3: The Dale Earnhardt Story

This is overall an excellent movie. A must see for all nascar fans.I only saw 1 not already mentioned error. Dale Earnhardt actually drove 2 different times or stints in his carrier for Richard Childress. He drove for another owner from 1982-1983. The other owner was Bud Moore and the car was the #15 Wrangler Thunderbird. In 1984 He(Earnhardt) returned to Childress taking the reigns of the #3 car from Ricky Rudd. The movie was very interesting in the way Dale Earnhardt was presented as a human being. One that had feelings, faults, shortcomings and not as some kind of bigger than life superhero.Though now a legend in racing it shows how he climbed the ladder to success. Excellent job by Barry Pepper.

Just finished watching this movie and I thought it was very well done. Barry Pepper was probably the the best actor for this movie, he pulled off the look perfectly. This movie did a great job of retelling Dale Earnhardt's life story. They also did a great job of mixing old race footage into this movies footage. Some things I didn't like, I thought the story was a little rushed, and some of the important events were left out. The racing wasn't as intense as that in Days of Thunder, but the story made up for it. If you don't know why they called this guy the best in Nascar you better watch this movie, great movie I give it a 7/10.

Several years ago ESPN made a decision that they were going to expand their vision and focus to include original entertainment programming. This has led to a slew of made-for-TV films, dramatic mini-series, and specials about fictional or historical sports personalities and events. Although the acronym ESPN has always stood for Entertainment Sports Programming Network, ESPN never had the desire, budget, or ability to produce this type of original entertainment. Just like MTV has become less about music videos and more about reality TV, dramas, soap operas, and animated series, ESPN seems to be headed down the same wrong path. That's why when I saw the trailers for '3' the last couple weeks, I figured it would be poorly done and over-dramatized just like every other original project ESPN has touched. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case. Barry Pepper, who has been good in everything else I've seen him in, puts on a good performance this time too. I've never been a fan of auto sports, or Dale Earnhardt for that matter, but I was entertained by this movie every bit of the way.

I've watched "3" almost three times since it's debut Saturday night. I watched it in its entirety and then the better part of the last hour twice afterward. The last half hour is heartbreaking and very well done. After all the hype, I feared "3" wouldn't meet expectations, especially for Earnhardt fans. On the contrary, it exceeded them for me. You're not going to please everyone trying to tell the life story of a man like Dale Earnhardt in less than two hours. The main quibble I had was not telling the story of the lucky penny Dale carried during his Daytona 500 win. A minor criticism to be sure.

The casting and performances were outstanding. Hard to believe the actor who convincingly played another one of my sports heroes, Roger Maris, could also deliver a performance as Earnhardt deserving of an Emmy nomination.

As a longtime Earnhardt fan, I sometimes had to remind myself I was watching a movie and not Sportscentury. Barry Pepper, please play Johnny Unitas.

I won't spoil the touching way the tragic ending was handled, but if you don't shed a tear or ten, you'd better check your pulse.

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.