In the 1970s and 1980s, professional bowling was a successful part of the ABC Sports lineup, but by the mid-1990s, the sport had fallen on hard times. Bowling was a low-key sport in an era that demanded excitement from its entertainment, and a blue-collar sport at a time when advertisers were increasingly interested in capturing upscale audiences. ABC cancelled its weekly broadcasts in 1997, after 35 years.
In 2000, the Professional Bowlers Association was sold to three former Microsoft executives, and they set about trying to revitalize the league. One of their principal strategies was to focus on their bowlers, hoping to capture some of the personality-driven excitement that had made televised wrestling so popular. In this fine documentary, Browne follows four bowlers through the 2002-03 PBA season, looking at how they are adapting (or not) to the new style of the league.
Three of the bowlers are veterans, members of bowling's Hall of Fame. Pete Weber is part of bowling's first family and has long struggled to live up to his father's reputation (Dick Weber was the most consistent winner on the tour when bowling first hit television in the early 1960s). In his early years on the tour, in the 1980s, Pete was often disciplined for his flamboyant antics; now his "bad boy of bowling" style is exactly what the PBA's new management is looking for. Unfortunately, he's having a bad season, finishing just short of the televised finals each week.
Having more success is Walter Ray Williams, Jr., but while he's doing well in tournaments, he doesn't find it so easy to adapt to the new PBA style. Williams is a low-key, polite bowler whose most confrontational gesture is a thumbs-up, and try as they might, management can't find a way to get more pizzazz from him.
Wayne Webb is the third Hall of Famer in the bunch, and despite his early career success, he's seen as something of a disappointment. He had the promise 20 years ago to be one of the game's all-time greats, but a hard-partying lifestyle and a gambling problem led to many bad years in the 1990s. Now, he's struggling to put his act back together after several divorces and at least two bankruptcies ("But that's OK," he says, "I bowl better when I'm broke.")
The relative novice in the movie is Chris Barnes, a rising star who makes it to the TV rounds with some consistency, but seems to fall apart under the pressure of the lights and cameras.
Weber and Williams get most of the movie's time, and their long-time rivalry makes an interesting story. But it's Webb's story that I'll remember the longest; his struggle to recapture his peak form is poignant and painful.
As a whole, the movie's a bit jumpy; the first half-hour seems to be leading up to a movie about the new PBA ownership and their marketing efforts; the last hour turns into a fairly standard year-in-the-life documentary, focusing on the athletes. I'd have liked more of the business story, which fascinated me, but the sports story is done well enough to keep the movie reasonably interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment