A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
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| A League of Ordinary Gentlemen | |
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| Directed by | Christopher Browne and Alex Browne |
| Produced by | Christopher Browne |
| Written by | Christopher Browne |
| Starring | Wayne Webb Pete Weber Walter Ray Williams Jr. |
| Music by | Gary Meister |
| Distributed by | Magnolia Home Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | March 21, 2006 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | unknown |
| IMDb profile | |
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is a ten-pin bowling sports documentary that was released on DVD on March 21, 2006. It was written and directed by Christopher Browne and stars Pete Weber, Wayne Webb and Walter Ray Williams Jr. amongst other well known names. The documentary itself, based on ten-pin bowling, is unique in its genre.
The documentary's first showing on national television happened on PBS on the TV station’s Independent Lens series, which was hosted by Edie Falco. This took place on Tuesday, April 25 at 10 p.m. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Tagline
Inside The Wild Wild World of Professional Bowling! or A Trip through the Wild World of Professional Bowling!
[edit] Soundtrack
The documentary features the hit track by comedian Stephen Lynch called 'Bowling Song (Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God).' This track is featured on Lynch's second official album, Superhero, released in 2002. [2]
[edit] Blurb
Filmmaker Christopher Browne documents the mission of a group of middle-aged bowlers as they attempt to revitalize the sport and get the television-watching public interested in it again.
It is a sports documentary that follows four professional ten-pin bowlers whose lives are interrupted when their league is purchased by a trio of Microsoft programmers who hire a Nike marketing guru to turn professional bowling into the next second-tier sports franchise.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Story
Though never a sport of Kings, at one point in time bowling occupied a perfectly respectable place in the pantheon of American and British sports. This documentary focuses on the American aspect of the sport. [3] It has long been one of the most popular participatory sports in America. When Eddie Elias convinced the country's top 33 bowlers to kick fifty bucks into a communal pot in a banquet hall in Syracuse, NY, in 1958, the Professional Bowlers Association was born. ABC began televising PBA tournaments in 1962, and as the lead in Wide World of Sports, Chris Schenkel's Saturday afternoon bowling telecast was for many years one of the highest rated sports programs on television.
Then something happened: America ceased to embrace the portly, middle-brow image the PBA was selling, and bowling got kicked to the curb. The sport and its players, many of whom grew up idolizing the sepia-toned gods of bowling's golden era, found themselves wallowing in the backwaters of the popular imagination, alongside rodeos and tractor pulls.
In 2000, three former Microsoft executives (Chris Peters, Mike Slade and Rob Glaser) scooped up the entire apparatus of professional bowling -- its players, tournaments, trademarks and trophies -- all for about five million dollars and assumption of the league's debt. Their stated goal was to save bowling from the brink of extinction and raise it to new heights, or at least put it on par with the Bass Masters tour, which, at current market values, would represent a tidy return on equity.
The heavy lifting for this mission falls onto the broad shoulders of a man named Steve Miller, a former top Nike executive who had played for the Detroit Lions and rescued Kansas State football from the NCAA cellar.
The film focuses on Miller and four of his charges, professional bowlers at very different places in their careers, and their sometimes funny, sometimes sad adventures on tour as professional athletes - albeit the Rodney Dangerfields of professional sports.
[edit] Press Release
Tracing the historical arc of the professional bowling tour, the film includes archival footage from the sport's glory days in the 1950s and '60s, through its near extinction in 1997. The story takes a twist when newly installed CEO Steve Miller sets about modernizing the PBA. In addition to Miller, the chronicle focuses on four pro bowlers. Pete Weber, bowling bad-boy and son of legendary bowler Dick Weber whose conservative style doesn't jibe with the direction Miller is taking the new PBA. Pete's nemesis is Walter Ray Williams, a strait-laced six-time world horseshoe-pitching champion and, with 36 PBA titles to his name, the dominant player on the tour. Also, there's Chris Barnes, a young father of newborn twins, who must leave his wife and sons at home and hit the road to compete for the winnings that his young family is depending upon. Finally there's Wayne Webb, a 20-time PBA champion who has fallen on hard times and hopes to squeeze one more good season out of his career to stave off bankruptcy.
[edit] DVD features
- Deleted Scenes
- PBA TV Spots
- Skills Challenge Highlights
- PBA Event Clips
- Dexter Approach: Tips and Techniques
- Theatrical Trailer
[edit] Filmmakers Statement
Looking back, we're not exactly sure why we first set out to make a documentary about professional bowling. The movie arose out of some combination of a nostalgia for an America none of us really knew, a perverse interest in polyester and mullets, and a very amateur sociological interest in documenting what we viewed as a potentially threatened tribe of nomadic men who roamed the country, briefly alighting on the outskirts of urban areas to bowl for small amounts of money.
Then in the late nineties, Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone, a book about the decline of community ties in American society, and our local bowling alley was converted into a day spa. In our minds, the proximity of these events suggested a larger story, a story set within the intimate confines bowling alleys, diners and motels, while unfolding against the grand backdrop of social change in America. At least that was the idea before we began shooting.
In 2000, as the Professional Bowling Association languished near bankruptcy, three ex-Microsoft executives bought the league for five million dollars and set about restoring professional bowling to its former grandeur. Something about the marriage of pro bowling and Microsoft struck us as funny, and it also added a quixotic quest to the story taking shape in our heads.
In January 2001, we traveled to Seattle, the headquarters of the new PBA, to see if they might allow us to make a documentary about their new league, not mentioning that our combined filmmaking experience amounted largely to watching a lot of movies and intermittent PA work on laxative ads. The PBA was interested in the project, so in September 2002 we set out to document the decline and potential revival of pro bowling, propelled by naïve enthusiasm and a little money we scraped together from friends and family.
Over the course of ten months, we drove nearly 47,000 miles on the tail of the PBA tour as it cris-crossed America. We shot nearly 300 hours of footage, spending time with the players and executives in their homes, cars and RVs, in motels and diners, and, of course, in bowling alleys. We were constantly surprised by conflicts and tensions and ironies that surfaced in the lives of people we would not have known or thought much about had we not embarked on this project.
The film that emerged after months of editing is a story that is both sad and funny. It interweaves the lives of five individuals whose fortunes are tied to those of pro-bowling, a precarious fate if ever there was one, and it offers a glimpse of the grit and authenticity of people stripped of all pretensions.
Although A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is concerned largely with professional bowling, we hope that the struggles of these five men will also strike a chord with anyone who remembers watching the intense stares and tortured silences of a Saturday afternoon bowling broadcast, wonders what became of this pastime, once an integral facet of community life in America, or identifies with these men, struggling to reclaim their place in a changing society.
- Christopher Browne, Alex Browne, Wilhelmus Bryan - April 7, 2004. [4]
[edit] Reviews
Below are some "soundbite" reviews of the documentary from the DVD cover and the website.
[edit] DVD Cover
- "Right up your alley. A witty look at bowling's quest for cool." - Kyle Smith, New York Post
- "It has more warmth, intimacy and grit and still manages to be as witty and engrossing as any Hollywood comedy." - Jan Stuart, Newsday
- "Terrifically poignant, low-down funny and sneakily suspenseful. Every bit as entertaining as The Big Lebowski."" - Ken Tucker, New York Magazine
[edit] Website
- "Engaging, exciting, informative and endearing." - Kevin Thomas, LA Times
- "A joy to behold! Marvelously entertaining, full of great characters, tense drama and a striking look at the battle of style versus substance." - Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
- "Funny, surprisingly poignant. No kidding – You can't wait to see these guys compete again." - Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
- "Witty, wonderful and surprisingly involving." - Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: New York
- "As easy to enjoy as picking up a spare." – Mike Clark, USA Today
- "Who knew the world of professional bowling could be so dramatic?" - Film Threat
- "A skillful, amusing, insightful documentary." - Christy Lemire, Associated Press
- "A very fine documentary" – Kevin Canfield, Gannet News Syndicate
- "Exciting, entertaining, and lever let's up from the first frame to the last." - Lewis Beale, Film Journal
- "Beautiful. You truly have to see it to believe it." – Ain't It Cool News
- "GRIPPING! Has the audience sweating every spare." – Noel Murray, The Onion
- "An engaging, captivating portrait." – Nicholas Schager, Slant
[edit] Filmmaker Questions & Answers
Emerging filmmakers Bill Bryan, Alex Browne and Chris Browne talk about their motivation for making a bowling movie, getting hustled on the lanes by professional players and the similarities between cooking and independent film.
Why did you decide to make A League of Ordinary Gentlemen?
There were several reasons: outrage that our local bowling alley was converted into a day spa, and ungrounded suspicion that this might be connected to the decline of professional bowling in general. It was our first project of this scope. Had we taken on something like terminal disease or the horrors of war and bungled the film, we might have felt quite badly. If a film about bowling gets bungled… no one suffers.
How did you convince the pro bowlers in the film—both veterans and newcomers—to open up to you about their lives?
The newcomers were part of the whole MTV/reality television generation, so they were pretty into the project from the start. The veterans we bonded with over time, usually bars in and around bowling centers.
What is the most interesting or alluring facet of life on the pro bowling circuit?
Alluring is an interesting choice of words. It doesn’t come immediately to mind when describing life on Tour. I suppose the camaraderie of the bowling alleys. Obviously, bowling groupies are totally hot, so that wasn’t bad either.
Did you improve your bowling game or pick up useful tips from the pros during the making of the film?
Bill: Moderately. I learned to throw the ball with a curve, and added a few points to my average, it briefly hovered above 100. Also I learned to never play for money against professionals no matter how many points they give you at the onset.
What were some of the challenges you faced in making this film?
Keeping sound recordists—we went through five on the production. Also maintaining a belief in our own sanity despite our friends, families and colleagues’ intimations to the contrary.
What impact do you hope this film will have?
That people watching will be entertained. Generally, we think that if one’s goal is to provoke social change with a film, you don’t choose professional bowling as your subject matter. However, if positive social changes come about as a result of A League of Ordinary Gentlemen screening on Independent Lens, we will be pleasantly surprised.
What period of time did filming take place and when did it conclude? Any updates on the people and what they have been doing since then?
Filming began in September 2003 and ended in March 2004.
Wayne Webb now works in a pro-shop in Sacramento, California. He has a Karaoke business on the side.
Steve Miller has retired as CEO of the Professional Bowlers Association. I haven’t spoken to him in a couple of months, and don’t know exactly how he is spending his free time.
Chris Barnes still bowls on the Tour. He has won two tournaments since we stopped filming, including the 2005 U.S. Open.
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is also still on the Tour. He is now one victory shy of tying Earl Anthony’s record for 41 career victories. (NB: In 2006, he surpassed Anthony's record with his 42nd PBA Tour win.) Williams has a very stylish mustache in his press photo now, in lieu of the beard. It makes him look ten years younger.
Pete Weber also bowls on the Tour.
The independent film business is a difficult one. What keeps you motivated?
The desire to tell interesting stories combined with a fear of having to apply for jobs with a resume consisting mostly of independent film work.
Why did you choose to present your film on public television?
We didn’t make the film with a specific outlet in mind; we were flattered that PBS wanted to air it.
What are your three favorite films?
Many, among them: Crumb, Amores perros, Chinatown, any one of the Porky's movies isn’t bad either.
What didn't you get done when you were making your film?
While shooting we forgot to pay our cable and utility bills and neglected our personal hygiene, but other than that we have no regrets.
If you weren't a filmmaker, what kind of work do you think you'd be doing?
Chris: If I weren’t involved in film or the performing arts I’d probably be a chef.
Alex: I would be working in advertising or television production.
Bill: I would be working in advertising or a media start-up.
What do you think is the most inspirational food for making independent film?
Anything you make yourself can be fairly inspirational, in that there are lot of similarities between cooking and filmmaking. When you cook, you take a lot of different ingredients and try to transform them into something plausibly edible. It is not that different from taking a lot of different images, sounds and voices and trying to make a scene. In one, you’re dealing with flavor and texture, in the other, emotion and narrative, other than that, it’s pretty much the same thing. Making non-independent film is another matter entirely, at least from the epicurean perspective.
What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
We still view our careers as somewhat aspirational. It is a bit presumptuous to be offering that kind of advice at this stage. One piece of advice would be to think about your audience. At the end of the day, it’s not about you. Someone else has to be able to enjoy your work.
If you could have one motto, what would it be?
Get things done and don’t be annoying.
What sparks your creativity?
Being in a room with the right people and allowing an idea to build organically.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Internet Movie Database entry
- Official PBS website of first national showing
- FilmJerk Review
- Slant Magazine Review
- E-Film Critic Review
- Rotten Tomatoes list of reviews of the documentary
