Mark Shapiro
ESPN Films’ latest documentary “Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War” will debut Tuesday, September 27 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. In 1977 and 1978, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers squared off in back-to-back World Series. Each club was a tenuous collection of talent and personalities that threatened to combust at any moment, but ultimately managed to reach the pinnacle of the sport. Produced by Mark Shapiro and Peter Guber in association with FILM45, directed by Fritz Mitchell and narrated by actor Rob Lowe, the documentary tells the story of a rivalry filled with colorful characters, seismic controversies and unforgettable moments.
To understand firsthand what the United States of America can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully “invades” some to see what they have to offer.
Tom Berenger leads an outstanding cast in this bone-crunching dramatization of legendary college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's debut at Texas A&M in the summer of 1954. The often unnerving story finds Bryant ducking the school's good ol' boy network of rich, influential alumni by spiriting his new team away to a makeshift training base in a tiny town called Junction. There, Bryant runs the equivalent of a POW camp, brutalizing an oversized, underdeveloped bunch of rowdy young men and tormenting those who seek medical attention for cracked spines and deadly heat exhaustion. Berenger delivers a warts-and-all performance as the vulgar, monstrous, yet much-respected Bryant, and the direction by seasoned television vet Mike Robe is brisk and almost explosively charged. Whatever one thinks of Bryant's punishing methods, the film does not flinch from telling its powerful tale. --Tom Keogh
A proud black man and his school-teacher wife face discriminatory challenges in 1960s America.
