From 1981-1984, a small private school in Dallas owned the best record in college football. The Mustangs of Southern Methodist University were riding high on the backs of the vaunted "Pony Express" backfield. But as the middle of the decade approached, the program was coming apart at the seams. Wins became the only thing that mattered as the University increasingly ceded power of the football program to the city's oil barons and real estate tycoons and flagrant and frequent NCAA violations became the norm. In 1987, the school and the sport were rocked, as the NCAA meted out "the death penalty" on a college football program for the first and only time in its history. SMU would be without football for two years, and the fan base would be without an identity for 20 more until the win in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl. This is the story of Dallas in the 1980's and the greed, power, and corruption that spilled from the oil fields onto the football field and all the way to the Governor's Mansion.
A bold challenge, a fearless experiment and ultimately, a spectacular failure. In 2001, sports entertainment titans Ebersol and McMahon launched the XFL. It was hardly the first time a league had tried to compete with the NFL, but the brash audacity of the bid, combined with the personalities and charisma of Ebersol and McMahon and the marketing behemoths of their respective companies -- NBC and WWE -- captured headlines and a sense of undeniable anticipation about what was to come.
The late Len Bias still leaves more questions than answers. When Bias dropped dead two days after the 1986 NBA Draft, he forever altered our perception of casual drug use and became the tipping point of America's drug crisis in the mid-80's. Future generations continue to face the harsh punishment of drug policies that were influenced by the public outcry after his heartbreaking death. Instead of becoming an NBA star, he became a one-man deterrent, the athlete who reminded everyone just how dangerous drug use can be. Amazingly, questions still linger about his death nearly a quarter-century later. How good could he have been in the pro ranks? Has he become underrated or overrated as the years pass? How could a University of Maryland superstar and Boston Celtics lottery pick be derailed by a cocaine binge? Was Bias a one-time user as we were led to believe, or was there a pattern of recreational use that led to his fatal last night? Did he fall in with the wrong crowd.
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard, estranged from his exasperated spouse, is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his kids. When Daniel learns his ex needs a housekeeper, he gets the job -- disguised as a British nanny. Soon he becomes not only his children's best pal but the kind of parent he should have been from the start.
The film goes behind the scenes of the 1999 sci-fi movie The Matrix.
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
The action takes place in 1920 during the Civil War. Crimea on the eve of complete liberation from the White Guards. Returning from patrol, the four brave “elusive” knocked down an airplane. In the field bag of the captured pilot, they find a secret report, which speaks of the existence of defensive fortifications around the coastal city, which the Reds have yet to take. Young heroes get the task to get a map of fortifications and go to the city...
Professional driver, and former Special Forces officer, Frank Martin is living in Miami, where he is temporarily filling in for a friend as the chauffeur for a government narcotics control policy director and his family. The young boy in the family is targeted for kidnapping, and Frank immediately becomes involved in protecting the child and exposing the kidnappers.
A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
French filmmaker Eric Lartigau directs the anarchic buddy comedy Bullit and Riper, originally released as Mais qui a tue Pamela Rose? French comedic television stars Kad Merad and Olivier Barroux are both the protagonists and the screenwriters. As a parody of Hollywood cop films, the story is set somewhere in the American Midwest as fabricated by the French. After losing his regular partner, FBI agent Richard Bullit (Merad) gets assigned to the book-learned cop Riper (Barroux) to investigate the death of a stripper. American movie stereotypes abound, such as shock jock Phil Canon (Gérard Darmon) and sheriff Steve Marley (Jean-Paul Rouve).
Like every August, journalist Sandro, his family and acquaintances vacation on the island of Ventotene. This time, however, they find out the house next door has been rented to a lower middle class family, whose crass nature and values soon clash with their own intellectual and progressive background.
Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.
After a hard day at work and a condominium-board meeting, accountant Ugo Fantozzi goes on a trip with his family. Unfortunately, he will face a nasty surprise upon his return.
In the second episode of the trilogy Fantômas kidnaps distinguished scientist professor Marchand with the aim to develop a super weapon that will enable him to menace the world. Fantômas is also planning to abduct a second scientist, professor Lefebvre.
This is a story about a city guy Nikolai, who will have to go instead of his friend on a rural business trip. A series of funny events, meetings and the beauty of the Yakut village encourage Nikolai to make an important decision in his life…
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
Alejandra and her dad Roberto have just moved to town. She is new at school, he has a new job. Starting over is sometimes complicated when you have left so much behind.
After being busted out of jail by his tomatoes, Professor Mortimer Gangrene begins a new plot to take over the world by inserting his hapless lackey Igor into the throne of the King of France.
A sleazy airline owner forces boozy former pilot Butch Donovan to climb into the cockpit by threatening to harm his son in this outlandish German comedy. Unbeknownst to Butch, the plane has been rigged to crash as part of an insurance scam. After miraculously surviving a harrowing landing on a remote jungle island, Butch and the other passengers find a whole new set of dangers awaits, including wild beasties and hired hit men.
A documentary about unemployed people who bought fruit and vegetables at moderate prices at the wholesale market and sold these in the streets of Frankfurt. Since they had no permits they were constantly with their bulky carts on the run from the police. One part of the film was shot at the fairgrounds in front of the wholesale market. Newspaper and lottery ticket vendors, propagandists offering their ware for a few pfennigs, all convey the mood of a time when need made people inventive.
"Youngstown Boys" explores class and power dynamics in college sports through the parallel, interconnected journeys of one-time dynamic running back Maurice Clarett and former elite head coach Jim Tressel. Clarett and Tressel emerged from opposite sides of the tracks in Youngstown, Ohio, and then joined for a magical season at Ohio State University in 2002 that produced the first national football championship for the school in over 30 years. Shortly thereafter, though, Clarett was suspended from college football and began a downward spiral that ended with a prison term. Tressel continued at Ohio State for another eight years before his career there also ended in scandal.
On-ice enforcers struggle to rise through the professional ranks of the world's most prestigious hockey league, only to be confronted with a new found fight for the existence of the role itself.
An exploration of cycling culture through the eyes of Ayesha McGowan who rose through the ranks of the New York City underground cycling world to break barriers as the world's first African American woman to become a professional cyclist.
This is the story of one of the most well known but perhaps least understood moments of conflict and controversy in the history of sport: the infamous Bodyline test cricket series of 1932 and 1933. Self-confessed cricket tragic and comedian Adam Zwar will try to discover what happened at the crease and chart the wider social and cultural implications of the controversy by enlisting historians, sports scientists, and cricket stars to simulate the actual events. Is there more to the legend of Bodyline than we think? Adam is going back in time to live out a childhood fantasy or two. He is going to use machines, fancy cameras, and the latest in computer graphics. Modern day players will help him prepare. Adam will witness the real damage a high speed cricket ball can do. In the end, Adam will be on his own - with no helmet, no modern padding, and just a bat for protection. How will he handle this ultimate test?
In the world of professional sports, no American athlete ever came back from a mental health disorder....until Ron Artest, now known to the world as Metta World Peace.
Forecast Video 2005 Featuring Paul Rodriguez Also Starring: Nick McLouth, Mike-Mo Capaldi, Jason Wakuzawa, Mike Barker & Ronson Lambert
Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.
An overview of Deion "Prime Time" Sanders' attempt to play in both an NFL and MLB game in the same day.
Narrated by Emmy-winner Julianna Margulies, The Last Gold is a feature-length documentary film that reveals one of the greatest untold stories in Olympic swimming history. Forty years ago, at the 1976 Montreal Games, a team of doped East German athletes thrashed their rivals from the United States, until a remarkable final race.
Meet the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, the world’s only binational pro baseball team, during a staggering low point in U.S.-Mexico border relations. Go beyond the headlines to explore America's pastime on both sides of the border, as the Tecos divide their home games between stadiums in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Explore the lives of the players, their families and the wider community affected by divisive rhetoric, but united by a common history, shared traditions and the love of the game.
An ESPN Documentary on New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady. Six QBs were taken ahead of Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL draft. The six - Tee Martin, Marc Bulger, Chris Redman, Spergon Wynn, Chad Pennington, and Giovanni Carmazzi - are profiled along with an analysis as to why Brady wound up being taken 199th overall.
A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
In German amateur soccer, a lot of money is circulating – partly circumventing taxes. According to this documentary, about 500 million euros worth of illicit money are paid per season.
As England reach the final of the Euros at last, 6,000 ticketless football fans storm Wembley stadium, leaving destruction in their wake.
For years, Julius Arile and Robert Matanda thrive among the bands of warriors that terrorize the North Kenyan countryside. So when both warriors suddenly disappear from the bush, many assume they are dead or have been arrested. Instead, they trade in their rifles for sneakers—in the hopes of making it big as professional marathon runners. Years of fleeing from the police have prepared the men for running marathon distances, but do they have what it takes to overcome the corruption, mistrust and jealousy that threaten to derail their careers?
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.
It is April 15th, 1989. Thousands of fans are rushing into Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield to watch the FA-Cup semi-final between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forrest. The day ends with one of the greatest tragedies in football: 96 people do not survive the catastrophe of Hillsborough. 766 get injured. The 30-minute-long documentary especially gives a voice to the survivors.
The Games included many sports seen in Olympic competition, plus others--for example, pirautaqturniq, the Inuit skill of hitting an object with a ten meter-long sled dog whip. This film captures the all-out participation in the week-long events hosted by Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon, with competitors from all over the Arctic including Alaska, and with observers from the Soviet Union.