Michael Jordan: Come Fly with Me

What can I say. I used to watch Jordan with bated breath as a kid. He was appointment television. I lived all the way in California and I was a Bulls fan... or should I say a Michael Jordan fan.

"Come Fly with Me" is an early Jordan documentary. How early? He still had hair. He only had five years in the league when this documentary was made yet he already had tons of hardware: NCAA title, Olympic gold medal, Rookie of the Year, All-Star, scoring champ, all-NBA defense, dunk contest champion, and more. All he was missing was the much coveted NBA title which he would eventually get six of.

This brief documentary goes into his early life, his humble beginnings, and his rise to mega-stardom. For me it was a joyous walk down memory lane and one more chance for me to see my favorite basketball player of all time.

If you are an NBA fan at all and find yourself listening to people trying to make an argument for some up and coming young player who is better than Michael Jordan- pop this DVD in and take notes on why they are wrong. Some of the things that Jordan does on this video are unbelievable.

It is the classic highlight reel of the young Jordan (all pre-championship days) just dominating anyone who steps in his path- literally jumping over people and dunking on people like they disrespected his mother. The best part is that b/c this collection is from his fourth year, they don't have to cover as much time and can basically just show all of his amazing stuff from 86-87 when he averaged 37.1 pts/game along with a handful of steals and blocks.

Once you have seen this movie you will remember why Jordan was so good, even before he went on to get 6 championships. Then you can tell all of those fools who think that Jordan was never good b/c he isn't as good right now as he used to be that they just need to refresh their memories a bit. Its just that simple.

Great video, and a lot of fun to watch. Air Jordan wearing sweet shoes to boot.

I wouldn't say that MJ was a loser because as the video tells it, he was NCAA champion and Gold medal in Olympics (some stars don't even have won one) but basketball is above all a team sport and up to 1991 he hadn't even gone to at least 1 NBA Finals ! To label MJ the best then was a bit too much… Now after saying that, MJ stays my n° 1 player because his abilities, his will and his values are unique even today ! He stayed with the bulls trough those bad years, he was close to his parents, he was helping children so he wasn't just winning money ! For that, he was my champion and it's again a lesson for all today and future players ! In conclusion, this is a great video to introduce MJ with fantastic moves and private things but it's only Chapter I for his achievement !

Made towards the end of the eighties by the NBA, this film focuses on Michael Jordan's rise through college ball to become a domineering force within the NBA. Given the period, the film concentrates on the 1986/87 season in terms of action but also tackles the wider impact Jordan had on the NBA and the impact that fame had on him. With this in mind it is no surprise that the content is awesome; although this is before all the championships, Jordan is still fierce on the court and the moves are just unbelievable and had me hitting review several times just to be sure I had just seen what I had seen. I'm not saying anything you don't already know, but the clips are almost all sick.

Problem with it is, it is a promotional film for the NBA by the NBA and it is a poor product filled with a sickly sense of gushing and self-love from the producers. Giving respect to the man is one thing that I have no issue with at all but this is different from what we get here. The approach is very much of "corporatisation" of Jordan the product (clearly not a word but nobody is reading my stuff to get an education here). What this means is that the energy and rawness that we see in Jordan contrasts badly with a marketing presentation that has dated badly (assuming it was not rubbish back in the day to begin with). This comes across in several ways but the most obvious is the narration. Hammy and pointless is one description but it is just annoying regardless how you phrase it. The dialogue is corny with lots of "corporate" words that nobody uses in real life and it never says something with one word if it can use twenty instead. On top of this we have awful constant music that would not feel out of place in a lift in a medium-priced hotel chain, the sort of music that reminds you that maybe your job isn't so bad as at least you ain't churning this stuff out 9 to 5!

OK, so suffice to say that the actual packaging of the film is rubbish – really rubbish. The interviews are mostly upbeat soundbites but at least these are a bit of fun and interesting as Jordan's family are just themselves and cheery to listen to. Of course though it is the action that makes this worth seeing and in this regard Jordan does it again – saving the film by his sheer effort and presence. A poor package then but a brilliant collection of clips and moves.