Tuesday night, I watched the premier of the Andre The Giant on HBO. Bill Simmons has talked for almost ten years about wanting to make an Andre The Giant documentary. He finally got it made.
Although Drew was into the WWF figures and video games as a kid and I took him to a match at Acro Arena sometime in the early 1990's, I never paid any attention to pro wrestling. As a result, I didn't really understand that Andre was a big name. In 27 years, he wrestled over 5,000 matches.
Paralleling his life, the film tells a "B" story of the metamorphosis of the wrestling industry from regional markets into the national World Wrestling Federation. The advent of cable in the 1980's helped Vince McMahon transform the industry.
I was also fascinated by the interviews with Hulk Hogan and Vice McMahon in the last part of the film. Talking about Andre and WrestleMania III, they both came off as very emotional, caring human beings rather than the cartoon characters.
This was a very good film. I give it an "A." It is worth searching out and watching.
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