Personal Best is a 1982 American drama film written, produced, and directed by Robert Towne. The movie stars Mariel Hemingway and real-life track star Patrice Donnelly, along with Scott Glenn as the coach of the track team.
Chris Cahill is a young track-and-field athlete who competes unsuccessfully in the 1976 U.S. Olympic trials. She meets a more experienced competitor, Tory Skinner, and their friendship evolves into a romantic relationship.
The two are part of a group of women trying to qualify for the American track-and-field team bound for the 1980 Olympic Games. Despite their commitment to their training regimen, their dreams are thwarted when the United States announces its boycott of the Games for political reasons, leaving them with only the informal "personal best" marks they achieved during training to connote their achievements.
Many elite track-and-field athletes of the day played in the film, including:
Evelyn Ashford – 4 Gold medals and a Silver Medal in Olympic Games
Jodi Anderson
Maren Seidler
Martha Watson
Emily Dole
Pam Spencer
Deby LaPlante
Mitzi McMillin – 1974 U.S. Champion in Pentathlon
Jan Glotzer – 1970 National High School record holder 110 yard hurdles
Jan Van Reenen
Al Feuerbach
Jane Frederick
Cindy Gilbert – 1972 U.S. Olympian High Jump
Marlene Harmon – 1983 World Championships Heptathlon
Linda Waltman – 1980 U.S. Team for boycotted Olympics Pentathlon
Cindy Banks – Pentathlete/Heptathlete from Santa Barbara
Milan Tiff
Earl Bell
Frank Shorter
Jim Tracy – coach, whose battle with ALS is documented in the film Running for Jim
Sharon Brazell
Susan Brownell – heptathlete
Desiree Gauthier – heptathlete
Sharon Hatfield – 1980 and 1982 U.S. Junior Champion in Pentathlon/Heptathlon
Linda Hightower – heptathlete with Oregon Track Club
Joan Russell – heptathlete from UCSB
Themis Zambrzycki – 1980 US champion heptathlete from BYU and Brazil, South American Junior medalist
Clim Jackson – 1975 ranked #3 in U.S. 110 metres hurdles
John Smith
Chuck DeBus – track coach banned for life in 1990 for giving athletes PEDs[2]
Robert Horn
Charlie Jones – track and field announcer
Len Dawson – pro football announcer
Production[]
Hemingway trained extensively before the film began shooting.[3]
Donnelly was one of the athletes who helped Towne with research while he was writing the screenplay. After he had trouble finding a professional actress to play Tory Skinner, she agreed to take the role.[4]
The production was halted in July 1980 because of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild.[4]
Many of the scenes were filmed in San Luis Obispo County.[5] While the sign on the track said "Cal Poly", which is a university in San Luis Obispo, it was filmed at the track at Morro Bay High School. There are also two scenes filmed at restaurants in downtown San Luis Obispo; the Cigar Factory and 1865.
Filming also took place in Eugene, Oregon.[6] Locations included Hayward Field and the nearby Track Town Pizza restaurant.[4]
Towne clashed with David Geffen during the production. He would later sue Geffen and others for $110 million.[7]
Although Michael Chapman is listed as the director of photography, Reynaldo Villalobos and Caleb Deschanel did uncredited work.[8]
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Personal Best garnered a 73% approval rating at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews.[9] Roger Ebert gave the film four out of a possible four stars and wrote, "This is a very physical movie, one of the healthiest and sweatiest celebrations of physical exertion I can remember...It is filled with the uncertainties, risks, cares, and rewards of real life, and it considers its characters' hearts and minds, and sees their sexuality as an expression of their true feelings for each other".[10] Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert placed Personal Best on their lists of the ten best films of 1982.[11] Pauline Kael wrote that "There has probably never been a growing-up story presented on the screen so freely and uninhibitedly."[12] Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the acting of the four leads, but criticized the storyline and the "prettified slow-motion footage."[13]
Box office[]
Personal Best did well in its initial limited engagement, but ultimately flopped at the box office.[14]
Accolades[]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The article or pieces of the original article was at Personal Best (film). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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