits" since it seemed to embellish characters more.

A also agree with the AAU being covered in "Prefontaine".

Who knows, all of these could be accurate but they instantly struck me as Hollywood dramatic license.

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With regard to the translating bit, the Olympics were held in Munich, and Pre's mother was German, so it is likely that Pre could at leat read some German.

Don't know this for sure though...

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Bowerman did instruct to get someone from the military to guard the elevators. That was told in Bowerman and the Men of Oregon. They weren't trying to put him on a pedestal, they were telling a true story. He was also the head Track and Field coach for the 1972 olympics

Bowerman of course mapped out his strategies for winning...he was his coach.

And I do agree about how the AAU story should have been covered more. He was also not wearing a black jersey for his final race in the movie, even though he did in his last race.

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I saw Without Limits again last night. Loved it when it came out in 1998.

In the movie, an announcer at the Olympics mentioned Prefontaine is "...an American whose mother was German and he grew up in a German speaking household."
This is a true statement and translating the German news reports would have been very easy for him.

I like Without Limits better but it was lacking in some important areas, IMO
Prefontaine got three things right:
1) Pointing out Pre had one leg shorter than the other. Knowledge of this makes Pre's accomplishments that much more impressive.
2) an accurate depiction of his death, the car rolled on top of him, a nearby neighbor ran to lift the car off but left to get help
3)Prefontaine focused a good deal on Pre's difficult living situation due to the AAU's hypocrisy - raking in the doe, living like kings - while Pre was working, living in a trailer and receiving food stamps. I wish there had been more mention of Pre's fierce battle against the AAU in Without Limits because it was a very important part of his life.

I also love the John Williams song, "Summon the Hero" in Without Limits and the soundtrack for the movie.

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Prefontaine was the better movie becuase leto was the better actor who played steve. Also sutherland sucked as bowerman.

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"Prefontaine", IMHO, in the way the race at Munich was depicted, makes it the winner hands down. The emotions I felt the first time I saw that scene, music blaring, are as strong and the fifth time. I still root for him to win!

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===Prefontaine was the better movie becuase leto was the better actor who played steve. Also sutherland sucked as bowerman.===


Obviously a shill from the "Prefontaine" board...

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prefontaine was better.... sutherland was terrible as bowerman and lee r emory was amazing as bowerman along with mr married with children

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I like them both VERY much, but I find "Prefontaine" to be the better overall film. I am not basing that on any presumed accuracies or inaccuracies, I just think it's a better film.

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