Elway To Marino (2013)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This gives good insight into the 1983 draft and John Elway and Dan Marino, too. It features interviews with both players as well as coaches, players, and other people and footage from the draft and talks about Marino's LONG wait to be finally selected towards the end of the first round of the draft and comments on the other players taken before him and the results. It is a good segment for anyone with any interest in football and who wonders why this draft is known as "the year of the quarterback" and wants any insight on the players and the draft. I liked watching John Elway and Dan Marino give their insight. The narration was good too.*** out of ****

This film is yet another excellent installment of the ESPN series "30 for 30" and focuses on the NFL draft that brought John Elway and Dan Marino into pro football (as well as MANY other great players, including Darrell Green and Jim Kelly). The reason the two were highlighted is because arguably the two are among the best quarterbacks in NFL history, they were represented by the same agent and their back stories were very different. The show is well constructed, has tons of great interviews, questions Robert Irsay's sanity (and ANY film doing that has my blessing!) and keeps your attention even if, like me, you are not particularly a fan of football. Well worth your time and a nice walk down memory lane.

ESPN takes a long, hard look at the legendary '83 NFL Draft, which doled out fifteen pro bowlers and six hall-of-famers in just the first round. Marvin Demoff, agent to both Dan Marino and John Elway, kept a painstakingly detailed journal of both players' experiences, which today gives us a stirringly frank, insightful glimpse into the way both teams and players handled their business at the time. It's downright remarkable how much Demoff's little snapshots can transform what is, to the layperson, the most boring football event of the year into a frenzied whirlwind of intense drama and strategy. Most of the action focuses on Elway's catastrophic relationship with the Baltimore Colts, of course, as nearly every team in the league offered their kitchen sink to arrange a trade. Marino's story is conversely bittersweet, and perhaps more dramatic, but Elway's offers far more meat and lasting interest, so the imbalance is understandable. This should be required viewing for anyone with even a hint of interest in the game behind the game, or with a passion for a good long cerebral chase scene. Some of the "what if" scenarios painted by Demoff's notes, and how they would have affected the NFL's greatest dynasties if they'd come to pass, make incredible food for thought

30 for 30: Elway to Marino (2013) *** 1/2 (out of 4) If you weren't alive in 1983 but listen to many experts, most will say that that year's draft was the greatest in NFL history for a number of reasons. One was that the top of the draft gave us several future Hall of Fame players. Another thing it did was give us quarterbacks like Elway and Marino and this here helped change the game. This year's draft also gave us some melodrama and soap opera effects, which helped make the draft the highly watchable event that it is today. This documentary covers everything that was going on in the draft including Elway being taken number one by the Baltimore Colts but he refused to play for them. We see all the behind the scenes stuff that was going on to try and get him away from Baltimore but we also see what the other teams in the draft were trying to do to land him. We also get to hear from Marino who ended up being the sixth of six quarterbacks taken in this first round. The documentary really did a great job at going through every aspect of this special draft and showing us how much drama was actually going on. Best of all is that we get to hear from both Elway and Marino but also their agent who just happened to be the same guy. Hearing from all three of them was terrific because they really give us a great look at what was going on then and they also can tell us how they feel about it now. This is especially interesting because what Elway did is something that many people looked down upon yet today he is still a legend. Fans of football are certainly going to enjoy this but even if you're not a fan there's still plenty here to keep you entertained.