Dubious Victory

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

RUNNING

Directed and Written by Steven Milliard Stern At first it seems that Running might turn out to be that salutary and as yet un realized item, a cautionary tale about a man who lets his passion for jogging run away with him. Michael Andropolis (Michael Douglas) is discovered living in a cold-water flat in one of Manhattan's least appetizing districts, a couple of attempts at a respectable career left behind, his wife and two young daughters abandoned also.

He has sacrificed everything, it seems, in order to take one last shot at a long-held dream: winning a place on the U.S. Olympic team as a marathoner. This is material for a comedy of obsession, the story of a man possessed by a mad and inexplicable passion.

Alas, it is merely Rocky in Nikes, yet another in the proliferating genre of sports films in which it matters not so much whether the hero wins or loses, but whether or not the audience can witness a satisfying Triumph of the Human Spirit.

What interest Running generates is in explicating the psychological demons that must be conquered in order to prepare the way for victory.

These demons turn out to be not very amusing. Young Michael, it seems, was reared by a family that overstressed winning. He became so afraid of losing that he developed to near-genius level the ability to find excuses for not competing at all. So now Michael does not have to win the big race at the end. All he has to do is run it full out, and if you are actually wondering if he manages to do so, then you had better run right along to Running.

This is not to say that Douglas is an unappealing actor or that Susan Anspach, his long-suffering spouse, does not have some good moments playing a lady who knows better than to love him but cannot help herself. As a director, Steven Hilliard Stern does some nice, gritty road and street work. It is as a writer that he allows too much rigging to show. In both capacities, he tends to veer from the excessively melodramatic to the overly adorable, never finding the steady realistic pace that in movies, and in marathons, makes for a winning -- or at least believable --performance.

--Richard Schickel

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