To turtletommy , "Miracle" is an excellent movie where they recuited real hockey players and taught them to act. Kurt Russell's performance as Herb was right on, especially since he and the directors had a chance to interact with Herb regarding the screen play. As we all know, God rest his soul, Herb died in that damn car accident and never saw the finished project. And I agree; Karl Malden, a great actor in his own right, was just wrong for the part but this movie does have loads of archival footage of the actual series. That fact alone makes me wonder if the b@stards at Disney (who owns ABC) is holding back, no make that holding hostage, all the video tape from the entire Olympic run. Man, what a DVD set that would make!
"There are 10 kinds of people, half understand binary and half don't!"
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turtletommy
17 years ago
Maybe some day I'll catch Miracle but generally I have no regard for these docudramas. I'd much rather read an excellent book on the subject detailing the entire story from the formation of the team through its Olympic run and then 'where are they now' follow ups. Having real hockey players reenacting their actual counterparts is better than not I suppose but it's still a poor substitute for seeing the ACTUAL games in their entirety. That can't be matched.
That was my whole point about Miracle on Ice- what made it worthwhile seeing was the actual hockey footage. The rest was just needless filling.
It seems to me that just about every memorable real sporting event brought to film hasn't approached a good documentary or especially a good book written about it. Case in point: Seabiscuit. Fantastic, incredibly interesting book (the illustrated version is even better) about horseracing and this wonderhorse of its day. Didn't have to know a thing about horseracing to enjoy it. One of the best books I've ever read. PBS came out with a very good documentary on DVD based on it. You KNEW it was going to be made into a theatrical movie and hoped against hope they would capture the magic of the story. Sorry, not even close. Decent but I wonder how many lovers of the book thought it worthy.
Generally it seems that the only sports movies that are good are ones based on little-known novels like The Natural and Field of Dreams films, and aren't based on actual events like Semi-Tough, Jerry Maguire, etc.
I too don't understand why Disney/ABC won't release a DVD boxed set (for example) of like what you said- the entire Olympic run of the 1980 squad, with bonus material like player and coach Herb Brooks interviews now and then (except for Brooks now of course since he has unfortunately passed on). It would sell like hotcakes there is a HUGE interest in it and I'd easily pay the $$$ or so it might cost. I know Disney/ABC through ESPN Classics shows the USSR-USA match occasionally on anniversaries or what have you but it would be outstanding to see again all the action leading up to that game (we beat the second-best team in the world earlier - the Czechs- that is long forgotten) and then the almost forgotten gold medal match vs. Finland, which was no gimmee. To lose then would have been very disappointing and yes would have taken some luster off the legendary aspect of the team. Herb Brooks knew this and to his credit would not let his team have a letdown. God I get goosebumps just thinking about the whole thing. What a coach!
Anyway, I've recovered somewhat (laugh) to say that there must be a lot of legal and royalty issues behind releasing footage of the Olympic matches or else I think without a doubt it would have been available to the public on DVD by now.
Until then those like me who have at least the US-USSR game on VHS can treasure it.
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schoduck
17 years ago
"there must be a lot of legal and royalty issues behind releasing footage of the Olympic matches"
I'm not sure about the legal and royalty issues. There is a "Boxed Set" of the 2002 US Olympic hockey team and their path to taking the Silver in Salt Lake. With Disney, who knows? As far as "Miracle", it IS a movie but is worth catching. Lots of extras with some interviews with some of the original players. Buzz Schnieder's son actually plays Buzz in the movie.
"There are 10 kinds of people, half understand binary and half don't!"
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turtletommy
17 years ago
Well I've read that there are indeed some issues beyond just Disney/ABC sitting on that valuable footage preventing them at this time from putting out complete footage of the 1980 Hockey matches. ABC bid for the exclusive telecast rights of the 1980 Olympics and I really do believe there are some legal issues behind the footage not being available on DVD.
I'm sure that 2002 hockey DVD is selling like hotcakes! I know what you are getting at by mentioning that, but I wonder too if what Disney is doing with the 1980 footage is the same as what it has traditionally done with its classic animation films (Snow White, Bambi, Fantasia et al) and bank-vaulting them and giving them very limited releases. But I think they are shooting themselves in the foot if they can actually show complete 1980 footage and then letting the generations who still remember it not have the opportunity to purchase them. I mean all the classic Disney is available on DVD! It makes little sense also that only ESPN Classics (I know, part of the Disney/ABC family), which isn't usually part of most basic cable packages, would be the only outlet to view the US-USSR match. Something else is up. My 2 cents anyway.
Gee I must be the only non-duck posting in this thread.
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Tricci-4
16 years ago
I like Miracle but the Miracle on Ice movie showed the head game that Brooks had with player differently. Also, I like the way Malden played Brooks after the russian win better, and M on Ice showed more of the Finland game, which the US was behind again. I think Brooks balled the team out in the locker room at the Findland game. Imagine if we beat the Soviets and did not beat Finland, wow that would have been dissappointing.
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