BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

sol- Dissatisfied with his meaningless job and depressed over his wife filing for divorce, a Canadian man decides to become a marathon runner with hopes of Olympic glory in this early career Michael Douglas drama. The begins well with Douglas having to overcome resistance from everyone around him, including his two daughters who find him embarrassing because he insists on running everywhere - including beside them as they cycle to school. The strained relationship between Douglas and Susan Anspach (as his wife) is curious too as he begins courting her (and she accepts his advances) once the divorce goes through. It is as if the they just needed the excitement of copulation outside of marriage to rejuvenate things. The second half of the film is unfortunately nowhere near as engaging though as Douglas finally qualifies for Olympic try-outs. It never rings true how all his naysayers suddenly begin cheering him on, and the film becomes sentimental to boot near the end, not helped one iota by a maudlin music score. In all fairness, the film's director, Steven Hillard Stern, does well visualising all of the running scenes with mobile camera-work and some atmospheric nighttime runs. Stern was never an especially remarkable director though with films like 'The Devil and Mex Devlin' and 'I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now' to his credit, and it is hard not to wonder what another director may have done with the material. Certainly there is a lot of interest in how Douglas wishes to live his dream beyond all social norms and expectations and Douglas is at least solid in the lead role.

paulinewainwright I loved this film, having seen it in 2006 for the first time 27 years after its first release! It really showed Michael Douglas' early potential to become the Oscar winning star he became in the 80's, everything was there - nice guy, caring, all the mannerisms, facial expressions and voice intonations that he later did so well, but I think this was the absolute best of his early roles. OK so he was the messed up guy that he portrayed so often, but in this film he had an ambition that took over his life, almost to the exclusion of everything else. I really felt for his kids - embarrassed by him at first, but then so thrilled for him. And the finale - well, he could have won the gold medal, but that would have been unreal and wrong in the context of the film, instead we saw him battling it out to the very end - and I had tears running down my face when he finally entered the stadium. I rate this one of the best Douglas movies!

asier_9 My memory of this film is probably not congruent with the reality, but for an eight year old kid I was deeply impressed. The story is of about a talented but grandiose marathoner runner who's fear of failing keeps him form fully engaging in commitments. He is under-employed, separated/divorced and estranged from his children. He pins all his hopes and identity on becoming an Olympic champion but intentionally slacks off during the close finish of the Olympic trials coming in fourth. His self-esteem being incapable of surviving an honest defeat. But after an injury to one of the other runners he is selected for the team anyway. During the actual race it seems that he plans to make good on his talents and takes a commanding lead until he slips and falls on the wet pavement dislocating his arm. At this point my memory is a little vague but for some reason he finally gets it: his self worth can't be determined by the alloy of his medal but by the test of character that is the highest symbolism of all athletic competition, and so he decides to finish the race for himself. The man who couldn't bear to ever be second only shot, now, is last, and he is alone running against himself. In his defeat he wins the victory of redemption and walks away with a prize far more valuable then an Olympic Gold Medal. I would very much like to risk the disappointment of seeing this film again as it was probably, outside of Black Beauty, the biggest cinematic impact on me before I turning ten.

peachandrudy I went to this movie because I am a runner. I think I was the only one in the whole theater."As Mike Douglas so aptly put it "No one came" as in "some came running...get it...well...The movie was a big disappointment. First of all, the lead men in the Boston Marathon scene could never have built like football players. to be honest, Michael was the only one who looked like a legitimate runner. It started off with him getting up in the wee hours, guzzling down orange juice, and running fully clothed for his job to work. I believe he would have had a good case of heartburn by the time he got there!And the end when he is heroically crawling to the finish line after everyone else has gone...too much . The only realistic aspect was his relationship with his wife, who couldn't handle this business of her husband running, not working and taking care of the family. It seems he couldn't do both.