Jared Leto plays the title role in Prefontaine, a biographical study of the American track star who rewrote all the record books in his short life for distance running. He also put his town of Coos Bay, Oregon on the map where it still proudly displays it's the hometown of Steven Prefontaine.

Of course the Holy Grail of amateur athletics is the Olympics and even Mark Spitz who was the American star in the summer Olympics of 1972 was overshadowed by the cowardly murders of several Israeli athletes in that year. Munich will probably never host another Olympics, just too much bad history is attached to that city.

It was also Prefontaine's downfall, he finished third in his big race to Finnish miler Lasse Viren. He got a rematch of sorts against Viren in Oregon, but before the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Prefontaine was killed in automobile crash.

Jared Leto does a fine job in essaying the part and showing the hopes, dreams, and frustrations of Steve Prefontaine. R. Lee Ermey and Ed O'Neill play his college and high school track coaches and Lindsay Crouse does a fine job as Leto's mother. Special mention should also go to Kurtwood Smith who plays the voice of the Amateur Athletic Union who Prefontaine faces down and wins. They've been running amateur sports in this country and in some cases arrogantly and not too well for most of the last century.

It's a good sports film and should be seen in combination with Chariots Of Fire to see how amateur athletics are dealt with in a different time and culture.

I had never heard of Steve Prefontaine before I learned that they were making a movie about him, even though he was from Oregon. When I finally saw the movie, I figured that I would just have to accept what the movie showed. "Prefontaine" mostly does a good job, although it goes a little overboard in focusing on how the assassinations at the 1972 Olympics affected him personally. Also, I would have liked to have learned maybe a little more about his childhood.

So, although we may not be certain about how accurate the movie is, it's an interesting look at the athletic world in the early '70s. Also starring Ed O'Neill and R. Lee Ermey.

Being benched during his Coos Bay, Oregon grade school football games only makes young Steve "Pre" Prefontaine more determined to succeed. He grows up to be beautiful, blonde, and cocky Jared Leto. Fulfilling his athletic dreams in becoming a college track star, Mr. Leto makes it to the 1972 Munich Olympics, which are targeted by terrorists. Leto looks forward to his next Olympiad, but fate has other plans…

Mr. Prefontaine was the subject of two biographical films released almost simultaneously, this one and the bigger-budgeted "Within Limits" (1998) starring Billy Crudup. The two life-telling movies elevate Prefontaine and, upon seeing them, the attention seems warranted. After you get used to his sometimes looking more like a carefully made-up 1970s physique model than a runner, Leto slowly convinces. The use of pseudo-interviews, wobbly camera, actual sports footage, and other filming tricks are less successful, in the long run.

****** Prefontaine (1/24/97) Steve James ~ Jared Leto, R. Lee Ermey, Ed O'Neill, Amy Locane