In the 1976 US Olympic trials, Chris Cahill (Mariel Hemingway) chokes under her father's coaching. Tory Skinner (Patrice Donnelly) comes in second coached by Terry Tingloff (Scott Glenn). Chris has a breakdown that night and Tory comforts her. That night, they have a lesbian relationship. Tory convinces Terry to take on Chris.
It's a sensitive portrayal of a lesbian relationship. The massive amount of nudity does raise the question of how exploitive this movie is. Although the camera does leer at the young women, the romance is not some pulp fiction concoction. It's sweet. It's complicated. It feels real. It's also a striped down behind-the-scene look at Olympic athletes. Patrice isn't a pro actor but does quite well. Mariel has the sweet innocent quality. It's a good relationship movie and a good sports movie.
Personal Best
1982
Drama / Sport
Personal Best
1982
Drama / Sport
73% - Critics
52% - Audience
6.3
Synopsis
1976. Chris Cahill and Torry Skinner are US national caliber track and field athletes, Chris in the 100 meter hurdles, and Torry in the pentathlon. Chris has the natural ability to be great but she doesn't possess the confidence or drive, while Torry, who has less natural ability, psychologically knows what it takes to be great, leading to Torry making the Olympic team finishing second in her event, while Chris has a disastrous Olympic trial. Torry can see the potential in Chris, and tries to convince her coach at Cal Poly, Terry Tingloff, to coach Chris, Terry who will only allow Chris to train with the team without his guidance in he only having seen her disastrous performance at the trials. Although not ideal in that no scholarship money is involved, Chris accepts the offer against the wishes of her father, who currently coaches her. In their time together, Chris and Torry embark on a relationship, each seeing in the other what each doesn't possess, their attraction thus sexual as well as emotional. Eventually, Terry does see in Chris what Torry saw from the start, he who not only decides to train her, but convinces her that the event in which she should compete is the pentathlon in possessing the strength, speed and flexibility to be that all around athlete. Terry in particular cannot see a friendship let alone a sexual relationship exist between the two women who are now in competition, especially in the lead up to the 1980 Olympic trials. Through the ups and downs of both their friendship and sexual relationship, Chris and Torry may demonstrate what it means to be one's own personal best, especially in an environment where winning seems to be the goal at all cost. —Huggo
Uploaded By: FREEMAN
March 27, 2022 at 11:31 AM
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEBMovie Reviews
good relationship and sports movie
Hemingway matures in the course of this film--and as an actress takes some risks
"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 ****
Personal Best is one of the most compelling dramas about competition and exploration of self
After more than 30 years of only reading about this movie, I finally checked this out of my local library. Being writer Robert Towne's directorial debut, he does a fine job here in exploring the world of women runners during the Olympic Trials especially that between a young, inexperienced one who's insecure (Mariel Hemmingway) and that of an older, much confident one (Patrice Donnelly). They develop a sexual relationship as well and the nudity here is not exploitive but natural so I don't think many men's members would be protruding during those scenes or those taking place in a sauna. All I'll now say is this was quite a compellingly good drama so on that note, I highly recommend Personal Best. P.S. I also liked the commentary of Towne and a couple of his players in this film, Scott Glenn and Kenny Moore.
