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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $26.99
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 205 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES: 75 minutes of extras including extended game footage, new interviews, honor ceremonies, last games, bloopers, family footage, and stats.
The Pitch
The best ones of the Great One.
The Humans
Gretzky, his dad, Kiefer Sutherland, other NHLers.
"Hello, I’m Kiefer Sutherland. Watch the new Season of 24 coming back to Fox in January 2007."
"Cut, uh, Kiefer, this isn’t a bit for 24, this is a bit for Wayne Gretzky."
"Gretzky…didn’t I kill him in Season 2?"
The Nutshell
Wayne Douglas Gretzky was born in 1961 in Brantford Ontario. He went to the NHL, made a crapload of money, won every award and Stanley Cups out the ass, set every record, played for several teams, earned the nickname "The Great One", and when he retired the entire league retired his number. He then ran the Phoenix Coyotes and his wife gambled and got him in trouble.
"One of my fondest memories of Wayne Gretzky was when he won that Stanley Cup thing that one year. Coincidentally, that was the same year that I starred in Lost Boys, which is out on DVD right now…"
The Lowdown
This set is pretty easy to review. It’s all of the best footage about the greatest hockey player ever. I’m not what you’d call a huge hockey fan, but I recognize brilliance when I see it and Wayne Gretzky is indisputably the most talented player ever to take a hard check into the glass. This set chronicles the whole shebang, from his beginnings as a hockey prodigy to his post-retirement activities. There’s tons of archival footage and extensive interviews with Gretzky himself and his father. In fact, this is almost like Inside the Hockey Player’s Studio as the interviewer and Gretzky get way down into his experiences, motivations, feelings, triumphs, defeats, etc. Surprisingly, Kiefer Sutherland provides narration duty along the way and grants an interview.
"When Wayne came to LA, it made hockey history…just like I made history when I became a second generation actor, following in the footsteps of my father, Donald, whom you can see in such pictures as Kelly’s Heroes, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Dozen, Backdraft…"
Disc One is the two-hour main program and Disc Two is the ton of extras that program that include the following: interviews with Sutherland and Walter Gretzky, Wayne’s wedding, last game in Toronto, last game in Canada, last game anywhere, Pond of Dreams Shoot, Oilers honoring Wayne, 1989 and 1999, Kings honoring Wayne, 1999, Fantasy Camp, career bloopers, family album, special ceremonies section, bio, career stats, records, awards, and Wayne Gretzky Foundation info. The Gretzky sex tape, credit report and children’s unltrasounds are pending for the Super-Ultimate Gretzky edition.
"Excuse me, Keifer, but you were invited here to comment on Wayne, but all you’ve done is taken the opportunity to shill your own interests and self-promote in a tawdry and demeaning fashion."
"You know, interview boy, your comments piss me off kind of like Christopher Henderson pissed me off in Season 5 of 24. You know what I did to ole Chris? I popped some caps on his bitch ass. You want some of that shit, pantywaist? Huh? Didn’t think so. 24’s out on DVD soon, by the way…. "
The Package
The packaging is the cardboard type and the cover is attractive in an old school retrospective style. The audio is fine in Dolby and the video ranges from old ratty footage to fairly recent interview footage. The two disc together, the main feature and the special features pretty much cover anything you’d want to know about the great one and this is a good set to have if you’re a hockey fan.