This is the most amazing movie in the world. Being a runner myself, this movie puts you into the emotional roller coaster that is high school running. There are many times when you feel like you will not or cannot accomplish the county championship but if you have someone like your brother to lean on then anything is possible. This movie has inspired me more than Chariots of Fire, PRE, and Without Limits combined. The acting and raw emotions that these characters experience will live on for ever. Where is the Academy Award for GREATEST FILM EVER MADE? By the way Pitt looks JACKED and he is the man in this move. Best performance of his life. PS if those are the standards to get into Standford then my whole XC team from junior year should be there. But that doesn't matter.

...okay, not really. But still, this Ricky Schroder/Brad Pitt production (made when Schroder was the bigger name) has all the after-school special charm of...all those after-school specials that I forget the names of. The story is cliched and the characters are simplistic, but if you don't take it too seriously and pretend your high school track team is watching it on the way back from state championships or something silly like that, you might actually have a great time with this movie. If you actually want to see a real movie and not something that is just fun to laugh at, I wouldn't recommend it. Great for bigger, slightly intoxicated audiences, especially if they are runners. Also great for people who love incredibly sappy stories of brotherly love.

Not much to rave about unless you happen to be a Brad Pitt fan or a follower of Rick Schroder. The two play high school brothers that find some success on the track field. Pitt is trying to walk the straight and narrow; while Schroder is a reform school refugee. Otherwise this movie does good to hold interest against an after school TV movie. Carrie Snodgress plays the passive mother still grieving her husbands death. Thomas Mikal Ford is the "meaning well" track coach. Unrealistic casting hurts.

The snappiest thing about this film is the title. Two American teenage brothers, one a swat and a goody two shoes on the athletic track, and the other a rebellious delinquent (born on the wrong side of the tracks, get it?), end up at the same school after bad boy Billy (Rick Schroder) gets a second chance after a spell at a Borstal.Members of Billy's delinquent melee try to reclaim him for the bad side, but we all know that is not going to happen. Joe, the elder brother (Brad Pitt), is trying for a scholarship to a prestigious university by running a faster race than anyone else. This is where the story falls apart.Brad Pitt has by far the more convincing physique. Rick Schroder is good looking enough, provided he stops slicking his blond locks back with a cartload of grease, but he is no athlete. The clever cinematic device of dressing him in black shorts and shirt for the running sequences cannot hide the flab. The slow motion sections (a la Chariots of Fire) only accentuate this.Watch this if you want to see obviously twenty-something year olds trying to be school kids; if you enjoy folk belting round the running track; if you want to remind yourself of what Brad Pitt looked liked before he became a real actor.Two redeeming quotations from the film are "The only thing personal is the size of your d**k" and "I thought you were as straight as a virgin's d**k". Memorable because, as I remember, at the age the characters are supposed to be, these comments pepper every day conversation. That there are only two during the 1 hour 40 minutes is an indictment of authenticity.