Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: NFL
• VHS Release Date: September 16, 1997
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304570430
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,399 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sports historians will long argue the significance of the third championship football game, but most agree it put the word super in Super Bowl, as NFL Films poignantly shows in this 75-minute video. The best thing about this video is that you get to see every play at least once, and the key plays several times. You also get valuable insight from N.Y. Jets quarterback Joe Willie Namath, Jets coach Weeb Ewbank, Colts coach Don Shula, and other players. The key figure, just as he was in the game, is Namath, the flamboyant quarterback whose style stood out during an era when flamboyance and wild styles were the norm. He launched the Super Bowl as a sports spectacular by stating, "We're gonna win this game. I guarantee it." NFL Films, with announcer Curt Gowdy, who did the play-by-play for NBC on January 12, 1969, goes into great depth to explain the historical importance of the outcome. It certified the old AFL, represented by the Jets, as a sports entity and legitimized the merger of the NFL and AFL into one league in 1970. Add to this Namath's statement and the turbulent times in America in 1969, and this game takes on significant historical meaning. This is an entertaining video about a sports moment that launched the NFL on its spiraling orbit upward. --Gordie Sholtys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It was guaranteed, August 19, 2000

By 

Zagnorch (Terra, Sol System) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The NFL's Greatest Games - Super Bowl III (New York Jets vs. Baltimore Colts) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Number III was the one that truly made the Super Bowl the biggest game in American pro sports, thanks to the media coverage following Joe Namath's 'Guarantee' of an underdog Jets victory. It also proved that the youthful American Football League could contend with the veteran NFL on the playing field.

But the other team, the Baltimore Colts, had plenty of opportunities to take the game far away from their opponents. There's Tom Matte's then-record-setting 58-yard run that set up... an interception. There's a couple plays where Colts QB Earl Morrall didn't see a wide-open receiver to throw a scoring toss to, one of those missed opportunities ending in an interception. There were also the two missed Colts field-goal attempts. Baltimore basically lost on offensive miscues and mistakes, and the Jets took advantage of them at every opportunity. Baltimore wouldn't even score for nearly fifty-six minutes of regulation time. And the Jets, surprisingly, used a conservative ball-control offense to wear the Colts defense down.

Even thirty years later, Super Bowl III is, quite possibly, the biggest upset in American pro sports history.

'Late!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The game was great, NFL Films could have done better, August 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The NFL's Greatest Games - Super Bowl III (New York Jets vs. Baltimore Colts) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Having grown up with the AFL in the late 60's, hearing Curt Gowdy's call of this game is a great way to relive those fall Sunday afternoons. My only complaint is NFL Films' production of the video could have been better. Since Curt Gowdy's calls were recreated, the calls sometimes give away what happens next. Also, when Gowdy is talking about Unitas as "one of the greats" they show a close-up of Earl Morral. Finally, the fake crowd noise was distracting. Minor points, but enough to stop me from giving it five stars. On a positive note, this approach to the game, showing most all of the plays in sequence, is a lot better than the typical highlight video.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Football When The Grass Was Green!, August 18, 2001

By 

Mcgivern Owen L (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The NFL's Greatest Games - Super Bowl III (New York Jets vs. Baltimore Colts) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Super Bowl III remains, for many New Yorkers, the pinnacle of sports events. I can well remember seeing the game at the Black Orchid Bar, on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA. The patrons, it seemed, were Holy Cross students or Mafiosi. This tape will take the viewer back to that wondrous 1969 Sunday afternoon in Miami when the underdog New York Jets upset the highly favored Baltimore Colts. If there was ever an "establishment" in sports, it was represented by the hideously "big business" NFL Commissioner, Pete Rozelle. And if there was ever an "underdog," it was ANY AFL team going to the Super Bowl. A trivia question: Wasn't this the first time the phrase "Super Bowl" was used? Viewers will immediately appreciate not the Jets vaunted passing attack, but their solid running game. The big backs Matt Snell, Bill Mathis and Emerson Boozer run LEFT, not the traditional power sweep to the right. . Did the Jets have secret intelligence about Colt cornerback Lenny Lyles tonsillectomy? What about defensive end Ordell Brasse's bad leg? Is that why the Jets concentrated their attack to the left? We Jets fans are reminded how the finger of fate was on our side that afternoon. 5 times in the first, the Colts drove into the Jets "red zone" and came away with NOTHING due to 2 missed FGs and 3 deep interceptions; by Randy Beverly, Jim Hudson and Johnny Sample. I always thought the Colts threw in the towel at halftime. Super Bowl III features the biggest 7-0 halftime lead of all time. Everyone I knew thought the Jets had the game at that point. There is crisp commentary on the key plays by Curt Gowdy, the '60s voice of the AFL. We hear form Joe Namath, Johnny Sample and Coach Ewbank of the Jets. Coach Shula and RB Tom Matte share the Colts viewpoint. The colors are sharp and clear in this first class 73-minute production.By the 4th quarter, we see the sweat and grass-stained uniforms! Buy the tape and relive that epic winter afternoon.This is pro football from the old pre-free agent days. This is pro football from when there were 2 distinct leagues. This is pro football with no soccer style place kickers. This is pro football from when the grass was green. 5 stars all around!