Monday Night Mayhem

I must admit that The start of ABC'S Monday Night Football was before my time, But personally, I thought this was an excellent telling of the events leading from it's creation to the resignation of Howard Cosell. John Heard portrays Roone Arledge, the man behind the creation of ABC's Monday Night Football. He enlists play by play announcers Howard Cosell (John Turturro), "Dandy" Don Meredith (Brad Beyer), Keith Jackson (Shuler Hensley), and later, Frank Gifford (Kevin Anderson). The movie centers mainly on the action happening inside the booth, And on its rise to popularity. Memorable scenes include a drunken Cosell doing play by play during an Eagles game, Meredith at the Mile High Stadium literally "Mile High", and a scene where Cosell drops a lit cigarette butt(accidently) into Keith Jackson's trouser cuff during play-by-play, while Jackson, noticing his pants are on fire, nonchalantly pours his coffee onto the flame without missing a beat. But the main events center around Howard Cosell, who eventually became to stuck on himself and resulted in him resigning and never returning to the broadcast booth.

As to the acting, John Turturro lives up to being in the starring role and is excellent as Cosell. Heard gives another great performance as Arledge, Beyer and Anderson, whom I've never seen before are great as Meredith and Gifford, John's bother, Nicholas Turturro, puts in a strong performance as the director of the show, and Eli Wallach is great as always with the screen time that he is given.

all in all a very entertaining look into Monday Night Football. TNT does it again

10 out of 10

A candid behind-the-scenes look at Monday Night Football from its infancy, "Mayhem" exploits the trials and tribulations of what has become an institution for NFL fans the world over. Being a football fan, if you take this movie at face value like I did, you can appreciate what the viewer doesn't see. This movie delves into the conflicts between on-air and off-air personalities well beyond what you may have read in the newspapers. However, as a movie fan, I was disappointed at the overall acting. Although a finely written script, I had to do my best to drown out John Turturro's poor imitation of Howard Cosell, to appreciate the unparalleled verbiage that only Cosell could provide. Same is true for those imitating Frank Gifford, Keith Jackson and "Dandy" Don Meredith. All in all, I gave this movie 7 stars.

This was a great movie!! I didn't expect to like it, but the actors were so dead on in their performances, it was impossible to resist. I rarely watch football anymore, largely because there is no show with the chemistry of the original Monday Night Football lineup. A lot of ink was given to incredible acting displayed by John Turturro as Howard Cosell, but in my opinion, Brad Beyer was even better as Don Meredith. Who likeable enough as a sportscaster, always seemed two dimensional until Beyers performance.

The presentation was a little cheesy but all in all a strong movie. Turturro was great. I saw some criticism in previous reviews from people who fail to realize that this is ACTING not imitating. You don't need to get the look/speech perfect to play a real-life figure. Turturro seemed to capture what Cosell was all about and that's the point. Actors act, if you want to see imitating go to a Rich Little show.

John Turturro's portrayal of Howard Cosell in this film is so absolutely perfect that it has Emmy written all over it. While this movie (based on a book of the same name) is more than just a Howard biopic, Turturro really shines as America's most beloved and most hated sports broadcaster. He has the many mannerisms of Cosell down pat, down to the nasal voice that was both inimitable and grating. His narration of MNF's halftime highlights is particularly inspired.

Nicholas Turturro, John's brother, also stands out as Chet Forte, the gambling, womanizing MNF director, as does John Heard as Roone Arledge, the brains behind MNF and ABC Sports for so many years. The only downer is Brad Beyer's performance as Dandy Don Meredith. Nothing against Brad, but he was the wrong pick for this role. His baby face and forced Texas accent make me wish they had cast someone with a genuine Lone Star State drawl (Beyer is from Wisconsin).