AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

SnoopyStyle 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.

Andy Ethell Although it has been many years since I saw this film it stands out as being an excellent film, both in the content-human relationships & competition, as well as the cinematography.Mariel Hemingway is simply stunning. Indeed the Women's High Jump is among the best events to watch at any Track & Field meet-as the girls are generally young, long & lean.If you follow T & F some of the high jumpers are able to compete at the highest level for over a decade. (I think that 5 of the top 8 of the 1988 Seoul Olympics had also made the final of the 1976 Olympics).There were two good films that I know of that had aim as 80 Olympics-Golden Girl with Susan Anton & this film. So how long did the USSR stay in Afganistan after the 1980 Olympic boycott? 13 years. So if a politician says a sporting team should boycott another country because of civil rights etc-then remind them of this Olympics, which in turn stuffed up the next Olympics as well as a couple of Commonwealth Games especially for African countries.Irony Idi Amin pulled Uganda out of the 1976 Olympics because New Zealand played rugby in South Africa.Even in 2004 the Aust govt was sort of trying to stop the Aust Cricket team from touring Zimbabwe.Enough of politics as I was not really aware of politics when I saw Personal Best in the early 1980's. I was aware of my attraction to girls and in Mariel there is one of the most beautiful as well as the capacity to admire athletic bodies , male & female, both on the track and in the locker room.

Opalville I have always loved this classic tale of two cool, starry-eyed, cross-country, long-legged distance runners, tragically hailing from opposite sides of the border town track and bar, who manage to break free and sprint halfway to mingle and drool over vodka and KY jelly-filled donuts before making a mad lovers' dash through customs whilst en route to Denmark to consummate their same-sex, syringe-friendly, lesbian marriage. This film fondly reminded me of my own modestly unhappy youth growing up in the outskirts of rural Kashmir country with Brenda, a olympic champion skeet shooter, my ex-former lover, and dedicated but untrustworthy carefree confidante, in a seedy neighborhood where our loyalties were constantly challenged, torn, undermined, and resurrected, only to have the cycle repeat itself like a never-ending perpetual monthly calendar. While Personal Best makes little chronological or other sense, any attempt to introduce a plot would inexorably distract attention from its sensually accurate detailed depictions of the morbidly anorexic female form. Gynecologically speaking, I found this movie to be quite a workout, with my quadriceps twitching in tandem with the characters,' eventually achieving a harmonious, sedentary, fleeting, runners' high. So high, in point of fact, that I levitated slowly out of my stadium theatre seat and joined the Buddha perched on a wall above to share a moment of clarity, whereupon my pacemaker and chronographic watch simultaneously and momentarily stopped ticking. Thank you for this movie!

filmfan1313 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.