Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows

How far are you willing to go? How deep can you go into the world of pro-wrestling, and the life of pro-wrestler Bret "The Hitman" Hart? This is it! This film will take on a journey closer to the life of Bret Hart, and closer to the life of a pro-wrestler. Wrestling is fake, yes. But what's it like behind the stage, where the stories are created, and the matches are planned? And what transpired during the time in which Vince McMahon planned his betrayal of Bret Hart? You won't see anything quite like this for a long time! "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows" documents Bret's life from his childhood to his relationship with his father, his family, and his relationship with Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. It's never boring, and me, being a former pro-wrestling fan, I came to appreciate what tasks the wrestlers had to undertake. I also strongly agree with a lot of what Bret says in the film, that pro-wrestling has become bloodier, raunchier, and more inappropriate for children than anything, simply for the sake of ratings. You come to feel sympathy for Bret, knowing the hardships a pro-wrestling really does have to deal with. It's also tragic to know that soon after this film was made, his brother Owen Hart was killed in a stunt at the WWF. Vince McMahon has indeed, gone too far for the sake of beating Ted Turner's WCW ratings. I highly recommend this film for someone who likes pro-wrestling and wrestler Bret Hart. If you don't like wrestling, this film will make you come to feel respect for the man, and the people involved in the wrestling business

As a fan of WWF wrestling I was interested when I heard there would be a documentary on Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Growing up I watched wrestling with my older brother and father and remember Bret wrestling, to me it was very real. I took a break and just recently got back into watching it about a year ago. So when I heard about the documentary, I was very interested..........Wow was I in for a surprise!! I was amazed to see things from the inside out rather than the outside in. I learned things that I had never known before. I knew it was planned out for the most part, but I never realized the extent of it. I read through pervious comments and I was shocked......people said it was funny and exciting to see the under-belly of wrestling, but I, on the other hand, was moved almost to tears. I was upset to learn about the backstage scenes that go on outside of the ring. The Montreal incident was appalling and worst of all, every one Bret had put his faith into "screwed" him royally. Today wrestling is very different, there are women taking their clothes off and everything revolves around sex. We need to take it back to when it was a sport, not a soap opera. Don't get me wrong, I love WWF, but when I see what it did to Bret and his family, I feel horrible....The WWF betrayed his trust and his ability and destroyed the audience's faith in him..........Bret is a true champion!! This documentary gave me a persepective I had never known before...A must see for everyone who thinks wrestling is fake and no one gets hurt....people do get hurt, in more ways than one.

This is probably the best documentary on the world of professional wrestling. It is a no nonsense look at how much wrestling has changed since the its beginnings to what it is now. You get to look behind the characters that the wrestlers create and see how the business treats them as nothing more than commodities after their usefulness is over. Vince McMahon is pretty much shown to be not much different than his character on Raw or Smackdown. In fact, he is shown to be a backstabbing lowlife who lets his personal pride get in the way of his friendship with his company's brightest star. This is one documentary that does open some eyes.

Whether you love or loath Vincent K McMahon, there is no denying that he is a world class promoter. Whether you love or loath Bret Hart, there is no denying that he is a world class wrestler. That is why this is such a brilliant documentary. Bret Hart was THE top guy in the WWF in the mid-'90s. Vince was the man behind the character. The on-screen commentator was the behind-the-scenes owner/promoter. He signed Bret Hart up to an unprecedented 20 year contract in 1996 to stop Hart from joining the WWF's rival WCW. This documentary follows Bret around for one year. This one year is one of the most interesting in WWF history. It just so happens that the conclusion to this year contained THE most controversial night in recent wrestling history. Bret Hart was on his way to WCW but had a few weeks remaining on his WWF contract. The problem was that he was still the WWF Champion and this resulted in disputes and arguments from both sides as to how this problem would be resolved. This documentary crew was given an all access pass to all WWF events for the year that is covered. They go into the locker room and reveal all of the behind-the-scenes discussions and debates and the final concluding part to the most controversial night in recent wrestling memory.

Watch this tape if you have even the smallest amount of interest in wrestling. See how the "evil boss" character of Vince McMahon was created on this infamous night in November '97 in Montreal and how Bret Hart finished his 14 year WWF career.

I have been a Bret Hart fan for as long as I can remember and when I heard of his betrayal by the WWF I was mad. This film portrays events leading up to and a bit after the Montreal incident. I think it is a really good film. I especially liked the behind the scenes aspect of the WWF.