- Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Subtitles: English, French
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.66:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: R (Restricted) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- DVD Release Date: 8 Jan 2008
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005JNGN
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 82,748 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
'Personal best' largely follows the story of Chris as she comes through the athletic ranks with the help of fellow competitor Tori. The two have a strong relationship which is tested severely and repeatedly due to their professional rivalry. This is not helped by having a coach who keeps feeding the distrust and almost playing the women against each other.
Don't be fooled into thinking the relationship is the be all and end all of the movie. Brilliant cinematography & directing brings the hard work, injuries and comradarie that develops between athletes competing at the highest level of the sport to life.
Lesbian fans of the movie probably weren't too impressed with the ending but although it is bittersweet it actually fits rather well. One of the best movies with lesbian content around in my opinion.
Don't be fooled into thinking the relationship is the be all and end all of the movie. Brilliant cinematography & directing brings the hard work, injuries and comradarie that develops between athletes competing at the highest level of the sport to life.
Lesbian fans of the movie probably weren't too impressed with the ending but although it is bittersweet it actually fits rather well. One of the best movies with lesbian content around in my opinion.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
personal best is a relly good sports drama (if a little long) that stars mariel hemmingway in one of her best roles (the other being star 80) as a promising hurdler who falls in love with a fellow athlete(patrice donnelly) & find there relationship jeopardised as they both vie for a place on the us olympic team.This isnt really a film for anyone expecting a 'gay interest' movie as i found it didnt really focus on the relationship so much as things cool between them & mariels character starts dating a man & it seems all is forgotten! but it is for anyone into sports dramas or ofcourse anyone who loves mariel hemmingway!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Exceptional film; one to be enjoyed over and over!
9 July 1999
Whether you viewed this film when it first appeared in the '80s or today, you cannot help but get the feeling that you are right there w/Tory (Patrice Donnelly) & Chris (Mariel Hemingway) competing on the track and struggling through the pains of high level competition. The technical advice given this film is marvelous, thanks in part to co-star Patrice Donnelly.
Also, the attraction between the two stars is touching and their ensuing love scenes are gentle and moving. When the two stars struggle in their 3yr long relationship, you (the viewer) struggle right along with them. Unfortunately, the two stars never address the reason for their breakup and one is left w/a feeling of incompleteness.
Scott Glenn is very convincing as the coach who falls in love w/Tory and becomes the number one jerk to keep Tory & Chris apart.
34 of 40 people found the following review helpful
All time favorite "jock" movie
18 Jun 2000
Amazon Verified Purchase
So, I'm having a party conversation with a lesbian friend and "Personal Best" comes up. She denounces it as a lousy portrayal of lesbianism. Yeah, I answer, but it is a great sports movie! And it is too. Personal Best is not just a great sports movie, but is also a great bildungsroman ("coming of age" movie). In it the lead character, Chris Cahill (Mariel Hemingway) is involved in a dysfunctional relationship with her father who is a coach. We see little of her family life. The movie revolves around her moving to a new family and getting new parents: Tory Skinner (Patrice Donnelly) and Terry Tingloff (Scott Glenn, who is, you guessed it, a coach). The problem is the tranference of parental relations is confused from the very beginning by a sexual relation between Chris and Tory. The waters are muddled even further when jealousy rears his head between the "parents," and between Tory and Chris who are set in competition against each other by Tingloff. Through it all, Chris grows up so that, when Tingloff comes on to her in a vulnerable situation, she staves him off (unlike Tory in a earlier scene) and begins to develop her own relationships and her own philosophy of competition. The moral of the movie is: To be competitive you don't have to be better than everybody else, just a little bit better than you were yesterday. You don't have to kill the competition, you can love the competition, but always remember, you are the competition.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Sports and love between two women touch your heart.
15 May 1999
This is a film about competition in sports and about the love/sexual atraction between two women. The scenes that capture the more difficult moments in sports competition (the beginning of a 1000 meters, by example)are really good and beautiful. There you can see the high feelings of people that dedicates theirs lifes to win in a sport campus. Otherwise, the love scenes are delicate and very beautiful. You can feel by yourself the feelings between the two women. High feelings. What I really didn't like is the end of the love story. It is not credible and seems to be moralizing. But you have to see this picture. Great photography, great bodies. I saw it when it was new (1983, 1984, I guess) and I saw it now and I find it better than then.
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