Customer Reviews

NFL Greatest Follies Complete Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NFL Greatest Follies, the Complete Collection, contains 2 DVD's of 6 hilarious NFL Follies movies great for any fan of the sports blooper.

1) The Football Follies: This 1968 film was the first NFL Films follies, which started the series. Although the highlights are quite dated and tame for the ESPN generation, it's a glimpse of the league during that AFL-NFL era.
2) The Son of Football Follies: John Facenda and Mel Blanc! Hysterical, with various WB cartoon voices (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Yosemite Sam) adding to the humor of the clips.
3) NFL Follies Go Hollywood: John Facenda creates his own movie previews to introduce each of the various-themed highlights and get a quick glimpse of him on the camera!

4) 21st Century Follies: A follie video for the modern era up to the 2000 season.
5) Talkin' Follies: Probably the weakest of the bunch. It's just voice overs of locker room, sideline, and fan moments.
6) NFL's 100 Greatest Follies: Contains all of the bloopers of the century, although not introduced in order. They're grouped by themes, so it's not a countdown ranking, but still enjoyable. Finally, I saw the highlight I was trying to find. Yes, an NFL player thought he scored a touchdown, however he ran the other way.

This collection is a reissue of six of the NFL's popular "Follies" films consisting of bloopers, the antics of both players and fans, and plays that have gone so very wrong dating back to 1959, as far as I can tell from watching the earliest video. There's a lot of entertainment per dollar on this DVD set, and I consider it a worthy purchase. Here's what you get:

Disc 1
The Football Follies (1968) 20 minutes.
A documentary-style film typical of 1960's vintage NFL films. What seems odd is that nobody ever identifies the players involved. They were just considered the workhorses of the league back then, not supermen with the rock star status they enjoy today.

The Son of Football Follies (1976) 23 minutes
A clip show with John Facenda narrating using his trademark NFL films broadcast voice and Mel Blanc narrating using the voices of Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny, and the other characters for which he is famous.

NFL Follies Go Hollywood (1983) 25 minutes
Made immediately after VCRs became so popular, this entry has a documentary structure. It contains trailers, a comedy short entitled "Keystone Korterbacks", and fake newsreels just like the movies of yesteryear.

Disc 2
NFL's 100 Greatest Follies (1994) 45 minutes
Starting with this film, the Follies get much longer, and there is much overlap with the first three. The big difference is this time the players involved are named. We have now entered the age of the football player as rock star.

Talkin' Follies (1997) 45 minutes
Consists of voiceovers for the dialogue between players and coaches, coaches and officials, even some good shots of what a couple of owners could be saying. Thanks to wireless devices, we also have a good amount of actual on-field dialogue. Its style appears to be capitalizing on the popularity of Mystery Science 3000.

21st Century Follies (2000) 45 minutes
The sixth and final Follies feature included is oddly named since the 21st century had just started. Like the 1997 film, there are more actual conversations due to wireless helmet devices, plus some interesting end-zone dances, out-takes from actual NFL Films interviews, a receiver running into a kicking net, and other such antics. The wireless devices are a double-edged sword here: You have a lot of humorous on-field spontaneity, but there is also quite a bit of bad language.

There are no extras included. This is a great treat for any football fan, especially during this long off-season when we suffer through the rest of the NBA season, the beginning of baseball season, and wait for that first pre-season game. Highly recommended.

We gave this to our 7-year-old son (a football fanatic) for Christmas. He has watched it more than once and laughs and really enjoys it. A great gift for a football lover -- probably more entertaining for kids and teens than adults.

This item was exactly what I expected it to be, the same NFL Films I watched as a youth, yet now on DVD.

This was a holiday gift for my 10 yr. old boys who live and breathe football. The love anything that has to do with football, and this video set didn't disappoint. Although they watch it numerous times, every now and then it's a family affair with lots of giggles and reminiscing.

I bought this product for my husband for Christmas and he Absolutely Loved it. I heard him in the living room cracking up as he watched it. He was very satisfied with the product and we would highly recommend it to anyone who is a football fan, or anyone who just enjoys a good laugh.

I teach an Earth Science class, and run segments from the NFL follies before class begins, and during breaks. It really helps to set a fun, informal tone for the class, and is a real crowd-pleaser.

Vry entertaining.

I bought this DVD set for my nephew (10 years old) for Christmas and he loves it. It cracked him up and he watches it over and over.

i love this dvd's because you watch all the extra fun of the NFL

I have mixed feelings about this set. The visuals of the follies, etc., are great: funny, enjoyable, and even a few "wows". The "choreography" to classic music such as excerpts of the Nutcracker Suite are really well done.

However, I found the "Talkin' Follies" (voice-overs that put words in people's mouths other than what they truly said) so annoying that I quit watching it. Also, I do not find listening to "Bugs Bunny" et al either funny or helpful; to me such things are distracting and actually lessen the humor. Since that film also has one of the great "ballet" segments, I'm going to hit the mute button until I reach the "ballet" when I watch it in the future. I also found the commentary on the first film lessened the humor of the activities caught on film, and will mute it in the future until I reach its "ballet" segment.

The best of the films, in my opinion, is the "100 Greatest Follies". All are numbered, though only the top 10 are in sequence. The commentary is better and doesn't distract or detract from the follies themselves. As a result, the humor of what I was watching actually got me laughing because there wasn't an undercurrent of frustration caused by the narrators. And the follies chosen are truly funny.

I, as others reviewing here, was puzzled by the title of the last film, because it is not follies that occurred in the 21st century (so a misnomer, in my opinion), but a film released in the 21st century.

I really enjoy football, and really enjoy classic football (say, pre-90's, roughly), so the visual portion is great and highly recommended. The narration and "Talkin' Follies" aspects are what lowered my rating to 3 stars.