Product Details

• Actors: Bobby Fischer
• Directors: Liz Garbus
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: DOCURAMA
• DVD Release Date: December 6, 2011
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B005CB6MPE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,463 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Brilliant, haunting, avid and beautifully inquiring --Entertainment Weekly

a haunting portrait of the chess genius as an incandescent prodigy and horrifying old crank --Village Voice

Garbus has put together a complex and fascinating portrait of genius wasted --The Hollywood Reporter

Product Description

Product Description

In 1972, America was chess-obsessed. The Soviet Union used chess to demonstrate its intellectual superiority to the West, but along came a young, lone American, who demolished the Russian masters of the sport. At the height of his career, Bobby Fischer was better known than any other man in the world. Relentless press attention, political pressure and a monomaniacal focus on chess ultimately led to his undoing.

Filmmaker Liz Garbus uses the narrative tension of the 1972 match between Fischer and the defending World Champion, the Russian Boris Spassky, to explore not only the politically charged period of the early 1970s but also the nature of genius, madness and the game of chess itself.

Special Features

• A History of Chess
• The Fight for Fischer s Estate

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unraveling The Enigma: Chess Legend Bobby Fischer Had Both A Brilliant And A Troubled Mind November 15, 2011

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

Few people, to me, are more inherently fascinating than chess legend Bobby Fischer. Walking a complicated line between genius and madman, Liz Garbus' incisive documentary "Bobby Fischer Against the World" does a fine job highlighting this dichotomy. From a troubled and isolated childhood, to international superstardom, to recluse, to fugitive--Fischer's life had such a dramatic arc that ninety minutes doesn't seem quite adequate to complete a full picture. And yet, Garbus does manage to cover about fifty years in the life of the largest celebrity the chess world has ever seen. When Fischer took the stage to compete against Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Championship, the world paid attention in astounding ways. Fischer almost single handedly turned chess into a spectator sport. But he was never very comfortable in the limelight and the pressures and expectations certainly took their toll.

The centerpiece of "Bobby Fischer Against the World" is the 1972 match. We are introduced to Fischer as a youth through archival footage and given a glimpse of his unorthodox upbringing. The piece really focuses in, however, as Fischer readies for the infamous competition. The Fischer presented is complicated, to say the least, but also a brilliant strategist. The series was riddled with drama and controversy and remains as intense and as intriguing now as it did then. The world wanted to embrace Fischer, but he just wanted to play chess without what he deemed the annoying encumbrances of fame (which was just about anything involving media coverage as far as I could tell). It's not like he was looking for anonymity, though. He wanted to be recognized as the best, he just wanted it on his own terms. Ultimately, he didn't have that much control over public opinion and was overwhelmed by the sheer madness of celebrity idolatry.

In addition to lots of stock footage and other relevant film, Garbus has interviewed a number of people that were directly involved with Fischer or contemporary chess figures that were influenced by him. Overall, the insight into Fischer is admirable. Ultimately, this is not about chess but about a man who was obsessed by the game. And it is a fair minded portrait. It is hard not to be in awe of the man's genius, but equally dismayed and disgusted by the latter segments of a very outspoken Fischer. The last third of the film deals with the decades after he won the championship. He all but quit playing chess, disappeared, resurfaced with a splash both politically and legally, and degenerated into open hostility and paranoia. It's a harrowing and unpleasant picture in the end. Bobby Fischer will probably, in many ways, always be an enigma. But this is as close to understanding the man (and not the legend) as we've come so far. A must-see for those with an interest in the topic. KGHarris, 11/11.

Bonus features:
A History of Chess; The Fight for Fischer's Estate

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting look at a true prodigy December 7, 2011

By K. Swanson TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

3.4 stars

I was in early grade school when Fischer played Spassky, and I got so swept up in the Fischer-inspired Chess Boom (seems such a quaint idea now) that I ended up playing matches over the phone for hours every night by the time I was 12. Captain of the high school chess team as a sophomore, I was poised to rule the world. And then, suddenly...the CIA!!

I kid (about the Agency, I really was a chess geek though), yet Fischer's madness is one area this film spends a lot of time on while refusing to really probe from both sides. WHY did Fischer get so into the Protocols Of Zion and risk his whole "career" to talk about Zionist conspiracies? He's shown to be brilliant, but then derided out of hand as insane, given zero credit for being able to perhaps see a few moves ahead of the rest of us. Yet the most startling thing in this whole film for me was the early interview where he mentions that he likes reading about water pollution (this was years before the media paid it much mind at all) and how the government controls us. Not many folks were saying that out loud at that point, let alone young chess prodigies. And how many chess prodigies worked out like a boxing champion?

Fischer seemed exceptionally poised and alert then, and it struck me that a mind that sharp will always see the world a few moves ahead of most other people. He was well ahead of his time in terms of ecological concern, but of course this film shows clearly that Fischer's crazy theories of Zionist bankers destroying the world economy via the constant inflation of money supplies while controlling currencies were obviously totally insane.

What a nut! Yet he seems actually very lucid until the end in Iceland. His fitness obsession makes it clear how very bright Bobby was, and how well he understood the mind/body connection. How many chess greats worked out like that? Ummmmm....only the "really crazy one"!

He worked Spassky every which way, to be sure, mainly via his paradigm-shifting openings, but this film focuses on the personal stuff far more than the chess, to its detriment. It's Fischer's chess that made him great, and the brief analyses of his finest games here are scant. As if this film won't eventually be watched by almost all serious chess players. There's more than a few still around...

Instead, this film seems to have the chief agenda of pointing out what a crazy nut Fischer became, because why focus on his genius instead of his madness? Other than making a better film, of course. We get more than enough of his disapproving colleagues clucking like old hens about his follies, but not enough of Fischer himself from the many clearly very interesting interviews. I want to hear more of what Bobby thought and said, and less from his bitter little peanut gallery, thanks.

Fischer and especially Fischer's chess deserve a better film than this. Though well-made, it glosses over the best of Fischer and oddly delights in the worst. It's as if we're being told, "Pay no attention to the man behind the iron curtain. He was hyper-sharp but he was insane...please remember that at all times."

More chess and less judgment, please.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but shallow April 16, 2012

By Screamin' Steve

Format:DVD

This documentary was done for a general audience and does not focus much on the chess of Fischer. That is acceptable, but the interviews about Fischer's mental state are redundant. The use of contemporary music is intrusive during interviews. All in all, it could have been much better.