I would have totally forgotten about this film had it not been for the fact that I was originally going to review James Caan in Thief. And noticed purely by accident that Michael Mann had directed both.
Peter Strauss plays perhaps his best, certainly his most energetic role to date. Facing a term in a hard prison for murder his only real freedom is running...around a track!
This gets noticed by the prison sports coach and after a few scrapes & dramas he finds he is able to compete in the Olympics, only to be refused by the prison board unless he admits to his crime.
A very simple, but moving film, of a man's fight for justice and to live out his passion for the track. The cinematography is quite good although perhaps lingers a little too long on the slow mo shots of Strauss's sinewy body as he runs around the track.
But the upbeat music goes hand in hand with the story, although there is perhaps too much pathos in-between. The story gets sidetracked with social issues such as prison racism & violence, which to be honest we've seen elsewhere in other prison movies and so isn't really needed here.
We also get to see glimpses of Mann's directing - the style found in his latter films such as Thief & Heat can just be seen in development here, but everything is very much understated & conservative which being a TV movie on a limited budget meant he probably wasn't allowed to explore & experiment.
A good upbeat movie with a main message of hope & freedom lying from within, but which becomes muddled with too much political correctness.
***/*****
Peter Strauss plays perhaps his best, certainly his most energetic role to date. Facing a term in a hard prison for murder his only real freedom is running...around a track!
This gets noticed by the prison sports coach and after a few scrapes & dramas he finds he is able to compete in the Olympics, only to be refused by the prison board unless he admits to his crime.
A very simple, but moving film, of a man's fight for justice and to live out his passion for the track. The cinematography is quite good although perhaps lingers a little too long on the slow mo shots of Strauss's sinewy body as he runs around the track.
But the upbeat music goes hand in hand with the story, although there is perhaps too much pathos in-between. The story gets sidetracked with social issues such as prison racism & violence, which to be honest we've seen elsewhere in other prison movies and so isn't really needed here.
We also get to see glimpses of Mann's directing - the style found in his latter films such as Thief & Heat can just be seen in development here, but everything is very much understated & conservative which being a TV movie on a limited budget meant he probably wasn't allowed to explore & experiment.
A good upbeat movie with a main message of hope & freedom lying from within, but which becomes muddled with too much political correctness.
***/*****