Mariel Hemingway has a career-making star turn in this highly physical drama about two Olympic athletes who find each other during competitive training.
Mariel Hemingway has a career-making star turn in this highly physical drama about two Olympic athletes who find each other during competitive training.
In 1982, there was a brief cycle of homosexual-relationship films, none of which were successful enough to form the basis of a trend. Producer/director/writer Robert Towne's Personal Best is one of the finest. It stars Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly as athletes participating in the 1980 Olympics. Growing ever closer during the training process, Chris (Hemingway) and Tory (Donnelly) fall in love. Up to this point, Chris has been "straight," thus has trouble sustaining the relationship with
older Tory. Their relationship is counterbalanced with the attitudes held by their male coach, Terry (Scott Glenn). While the homosexual element of the film is secondary to the endless shots of athletes in training, the critics latched on to the film's romantic angle, which may have sabotaged its chances for box-office success (the world was a different place in 1982). Personal Best was the directorial debut for Robert Towne, who was not to direct another film until 1987's Tequila Sunrise. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Towne has a love of slow motion that's employed as if he's afraid you might miss one, rippling muscle. Worse than that, when people aren't exercising, they are often talking about exercising.
Unless you're fascinated by all of the prettified slow-motion footage of Chris, Tory and the other women athletes, your eye is likely to wander to your watch long before the end.
The characters have a fullness and vitality rare in American films of that period, but Towne has so much trouble establishing information visually that the film emerges as choppy, confused, ill-proportioned.
[VIDEO] Although screenwriter Robert Towne's directorial debut fell largely on deaf ears when it was released in 1982 "Personal Best" remains a powerful examination of high-stakes female athletes during the late '70s...
Endowed with remarkable performances, superb photography, and a clear vision of what matters to its characters, Personal Best is an underappreciated gem in a genre full of filler.
If this is Robert Towne's "Personal Best," I'd hate to see the guy's personal worst! He is an overrated writer and proves herein to be a connect-the-dots director. Murial Hemingway can play naïve and pretty just fine, but the picture's only real redemption lies in Michael Chapman's textured photography.
This film is beautifully constructed in nearly every way. Competitive behavior has rarely been so intelligently dissected in film. It often seems like a documentary and has some dreamlike images. Almost makes me wish I could go back to the late '70s. The simplicity and directness of the presentation is very
appealing and the performances are very natural.
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