Prefontaine - the Movie

Sometimes you find a little gem on YouTube.

In this case the full length film 'Prefontaine' with Jared Leto as Steve Prefontaine which is still available on DVD as well (for example on Amazon). This raises the question. Is the video on YouTube legal? Don't know but what I do know is that it is posted on the channel of Jared Leto himself.

The problem with this kind of movies is two fold;

1. Are the running scenes convincing?
2. How accurate is the storyline in the historical context or was the focus 'bringing a nice story?'

As for the first: most scenes on the track are convincing and Jared Leto paid close attention to for example Steves specific way of crossing the finish line, pushing down the wire. The most historic race (Munich 1972) is a clever combination of staged scenes and the original footage of the TV broadcast.

Compared to the documentary posted Yesterday I think they succeeded in creating two hours worth of entertainment staying close to the facts. OK, Steve Prefontaine was entertainment enough by himself. So enjoy.

Steve Prefontaine, a one hours video on this iconic athlete

Steve Prefontaine. One of the great distance runners who died to young to be even bigger. That's in short his credentials. Others are 'Nike', Olympics 1972 Munich, American Record Holder. On youtube this one hour video with originale footage and interviews with the athletes of his time and his coach, te legendary Bill Bowerman. Among the names als Frank Shorter from the book "Running for Peak Performance" and Jeff Galloway from "Galloway's Book on Running ". If he would have lived, he probably would have become one of the household names in the jogging boom that started just around this time and that gave Shorter en Galloway the platform.

Enjoy the video.
 

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