3: The Dale Earnhardt Story

I am sure this was a good movie for those who knew who Dale Earhart was BEFORE he died. For the rest of us, it is just OK.

The movie stars Barry Pepper as Dale Earnhart. Pepper has done some good work before (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Green Mile), and puts forth an excellent performance here.

J.K. Simmons (The Closer, Law & Order) was also very good as Ralph Earnhart, Dale's father.

As I said, if you are into NASCAR, then you will enjoy this movie. Of course, if you are a rabid NASCAR and Dale Earnhart fan, then I doubt that 88 minutes will satisfy you.

To those of you complaining that this picture isn't this or it doesn't do that ... IT'S JUST A MOVIE.

I am a NASCAR fan, though not an Earnhardt fan. I enjoyed the movie and thought it offered a little insight into what made Dale Earnhardt tick - from his relationship with his father and failed loves to the relationship with his own children.

Barry Pepper did an admirable job portraying Earnhardt. Kudos to him.

The film gave you the basic story andn did as well as it could in two hours. Hey, that's a lot of ground to cover!

As far as footage not being shot at every track, again - it's a movie!

There are far worse things on TV today, like Survivor and all that reality dreck. This was entertaining.

I would have liked more of a look at the behind-the-scenes stuff at the tracks, such as how The Intimidator interacted with other drivers.

How about 3 II!

"3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" isn't going to win a lot of non-Nascar fans over to the sport, but as a biography, it is well-made, offers some believable insights on what made Earnhardt the often enigmatic person he was, and, in Barry Pepper, provides an eerily close approximation to the 'look' and 'feel' of the racing legend. Pepper will certainly receive an Emmy nomination for the role, and delivers such a powerful portrayal that you nearly forget how good the rest of the cast is.

While Elizabeth Mitchell is more glamorous than the real Teresa Earnhardt, she is quite solid and believable in the role; to truly appreciate how important Teresa's intelligence and business acumen were to Dale, it would have required a much longer movie, and might have seriously tilted the story away from Dale's other relationships, and the balance that Pepper and director Russell Mulcahy achieved.

Dale's early years come off best in the film, with a wonderful performance by J.K. Simmons as the inspirational Ralph Earnhardt. The grittiness and 'backwoods blue-collar' feel of Earnhardt's upbringing is well-conveyed, and reminiscent of "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "The River". The film loses a bit of steam when Dale begins racing, and as he achieves success, a lot of memorable moments had to be edited out, or telescoped down, which has disappointed some Earnhardt fans. Considering the time and budget constraints, however, I found the story to be remarkably accurate.

The young actors who portrayed Dale's children as adults should be singled out for recognition; race car driver/first-time actor Chad Mcumbee, while low-key, is pretty impressive as Dale Jr., conveying both a pride in his father, and frustration in being 'held back' so he could complete his education before being permitted to race; Corri English, while too cute, has an infectious smile and manner, and exhibits the Earnhardt joy of fast cars; best of all is newcomer Frank Glidden as oldest son Kerry, who, in a few brief scenes, offers a balanced, sensitive interpretation of the son Dale abandoned, finally winning his father's attention and respect, even as he sees Dale Jr. outshining him on the track. I look forward to seeing more of Glidden's work in future!

While there will certainly be a more detailed and polished feature film about Earnhardt in the future, this ESPN production is not without it's own merits, and provides an entertaining, dramatic overview of the racing legend's life.

I sat and watched "3 The Dale Earnhardt Story" the other day. I thought the acting was very well done. Barry Pepper was very believable as "THE INTIMIDATOR" although slightly slimmer than Dale. I thought the movie could have gone into a lot more detail on the life on and off the track of an American icon. I have been a NASCAR fan for as long as I can remember, and have always hoped for a movie about the life of Dale. unfortunately my wish came true(kind of) this is not the movie I had hoped for. I understand the writers and producers got into as much detail as they could in a two hour movie. so so so much was left out though. Not sure when the law came about that a movie was only allowed to be two hours long. The movie never really touched on the incredible business person that Theressa Earnhardt is and how much she had helped turn Dales name into an empire. Never did it touch on the creation of D.E.I. or dales other many ventures off the track. Probably the thing i missed most of all was Dales reactions to seeing Dale Jr.s first wins. Even to racing w/ Jr. and Kerry for the first time. I must say though I was pretty interested in the movie till the sequence when Niel Bonnett was killed. Niel was Dale's best friend, and they never really touched on how his death had effected him. I was really disappointed when Niel had died in the movie. then they went to a commercial break. When the movie came back on we jump ahead what six years to Dale winning the Daytona 500 in 98.Then from 98 to his death in 2001 all in the matter of what ten minutes. I think this movie would have been a lot better if they would have taken the time to fit the important stuff in it. The movie did showcase the fact that dale was human and wasn't the super hero everyone thought of him. Although it briefly touched on his first two marriages it never said why or how those marriages ended. Whitch left me a lil confused. so hopefully someday some one writer out there will sit down and write a script about Dales life that is truly a movie that will be worthy of the Earnhardt name and legacy. Because for me although "3 The Dale Earnhardt Story" did have a few bright spots, I don't think it was worthy of bearing the name of Dale Earnhardt. I somehow think that if Dale were alive he'd be very disappointed in this movie too. I give this movie a 5/10 but only because of the acting.

Being a die-hard NASCAR fan you have to look at this movie with a different eye than the general public. For example, the movie should have been longer. With "3" being only 90 minutes long they skipped some very critical points in Dale Earnhardt's life. Such as the creation of his company/team DEI, Dale Earnhardt Inc. Or the refusal to go to Adam Petty's funeral when he was killed in a stock car during a practice run. Adam was one of his son's best friends and because Dale Sr. did not attend, Dale Jr. did not go. How about his rival with Jeff Gordon? Or even his son's first Winston Cup win at Texas or his son winning 2 back-to-back Busch Championships. When Dale Jr. set history and won the Winston in his Rookie year as the first Rookie to win. That was an important day for the Earnhardt family. Not to take away from the movie but I do believe that Barry Pepper did a great job at Dale Earnhardt. The story was good and it showed some of the hard times he went through to get to the Winston Cup. For that reason I give this Film a rating of 8/10.