Icons of Wrestling: Abdullah the Butcher
Director: n/a
Distributor: TWC (The Wrestling Channel)
Released: 1/06
Featured Talent
Abdullah the Butcher, Jim Melby, Antonio Inoki, Martha Shreeve
The Good
The "Icons of Wrestling" series from TWC in Britain does some cool short documentaries on some legendary figures. This one of Abby is better than others I have seen because he is a more recent star, so they had more quality footage (including he and Hulk Hogan in New Japan, although they overplay the impact of that match). Seeing the house where he grew up, hearing from his mother and his restaurant in Atlanta made this unique. However, his views and stories about his family made this a real human story.
The Bad
At twenty-two minutes, it is difficult to really capture a career like Abdullah's. This has a long and unnecessary part about World War II, which adds something in other shows, but not this one. The lack of commentary from people keeps the scope of this narrow. The worst part however is when they call Bruiser Brody "Tug Taylor" and Carlos Colon "Calos Stalone." Despite these gross errors, they do not detract greatly from the story.
The Rating: ***
Showing posts with label Icons of Wrestling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Icons of Wrestling. Show all posts
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Icons of Wrestling: Lou Thesz
Director: Dale & Claude Barnes
Distributor: TWC (The Wrestling Channel)
Released: 1/06
Featured Talent: Pampero Firpo, Hard Boiled Haggerty, Antonio Inoki, Charlie Thesz, Lou Thesz
The Good
If you have never seen any footage of Lou Thesz, this is a neat little featurette about him. It offers a lot of photos, video and comments that gives some insight into why many have considered him the greatest pro-wrestler ever. This gives a very brief overview of a long and full career breaking up the story into two halves. First are the early years with him cutting his teeth and being managed by “Strangler” Lewis. Then after explaining his hand-to-hand combat training during World War II, it covers the post-war period. This second part features the advent of television and focuses on his time in California. There is quiet a bit of footage of him and his family on the beach, hosting a party and playing on his ranch. Then fast-forward to the mid-70s when he is working periodically in Japan as a legend and meeting his third wife Charlie. It is difficult to cover such a career and this is about as good as one would expect to get in less than thirty minutes. Lou Thesz is pretty candid and there is a semblance of order to the story.
The Bad
While this came out a few years ago, since the advent of youtube, something like this seems dull. While there is only a fraction of Lou Thesz’s matches saved on video, most of it is him as a balding forty year old man. He was a great athlete, a great performer and a great champion, but it is difficult to dress up this footage and get that idea across. Things just look so different and he looks so old that some explanation is required to pull out the positive aspects and that is not really done here. Another issue is that everything that Lou Thesz said had a reason behind it, whether it was to put someone over, protect his own legacy or whatever. It is part kayfabe, part fuzzy memories, but it adds up to a not-so-honest version of history. While Hooker is a great book, it has that dimension to it and so does this. Lastly, if you want to memorialize someone, spell their name correctly.
The Rating: ***
Director: Dale & Claude Barnes
Distributor: TWC (The Wrestling Channel)
Released: 1/06
Featured Talent: Pampero Firpo, Hard Boiled Haggerty, Antonio Inoki, Charlie Thesz, Lou Thesz
The Good
If you have never seen any footage of Lou Thesz, this is a neat little featurette about him. It offers a lot of photos, video and comments that gives some insight into why many have considered him the greatest pro-wrestler ever. This gives a very brief overview of a long and full career breaking up the story into two halves. First are the early years with him cutting his teeth and being managed by “Strangler” Lewis. Then after explaining his hand-to-hand combat training during World War II, it covers the post-war period. This second part features the advent of television and focuses on his time in California. There is quiet a bit of footage of him and his family on the beach, hosting a party and playing on his ranch. Then fast-forward to the mid-70s when he is working periodically in Japan as a legend and meeting his third wife Charlie. It is difficult to cover such a career and this is about as good as one would expect to get in less than thirty minutes. Lou Thesz is pretty candid and there is a semblance of order to the story.
The Bad
While this came out a few years ago, since the advent of youtube, something like this seems dull. While there is only a fraction of Lou Thesz’s matches saved on video, most of it is him as a balding forty year old man. He was a great athlete, a great performer and a great champion, but it is difficult to dress up this footage and get that idea across. Things just look so different and he looks so old that some explanation is required to pull out the positive aspects and that is not really done here. Another issue is that everything that Lou Thesz said had a reason behind it, whether it was to put someone over, protect his own legacy or whatever. It is part kayfabe, part fuzzy memories, but it adds up to a not-so-honest version of history. While Hooker is a great book, it has that dimension to it and so does this. Lastly, if you want to memorialize someone, spell their name correctly.
The Rating: ***
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Icons of Wrestling: Pepper Gomez
Director: Dale & Claude Barnes
Distributor: TWC (The Wrestling Channel)
Released: 1/06
Featured Talent
Bonnie Gomez, Pepper Gomez, Dr. Mike Lano, Jim Melby, Paul Vachon, Jimmy Valiant
The Good
This series selected an interesting variety of talent to feature and Pepper Gomez is one of those curiosities. A top babyface in several territories with a great look, decent talent and great fire, Gomez is one of those legends who are certainly overlooked for some reason. This mini-documentary focuses largely on his life story with the pro-wrestling being part of the story. It talks about his childhood, the “Pepper” nickname, his time in the US Navy and how he broke in to pro-wrestling in the first part of this. Then it delves into his wives and family and eventually his health problems. The real strength of this is Mike Lano and Jim Melby explaining his strengths as a performer and essentially his legacy in pro-wrestling.
The Bad
This series loves to do convoluted historical tie-ins and here we have the development of the talkie and how that was the time when Pepper Gomez was b orn. It is a strange setup. The real flaw of this is two-fold it lacks a strong explanation of Gomez’s legacy and it only features two matches to showcase his ringwork. One match is a tag match from his prime, which is okay, but the other is a battle with Dick the Bruiser when he was nearing retirement due to physical ailments. This featurette is not wholly bad, but it is perhaps the least interesting from the “Icons” series.
The Rating: **3/4
Director: Dale & Claude Barnes
Distributor: TWC (The Wrestling Channel)
Released: 1/06
Featured Talent
Bonnie Gomez, Pepper Gomez, Dr. Mike Lano, Jim Melby, Paul Vachon, Jimmy Valiant
The Good
This series selected an interesting variety of talent to feature and Pepper Gomez is one of those curiosities. A top babyface in several territories with a great look, decent talent and great fire, Gomez is one of those legends who are certainly overlooked for some reason. This mini-documentary focuses largely on his life story with the pro-wrestling being part of the story. It talks about his childhood, the “Pepper” nickname, his time in the US Navy and how he broke in to pro-wrestling in the first part of this. Then it delves into his wives and family and eventually his health problems. The real strength of this is Mike Lano and Jim Melby explaining his strengths as a performer and essentially his legacy in pro-wrestling.
The Bad
This series loves to do convoluted historical tie-ins and here we have the development of the talkie and how that was the time when Pepper Gomez was b orn. It is a strange setup. The real flaw of this is two-fold it lacks a strong explanation of Gomez’s legacy and it only features two matches to showcase his ringwork. One match is a tag match from his prime, which is okay, but the other is a battle with Dick the Bruiser when he was nearing retirement due to physical ailments. This featurette is not wholly bad, but it is perhaps the least interesting from the “Icons” series.
The Rating: **3/4
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