The 411 Wrestling Top 5.22.13: Week 220 – Top 5 Movies About Wrestling

Michael Benjamin
5. Beyond the Mat -This is a documentary, but it’s must see material for anybody who likes to get a good look behind the scenes. The documentary covers a lot of ground, but seeing Mick Foley’s wife and kids watch on defenslessly as their husband and father gets the everliving shit beat out of him with a chair is some very raw and emotional footage. It really gives you a visual on the toll this business can take on a family. I’m sure you’ve seen it already but if you haven’t, go out of your way to do so.

4. No Holds Barred – Unlike the last pick, this goes under the “so bad it’s good” category. Invite a few friends over, crack open some beers, and proceed to watch an hour and a half of some of the most atrocious acting you’ve ever seen. Sure, it’s a horrible movie, but it’s also a piece of wrestling history. It gave us Zeus! All diehards should see this at least once. Don’t buy it though!

3. Ready to Rumble. – I absolutely love this movie. It’s completely underrated and I will always stand by that. David Arquette may not be the best actor around but he kept me cracking up for almost the entire duration of the movie. The plot isn’t great and the humor is super campy, but it was really cool seeing the WCW roster appear throughout the film. Also, I like campy humor. It gave us the Triple Cage match too!

2. Man on the Moon – This is a biographical comedy/drama starring Jim Carrey playing the role of Andy Kaufman. He played the role fantastically. I can’t see anybody pulling off Kaufman’s eccentric personality to the level Carrey did. The movie shows Kaufman making his way through the comedy clubs during his younger years and covers all of his historical television moments, including his famous appearance on Dave Letterman with Jerry Lawler. They do a great job of showing the behind the scenes drama of that entire angle. This is a must see for movie buffs and wrestling fans alike.

1. The Wrestler – This was an enthralling look at the life of an old wrestler unwilling to step away from the spotlight, while doing everything that he can to get “one last run.” It’s a gritty, in your face look at the independent scene and what wrestlers are willing to put themselves and their families through to stay relevant and hold onto their spot. This is the movie that revitalized Mickie Rourke’s career and it’s one of my favorite movies (in any genre) of all time.

TJ Hawke
Note: I’ve never seen The Last of McGuinnes or Beyond the Mat. Yes, I know this makes me a fool.

5. Ready to Rumble – While the next four films are great stories about people, this film is pure guilty pleasure trash about (and told like) professional wrestling. The heroes are complete idiots. The villains are comical (I’m still surprised Titus Sinclair didn’t have a mustache to twirl in it). As awful as this movie is, I can still watch it over and over and over again. What can I say? I’m a Titus Sinclair Guy.

4. Forever Hardcore – This Jeremy Borash film is a little light on substance, but it makes up for it with great personalities discussing their memories and experiences in ECW. The movie was notable at the time for Sabu opening up and actually talking on screen.

3. Man on the Moon – I’ve seen some wrestling fans say some pretty negative things about this film, but I personally loved it (but there were some definite flaws). Jim Carrey’s performance had so much energy, and he made almost every scene in the movie enjoyable as a result.

2. The Wrestler – As far as films with wrestling heavily involved in the main plot, this is the one that has to be considered to have received the most critical success. While I think the film is flawed, Mickey Rourke’s performance makes me put it number two on the list.

1. Wrestling Road Diaries – Colt Cabana’s fantastic documentary about a road trip he, Daniel Bryan, and Sal Rinauro went on is a must-see for wrestling fans and non-fans alike. Much like the last three movies on this list, saying this film is “about wrestling” does the story injustice. It’s about three people chasing their dream, and all of the obstacles that come with that. The most intriguing aspect of the film for me was how Cabana was just recently fired by the WWE, whereas Daniel Bryan was just about to get signed.

Michael Weyer
5. Forever Hardcore: Call this a companion piece to the 2005 “Rise and Fall of ECW” DVD. Guys who weren’t with the WWE at the time (like Raven, Sandman and Shane Douglas) are showcased with more on stuff like Mass Transit and the Sandman crucifixtion. It also dissuades myths on how it was all Paul Heyman with guys stating Todd Gordon was just as instrumental to the company’s success. The talking heads are great with Raven getting the brilliant quote on the ECW faithful on how “these fans who think they’re so smart are the easiest ones to con.” Worth watching more than once to show both the power and drawbacks of ECW.

4. Beyond the Mat It may be a bit dark on the business at times but this 1999 documentary still stands out as one of the most eye-opening looks at wrestling ever. From a bunch of guys trying out for WWE to ECW launching themselves into PPV to the brutality of Mick Foley taking a beating in front of his family, it opens your eyes to how wrestling can work and still stands up as a sign of how rough this “fake” sport is.

3. Heroes of World Class: The WWE-produced DVD on World Class Championship Wrestling is great but this 2006 documentary may actually be the better of the two. Brian Harrison was able to use footage of the company before it was sold to WWE, showing classic bits of the Von Erichs, Freebirds, Chris Adams and more. It’s more up front on how they broke ground with the way wrestling TV built up with rock music and editing and are far more brutal on things like Fritz Von Erich’s attutide (with Kevin’s view of his father far less sunny than on the WWE DVD) and the tragadies that tore the company down. The final bit with Kevin touring a now-ruined Sportatorium is chilling and reminds you of how magical this company was but not hiding from what ruined it. Still worth watching to see a truly moving story in so many ways.

2. Wrestling Road Diaries Well worth tracking down, this excellent documentary has Colt Cabana filming a trip he took in 2009, just after being cut from WWE with Bryan Danielson. From a ROH taping in Philly to Danielson’s final ROH show in New York, the duo, with Sal Rinauro meet fans, check into cheap motels, do a show in a dragon-themed amusement park and more. The three are great friends with good humor on things that showcases why guys get into a rough business and stick with it and a brilliant look at the indy business and how it can work. It may be long but definetely worth watching as not just a love leter to the business but also a fine film on the friendships you make along the way.

1. The Wrestler I still contend Mickey Rourke deserved the Oscar for this as he uses his long-battered body to beautiful effect as “The Ram,” a once-major star now reduced to weekend shows and a hard job. Rourke is amazing as this man who remembers his past glories, unable to handle a life without the ring, showing how it gets in your blood so deep and you can’t give it up. It all builds to an amazing conclusion as the Ram faces one last match and gives his all, despite his health, showing how wrestling may not be pretty but it’s still an amazing part of your life, a role that Rourke lives to the utmost and shows the business may be hard but still worth following.

Ryan Byers
5. The Backyard – I don’t get to talk about it much on 411, but I’m actually a HUGE fan of documentaries, typically preferring them to scripted films. One oft-overlooked wrestling documentary is The Backyard, which follows a variety of backyard wrestlers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’re not backyard wrestlers in the vein of M-Dogg 20 or young Mick Foley who might actually have a chance of making it. Instead, the doc focuses on delusional yarders who think that they’re either huge stars or have the opportunity to get there. The cast of characters and the editing creates a perfect mix of laughter and sadness for humanity . . . though one of the featured performers actually comes off as being pretty damn likeable despite his peculiarities. He is the Lizard, and his DVD commentary is almost as amusing as the body of the film itself. Definitely worth a quick rental.

4. GAEA Girls – Japanese women’s professional wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s produced some of the most innovative, hardest hitting matches that you could find anywhere on the planet. For years I wondered just how these women got as good and as tough as the were. Then, lo and behold, out came a documentary that explored just that question. Though it was filmed after the peak of joshi, the movie focused on one of the genre’s absolute legends, Chigusa Nagayo, training the next wave of hopeful stars for her GAEA promotion. It establishes that the culture surrounding training for sports in Japan – and training for women’s sports in particular – is much different than anything that we have in the United States in terms of commitment and sheer brutality. It’s something that tends to make people palpably uncomfortable, particularly when it comes to THAT. DROPKICK. (If you’ve seen it, you know the one I’m talking about.) Overall, it’s a great inside look at one of the most entertaining subsets of pro wrestling there’s ever been.

3. Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar – It’s still about women’s wrestling, but Lipstick & Dynamite is on a completely different end of the spectrum from GAEA Girls . . . though it’s no less entertaining. Instead of featuring young women who are in their physical primes engaging in intense action, L&D focuses on old women fifty years past their peaks sitting down and talking about how things used to be. There’s not a ton of in-ring footage left of the cast (unless you count Moolah, and that’s locked up by WWE), and, given that fact, you might think the flick would get a little bit dull. However, that’s far from the case, as the majority of the women, even if they can’t go in the ring anymore, are HUGE personalities that still manage to grab and hold your attention. I defy you to watch this movie and not fall in love with Ella Waldek and Gladys “Killem” Gillem . . . and I also defy you to watch this movie and not walk away thinking that the Fabulous Moolah is one of the three biggest bitches ever created. I’ll admit the ending is a little bit flat, but, otherwise, it’s a great doc that fires on all cylinders.

2. The Wrestler (2008) – The Wrestler is the only scripted film that I’ve got on my list, and with good reason. See, The Wrestler is one of few modern scripted movies that has examined professional wrestling and actually taken it seriously. There have been scads of bad wrestling comedies (Ready to Rumble, which I can’t believe is actually making some people’s “best” lists) and there have been plenty of attempts at serious wrestling movies that have been too hokey for their own good (the 1974 film titled The Wrestler). However, 2008’s Wrestler took a top flight filmmaker and a top flight actor, both of whom clearly had some respect for what wrestlers go through, and cranked out a compelling look at the pseudo-sport that examines some of its darkest issues while simultaneously engendering some respect for its performers. The whole thing was so good that they had to remake it two years later with a more mainstream-friendly subject matter replacing wrestling . . . and they called it Black Swan.

1. Beyond the Mat – This was actually a really difficult choice for me, as I basically had to decide between the best scripted film ever about wrestling and the best documentary ever about wrestling. Ultimately, Beyond the Mat won out for two reasons. The first is that it was incredibly groundbreaking. There had NEVER been a movie which got so much access to the backstage world of professional wrestling and, given how Vince McMahon reportedly felt about the finished product, it’s likely there never will be again. We all knew that wrestling was a work before this, but the film still took us to places in wrestling that we had never been before and that several of us never expected to go before, be it Vince McMahon’s office while he is evaluating new talent or Jake Roberts’ hotel room while he’s coming down off a high and running down his sexual exploits. The second reason that I put this movie at the top of its list is its rewatchability. It captures a very specific place and a very specific time in wrestling history, but I can always pop the DVD out of its sleeve and watch from a new perspective, thinking about what has happened to the subjects of the film since it was released and how it ties back into the footage that was captured in the late 1990s. It is simultaneously very specific to its time and very timeless, which sounds like a contradiction but is actually the result of great film making.