Movie Review: Run For Your Life
"26 miles, 385 yards. No one was mugged, no one was hit by a taxi. For the City of New York and for Bill Rodgers, the marathon was a huge success". So says an NBC news reporter at the finish of the 1976 New York City Marathon in the movie "Run For Your Life", released this week to coincide with the 2008 New York Marathon.
The New York Marathon was started in 1970 by Fred Lebow, a Romanian immigrant who was very serious about running without being fast - an anomaly in those days. For its first 5 years it was run as a series of loops around Central Park, but with the running boom of the 70s - a boom that this race helped to ignite - it became logistically impossible to keep it there. With the selling skills he developed in New York's garment business, Lebow was able to persuade city officials, sponsors, and runners to come together and stage the first race through the five boroughs of New York. New York at this time was on the brink of financial collapse (a memorable headline that resonates today says "[President] Ford to City: Drop Dead") and TV footage shows arsonists burning the Bronx. The idea of running through all five boroughs was viewed as decidedly dodgy by many. (Note the multiple interpretations of "Run for Your Life").
(review continues below)
Needless to say the race was a huge success, and appeared to lift the mood of the whole city as neighborhoods viewed as "unsafe" were cleaned up and their residents turned out in force to cheer the runners. Topping off the event, Lebow was able to lure the Olympic marathoners Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers to the race, in what would be a redemption for Rodgers after his disappointing run at the Olympics. Running became a sport that America cared about and the running boom took off. (An old headline that touched a nerve for this runner stated that running was America's number one participant sport, a place that it has long since relinquished to soccer and fishing). The five-borough New York Marathon was on its way to becoming an institution.
With a combination of recent interviews, archival footage, and newspaper clippings (some of which move in the Harry Potter style), the movie tells a lively story of the New York Marathon as Lebow's brainchild and obsession. While obsession is not uncommon among runners - perhaps even a requirement to reach the highest levels - Lebow's obsession was with creating something much bigger than himself. He was always trying to figure out how to make each year's race better than the one before - when Salazar apparently broke the world record in the 1981 race, Lebow was clearly concerned that he had reached the pinnacle with nowhere to go but down.
The film has some treats for hard-core running fans. There is great footage of Grete Waitz winning the race nine times, of Rodgers winning four times (and wearing his Greater Boston shirt in 1976), of Shorter and Salazar, as well as interviews with those athletes and with almost everyone who mattered in the New York Road Runners Club of the 70s and 80s. There are some laughs to be had at the way running was promoted as an effective form of dating in the 70s (not to mention the use of playboy bunnies to promote the first women's "mini-marathon"). The transition of running to a commercial enterprise with 6-figure appearance fees for the top athletes is also covered with a certain amount of nostalgia for the lost era of amateurism.
To their credit, the film-makers have not whitewashed Lebow. He appears at times as a benevolent tyrant (and not always that benevolent), who apparently felt no need to hold a board meeting of the NYRCC for five years. He never settled down with a lifetime partner, apparently due to a love of the chase that left him bored once he achieved the target. His true love was obviously the New York marathon and the world of running. This film makes a strong case that Lebow ranks near the top of the list of those who made distance running what it is today, for better or worse.
[more...]
The New York Marathon was started in 1970 by Fred Lebow, a Romanian immigrant who was very serious about running without being fast - an anomaly in those days. For its first 5 years it was run as a series of loops around Central Park, but with the running boom of the 70s - a boom that this race helped to ignite - it became logistically impossible to keep it there. With the selling skills he developed in New York's garment business, Lebow was able to persuade city officials, sponsors, and runners to come together and stage the first race through the five boroughs of New York. New York at this time was on the brink of financial collapse (a memorable headline that resonates today says "[President] Ford to City: Drop Dead") and TV footage shows arsonists burning the Bronx. The idea of running through all five boroughs was viewed as decidedly dodgy by many. (Note the multiple interpretations of "Run for Your Life").
(review continues below)
Needless to say the race was a huge success, and appeared to lift the mood of the whole city as neighborhoods viewed as "unsafe" were cleaned up and their residents turned out in force to cheer the runners. Topping off the event, Lebow was able to lure the Olympic marathoners Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers to the race, in what would be a redemption for Rodgers after his disappointing run at the Olympics. Running became a sport that America cared about and the running boom took off. (An old headline that touched a nerve for this runner stated that running was America's number one participant sport, a place that it has long since relinquished to soccer and fishing). The five-borough New York Marathon was on its way to becoming an institution.
With a combination of recent interviews, archival footage, and newspaper clippings (some of which move in the Harry Potter style), the movie tells a lively story of the New York Marathon as Lebow's brainchild and obsession. While obsession is not uncommon among runners - perhaps even a requirement to reach the highest levels - Lebow's obsession was with creating something much bigger than himself. He was always trying to figure out how to make each year's race better than the one before - when Salazar apparently broke the world record in the 1981 race, Lebow was clearly concerned that he had reached the pinnacle with nowhere to go but down.
The film has some treats for hard-core running fans. There is great footage of Grete Waitz winning the race nine times, of Rodgers winning four times (and wearing his Greater Boston shirt in 1976), of Shorter and Salazar, as well as interviews with those athletes and with almost everyone who mattered in the New York Road Runners Club of the 70s and 80s. There are some laughs to be had at the way running was promoted as an effective form of dating in the 70s (not to mention the use of playboy bunnies to promote the first women's "mini-marathon"). The transition of running to a commercial enterprise with 6-figure appearance fees for the top athletes is also covered with a certain amount of nostalgia for the lost era of amateurism.
To their credit, the film-makers have not whitewashed Lebow. He appears at times as a benevolent tyrant (and not always that benevolent), who apparently felt no need to hold a board meeting of the NYRCC for five years. He never settled down with a lifetime partner, apparently due to a love of the chase that left him bored once he achieved the target. His true love was obviously the New York marathon and the world of running. This film makes a strong case that Lebow ranks near the top of the list of those who made distance running what it is today, for better or worse.
[more...]
posted by DrBruceD at
7:28 PM
