The Oregonian newspaper article described in the post below about Bill Bowerman has a sidebar about movies in which Hayward Field ( University of Oregon Track Field) was a backdrop. You can access the article by clicking on the title above for a link.
As I have said before, my family and I were crowd scene extras in the movie "Without Limits" (1998). We spent a rare hot Saturday and Sunday in Eugene at Hayward Field as they filmed the movie. On Sunday, as they were getting ready to film a very old Bill Bowerman walked on to the track dressed in Oregon green. He was walking with a cane. The director,Robert Towne, stopped the filming and the crowd burst into applause as Bill Bowerman waved to the crowd. It was near the end of his life and was a very touching moment. Donald Sutherland played Bowerman in the film and I think did a good job. Picture is of Donald Sutherland as Bowerman and Billy Crudup as Steve Prefontaine.
Here is the Oregonian article by Jeff Baker:
"The story of Bill Bowerman and Steve Prefontaine has been told in two movies, and Hayward Field was the backdrop for another track movie featuring runner and author Kenny Moore:
"Personal Best" (1982): Robert Towne wrote and directed an uneven movie about two women pentathletes (Patrice Donnelly and Mariel Hemingway) who compete against each other and fall in love. The opening scenes were filmed at the 1980 Olympic Trials in Eugene, after Kenny Moore intervened for Towne and got Bowerman's approval.
Bowerman watched the movie with Moore and said nice things, then took them all back in an angry interview the next day in the Eugene Register-Guard. Bowerman hated the manipulative track coach played by Scott Glenn and had his name removed from the credits.
Towne ignored Moore's complete lack of acting experience and cast him as Hemingway's boyfriend. Moore, who displayed full-frontal nudity in a scene with Hemingway, defends "Personal Best" as a groundbreaking movie because of its lesbian theme.
"A great many women have said it changed their lives," he said. "Patrice Donnelly, who's as straight as they come, is a hero to a lot of lesbians."
"Fire on the Track" (1993): A documentary on Prefontaine written by Moore and narrated by Ken Kesey. Towne showed footage from it to Tom Cruise, who became strongly interested in developing a movie about Pre.
"Prefontaine" (1997): The Disney version of Pre's life stars Jared Leto as Pre and R. Lee Ermey as Bowerman. It was directed on a shoestring budget by Steve James ("Hoop Dreams"). Most reviews found it solid but too reverential toward its subject. "Did you know Jesus Christ was a distance runner at the University of Oregon?" wrote Jack Mathews of Newsday.
"Without Limits" (1998): Towne directed from a script he and Moore wrote. The core of the movie, the relationship between Prefontaine (Billy Crudup) and Bowerman (Donald Sutherland), is outstanding, and the location shooting at Hayward Field and at Bowerman's house demonstrates Towne's improvement as a director since "Personal Best." There are problems on the periphery: assistant coach Bill Dellinger is reduced to a caricature and there is no chemistry between Crudup and Monica Potter, who played Pre's girlfriend. Moore said scenes showing the complexity of their relationship were left on the cutting-room floor. "
-- Jeff Baker
