Personal Best

"Personal Best" opens with a beautiful shot: a lone spot of sweat on the cement as the camera pans slowly upwards to Mariel Hemingway's tense profile as she prepares for a race. Soon afterward, however, the actress opens her mouth and out comes this little girl voice with a puny range. It's only natural to think this is going to be a tough role for Hemingway to pull off, but I believe she has done it. Gay-themed dramas are always something of a risk for the actors involved, yet Hemingway takes her sprinting character from naive mouse to sexy girlfriend to adult in the course of "Personal Best" and becomes a better, stronger actress in the process. Although an excessively barbed film with two gratuitous sub-plots (both involving men: a manipulative coach and an eleventh-hour boyfriend for Mariel), the picture has great '70s atmosphere, good race scenes, some funny, raunchy humor, and an even-handed, focused look at two women in love (lesbian lover Patrice Donnelly is a very moody cuss, but that's certainly no reason to drag in the boyfriend, which is where the movie starts hedging its bets). Two-hours-plus of Mariel Hemingway may sound like too much, but she's very good here; she carries most of this film on her shoulders and pulls off some very tricky sequences. This was her own 'personal best'. ** from ****

Mariel Hemingway stars in what is perhaps the most defining film of her career, a vehicle that displays her acting talents at what is probably her own 'personal best'.

In "PERSONAL BEST", Mariel is Chris Cahill, a young and attractive bi-sexual athlete competing at the Olympic Team Trials for the 1980 Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles. Her character is defined as somewhat naive, but she is guided through her sexuality phase with the help of Tory Skinner (wonderfully played by Patrice Donnelly). Whether the two characters are lesbian or not is beside the point, what "PERSONAL BEST" tries to deal with is the hardship of having a relationship at a trying time in your life. In this case, both Chris and Tory are competing for a place in the Olympic Team and they both help each other emotionally and physically to achieve their goals.

The two girls both deal with sexual confusion which distracts them on and off the field. Their coach is played by Scott Glenn who plays a hard and despicable character who 'pushes' them too hard to achieve their personal best.

"PERSONAL BEST" is filled with unnecessary nudity including countless scenes inside a sauna where you get to see young female athletes baring all. There are also several explicit sex scenes involving Chris and Tory which would probably not be suitable for younger children. One questionable scene involves Chris and a male athlete/temporary love interest in a bizarre toilet scene that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie - but other than that, the rest of the film is quite inspirational.

When the movie isn't trying to be serious, there are some comedic moments including a scene where Chris asks Tory to 'pull her finger'. Another thing "PERSONAL BEST" successfully achieves is building a story around a 'lesbian relationship' without delving into silly stereo-types and cliché's that spoiled other films of the same time (ie. "WINDOWS" and "THE LONELY LADY").

When it all boils down to it, what drove Chris and Tory to achieve their personal best was not endless training and their physical attributes, but their love and friendship for each other which was something that would probably last forever. "PERSONAL BEST" is a film about athletics and it is also a love story.

Yes, Mariel Hemingway has starred in a lot of trash (ie. "LIPSTICK", "SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE", "BAD MOON") - but it is "PERSONAL BEST" which I remember her the most for. Patrice Connelly was also a very good actress, but she has since retired from acting after appearing in only two films. This movie brought back a lot of memories about the 70's and the 80's and how innocent love could be in times that weren't so troubled.

I highly recommend this film, not just for sports enthusiasts, but for also those who are seeking a romantic love story.

My rating - 8 out of 10

... and the culture had not changed that much at that point such that many changes had to be made other than to be sure the soundtrack was very 70s, and the film does indeed dig up some great 70s oldies.

This is the story of two athletes - Chris (Mariel Hemingway) and Tory (Patrice Donnely) - from 1976 to 1980 as they train for the 1980 Olympics, hoping to go for the gold, only to have the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the resulting boycott of the 1980 Olympics by the USA prevent them from training for anything but the satisfaction of personal accomplishment.

This is also probably the first film to portray a lesbian relationship in a meaningful and realistic way. It shows how Chris and Tory fall in love, how they bond over their desire to be Olympic athletes, and how the athletic competition between them as well as jealousy gradually tear the relationship apart.

But this was also 1982, so the filmmakers insert what looks like now to be gratuitous nudity to lure would be moviegoers of the day. Looking back now some of the overt sexism and even racism is rather stark. There is coach Terry Tingloff (Scott Glenn) going on and on about how he could have coached men and been a REAL coach. There is a scene in a steam room where one of the African American athletes tells a racist joke. And there is lots of weed smoking before the era of "just say no".

I'd recommend it, but just realize that the film has long stretches that are solely about competition, preparation, and the little quirks of fate that can affect performance one way or the other. If that bores you, then you are likely not going to get much out of this viewing experience.

With Larry Pennell as Chris' overbearing demanding coach/dad who just disappears after the first ten minutes, never to be heard from again, and actor/athlete Kenny Moore as Denny Stites, Chris' boyfriend after her break up with Tory, and possibly the world's oldest living college athlete since he was 38 when this film was made and 18 years older than Hemingway.

I wish to argue against the fact that the film exploits the bodies of women. It is true that the movie was billed, in pressbook releases, as a sports movie featuring toned, "sexual" female bodies (not an exact quote). In this way, the makers may have attempted to make a film that was pleasurable to the male viewer. I do not argue that.

I do say that the end result was a film that handled the sexual situations very well, without exploitation. You have to consider at the time this film was made, 1982, it was (arguably) the first film to have an open lesbian relationship on the screen. The only real way a film could be generally accepted by the public, at that time, would be by containing some sexual content to please the male viewer. Too many feminist groups have identified with the powerful female figures inherent in this movie to really argue that the film exploits women. I believe that it IDENTIFIES women, and how they see each other.

I thought it was an excellent film, that made an excellent social statement of the times. Yes, it is sexist by today's standards... but watching it looking for the sexism ruins the entire experience of the movie. It is a movie in which to enjoy the characters more than the story, because the characters are so vivid.

Some of the posts here are very critical of this film, accusing it of being slow and exploitative. But I think it should be taken into account that this is essentially a film about people's relationship to each other, and not about car chases and explosions. I found it to be understated, realistic, and very watchable. Okay, there are a few nude scenes which may appear gratuitous. But as highly trained athletes, I think they would feel pretty secure about their bodies, and the camaraderie between them all which is apparent in the movie, would suggest that none of them would be embarrassed at being undressed together. Mariel is ultra believable as the confused young protagonist, which is not surprising as she said in a documentary that she actually trained like an athlete every day for almost a year, in order to prepare for the role. It's a shame to see how far downhill her acting career has gone since.

My one criticism is about Scott Glen, who is his usual wooden self, and not a character at all...He looks the part, but doesn't deliver the goods. But hey, it's such a cool watchable movie, I'll overlook that gripe.

It's weird to note that a lot of the sports fashions in the film are now back in style.