Customer Reviews

NBA (National Basketball Association) at 50 (Fifty) [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember watching this back in 1996 (to commemorate 50 years of the NBA), when it first aired on TNT (the network that produced this documentary). Being a basketball fan, I enjoyed it quite a bit and actually learned more about the history of basketball. It is a well-made documentary and many will agree. It definitely has its moments. Personally, I enjoyed the segment on the rivalry of Magic and Bird; Isiah Thomas and the Pistons; and of course -- being a huge Michael Jordan fan -- the story on MJ was my most favorite. That being said, however, my review is more based on the DVD itself.

During that time, they kept showing this documentary as an encore presentation, so I taped it. I've watched it several times back then. However, as most of you know, the video quality on VHS is poor (especially since I recorded it on EP), and I also didn't cut the commercials; therefore, since I enjoyed this documentary and being the basketball fan that I am, I wanted to own a copy of this DVD in my collection. Unfortunately, what a disappointment:

They actually REMOVED several footage and replaced it with something inferior. Not only that, but they also changed a lot of the music for this documentary. The old music went really well with the footage before -- it fit the mood perfectly. In this new revised DVD edition, however, the replaced music now is just mediocre (since they kept some music the same, why did they have to replace others?). Moreover, even though the scene is supposed to be a dramatic moment, they replaced it with some uptempo music. Why?! Who's the idiot that decided to change the audio? I could not enjoy the Michael Jordan segment as much as I did with the broadcast version. More examples: they got rid of the Bulls intro music when the camera panned Jordan from bottom to top with something that doesn't match as well. Why? And they also got rid of Jordan's "I Want To Be Like Mike" song, which fit the mood perfectly (especially since they kept the footage of Charles Barkley singing it).

Don't they know the saying: "If it's not broken, don't fix it!"?!

I was also diappointed with the DVD quality. This is definitely one of those VHS straight to DVD conversion movies: the quality is nothing to be amazed about and there is absolutely no bonus features on the DVD. The menu is extremely basic, even an amateur can make a better DVD menu if they had the software to do it.

If it's your first time watching this documentary, I'm sure you can care less about me knit-picking on some footage or music -- but just be aware: this DVD is actually inferior to the original broadcast.

I'm sure it was Warner Bros.' idea to screw with TNT's version.

while it's hard to include only 50 Players because alot of folks are missing this is a cool Video that spotlights so many Great Players&things they did to make there Teams Better&the Players around them Better.a Must See for a NBA Fan.

This video really told the history of the NBA in an interesting way. From the Celtics dynasty to Michael Jordan in the 90's. This video is the best basketball movie and was a perfectly made video for the NBA's 50th Anniversary.

The 90-minutes-video shows some of the nicest footage of NBA classic plays from the last 50 years. Denzel Washington leading through the show, makes a nice job of introducing players and styles. The Video shows the must-sees of every great player in the history of the game, only in the case of Michael Jordan the editors found some not so often seen footage which makes a nice surprise. All in all the video is well worth the money, one star deducted just for the fact that it concentrates on offensive highlight almost exclusively.

NBA at 50 is a great movie. Denzel Washington is a very good choice to host it. It shows the NBA`s famous players, shows much info about Dr. James Naismith and how he created the game of basketball. Buy this video the next time you see it, which would be..........here!

A truely remarkable video with great oldtime footage. A must have in every hoops fan's video library.

I just want to say that I really enjoyed this VHS Tape. I like a good game of Basketball and I enjoyed seeing the Old School Players as well as the New School Players. Denzel did a very good job in being the Narrator. I loved it.

Close-captioning doesn't work and there are no extra features to speak of. You would be better off just buying the VHS for less. The documentary itself is very good.