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 ****

As flawed as it might seem, and as much as Mariel Hemingway's body may have been exploited in the interest of box office sales... This was a very important movie for me and many girls my age. It was the first movie we ever saw that let us know that we weren't the only girls in the world who liked other girls. And it showed us that this could be beautiful and that we weren't freaks. For that it will always hold a special place in my heart. And the same goes for many other lesbians around my age.

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.

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

The best part of this film is you get a look at Eugene, Oregon, the mecca of track and field in the early 1980s. Mariel Hemingway is pretty convincing as a pentathlete. She is tall, very fit and moves with much of the grace of a hurdler. Of note is that most of the others in this film, with the exception of Scott Glenn were actual world-class athletes. Jane Fredrick and Kate Schmidt were top women and Al Feuerbach was a champion shot-putter. Kenny Moore, who plays Hemingway's male love-interest is cast as a water polo player. In reality Moore, who does a very good job finished 4th in the Olympic Marathon, was numerous events, but was cursed with running at the same time as Frank Shorter (has a bit part playing a TV announcer). Moore was also a frequent contributor for Sports Illustrated. This is not a genre-defining movie (if there is a genre of this type), but it is quite watchable and gives one a hint of the life of track athletes in the era before they were allowed to be paid above the table.