Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Beyond the Mat (1999)
Director: Barry W Blaustein
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Barry Blaustein was once a Saturday Night Live producer and scriptwriter for Eddie Murphy. For this homespun documentary about the off-mat lives of US wrestlers he took his long-standing fascination with the lucrative spectacle on the road, looking to answer the question: What sort of human being bashes another man's skull into a ringpost for a living? His first port of call was the office of Vince McMahon, scion of the World Wrestling Federation's controlling family, who has overseen the transformation of the federation (current worth $1 billion) into the movie studio it is today, with writers, composers and wardrobe designers all engaged in the production of its violent pantomimes. We tour the All-Pro Wrestling School in California and Philadelphia's fearsome Extreme Championships, but it's the studies Blaustein makes of several wrestlers that root the film. He hangs out with 53-year-old Terry Funk, still stuck on the sport despite severe arthritis; with lost legend Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, slumming on the inter-state circuit and musing on his fuck-ups with sex, drugs and family; and, most compellingly, with Mick Foley (aka 'Mankind'), a genuinely sweet family man who likes bringing his wife and young kids to watch his work.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: Barry W Blaustein
Producer: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Rosenberg, Barry Bloom, Barry W Blaustein
Cast: Vince McMahon, Darren Drozdov, Roland Alexander, Tony Jones, Mike Modest, Terry Funk, Vicki Funk, Stacey Funk, Brandee Funk, Paul Heyman, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Mick Foley, Barry W Blaustein full cast
Genre(s): Documentaries
Duration: 103 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now