Cynical Cinema

3 comes out today, July 29th, from Alliance Films. It is not to be confused with the movie Thr3e, which was a really crappy horror film involving the number three that was released last year. No, the 3 that comes out today is a made-for-TV movie from ESPN, telling the story of Dale Earnhardt, one of the most revered drivers in the history of NASCAR. Barry Pepper stars as Earnhardt, a man who was (pardon the pun) driven to be the best. He does an excellent job in what proves to be a fairly tough role. The movie tracks Earnhardt’s rise through the world of NASCAR to become the best driver alive, and goes up to the point where he is…no longer alive. And I must say, the handling of his death in this film is done in a very touching and simple, wonderful way.

In some ways, however, the movie does seem to sugar-coat much of Earnhardt’s personality. The DVD comes jammed with special features, including a second disc with more extras than one could imagine. Race footage, interviews, and all kinds of specials on the man. And judging from those interviews and specials, he was a little bit more of a maniac, and probably a lot more mean and dangerous, than this movie makes him appear. And although I enjoyed the film simply because it’s well done and Earnhardt is an interesting character, I found a lot more value in the special features. 3 is worthwhile for both NASCAR fans and casual observers alike.

ESPN has a series called SportsCentury, that focuses on the greatest games, coaches, teams and athletes in history. The program ended in August of 2006, and featured some of the greatest who ever played any game. And while most of these programs revolved around baseball, football, basketball and Olympic athletes, a few dealt with auto racing. In SportsCentury’s countdown of the top 100 athletes in history, there were three auto racers - A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Mario Andretti. On the program, there were far more. And today, July 29th, ESPN is releasing a substantial number of NASCAR-themed DVDs through Alliance Films.

One of those DVDs is SportsCentury Greatest Athletes: Dale Earnhardt. Perhaps the most revered driver in NASCAR history, who died tragically at Daytona in 2001. And while the 45-minute program is interesting, and informative, it’s fairly pointless. The reason for that is that the same day Alliance Films and ESPN are releasing 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story on DVD as well. It’s a made-for-TV biopic of Earnhardt, and it comes with a second disc jammed with special features. Earnhardt’s races. Interviews with the man. A documentary about his life. And of course the feature film itself. The SportsCentury DVD is interesting, but all that information and much, much more is available on 3. I would pick that one up instead.

I like Dale Earnhardt Jr. He’s a charming and interesting guy, seems really friendly and smart, and he’s certainly a good NASCAR driver. But that being said, I am a little confused about his inclusion in the ESPN SportsCentury Greatest Athletes collection. The Earnhardt Jr. SportsCentury comes out on DVD today, July 29th, from Alliance Films. The same day, another SportsCentury about Earnhardt senior comes out. That one I get. Another one is being released, about Jeff Gordon. I get that one as well. And the other big NASCAR release is 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, which is an ESPN made-for-TV movie starring Barry Pepper as Earnhardt senior, and jammed with bonus features. I get this too.

But SportsCentury is all about the greatest athletes in history. And setting aside the debates about whether race-car drivers are “athletes”, or NASCAR vs. Formula One, and all that business, I’m still confused. SportsCentury has, understandably, profiled Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Thorpe, Jim Brown, Jesse Owens, Babe Didrikson, Martina Navratilova, Jerry Rice. All of this I get. I even understand putting Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jeff Gordon in this company. But Earnhardt Jr.? This year, Earnhardt Jr. is sitting in second in the points standings for Hendrick Motorsports. (I did some wikipedia research.) But this SportsCentury Greatest Athletes profile came out in 2006. (In fact, it was the last ESPN SportsCentury program that aired.)

By 2006, Earnhardy Jr. had one third place finish on the season and one fifth place. The other years, he had finished 48th, 11th, 16th, 8th, and 19th. So…how does he qualify as one of the “Greatest Athletes” ever? Even the DVD itself doesn’t seem able to answer that. The entire show seems concerned with showing that Earnhardt Jr. could well become an amazing driver. And of course, much of the program talks about his father. So…is that how he got profiled? Because his dad was that big and famous? Or because they had already profiled so many sports figures that they ran out of really great ones? Is that why the show was taken off the air? I wish this DVD would answer at least one of these questions, but it doesn’t.

The most impressive thing about ESPN’s DVD Jeff Gordon: Inside Access is the sheer volume of information and programming contained in it. More than four hours worth of footage of Gordon, from races to interviews to features to profiles. It features childhood footage of Gordon racing. Six other races, condensed for time. All kinds of NASCAR highlights. All kinds of ESPN features, including “Go-Karting With Kenny Mayne”. ESPN specials, including “Up Close with Chris Meyers” and “Mohr Sports with Jay Mohr” (the best of the programs). One-on-one interviews withe Gordon and the gorgeous Melissa Stark, Mike Tirico, and others. Then the little throwaway stuff, like “Jeff Gordon at the X-Games”, and “Make-A-Wish with Jeff Gordon”.

Basically, ESPN has thrown everything they have ever had on Jeff Gordon into one DVD, and released it through Alliance Films today, July 29th, for all the rabid NASCAR and Jeff Gordon fans. There is truly too much information to handle on this DVD all at once, and not being a NASCAR fan or a Jeff Gordon freak, I had no idea where to begin. I started with the SportsCentury profile, since I had already watched a couple of those on Dale Earnhardt and Earnhardt Jr. And I moved on through the specials and finished with the actual race footage. I recommend you do the same. But only if you’re into NASCAR. This one’s for fans only.