Movie Books & DVDs: Sports

8 SECONDS (Movie Novelization)
by Charlie McDade. Screenplay by Monte Merrick. B&W movie stills section. Condition: UNREAD 1994 HarperPaperbacks first edition, first printing. Thin binder's glue string down spine. Tiny edgewear. Content: This is the novelization of the movie based on the life of Rodeo champion bull rider Lane Frost. The title refers to the time required by all rodeo cowboys to stay on a bull if they want a judge's score. For them, such a short time can seem like an eternity. The same is true of the beginning of this true story, a country tale of Lane Frost, a real-life, crowd-pleasing bullrider who rose to rodeo fame in the late '80s. The characters seem so irrepressibly good, so unreal, that the film comes out of the chute without a buck or much of a purpose. But Frost's story, and that of his relationship with his wife, Kellie (Cynthia Geary), eventually gains momentum. Luke Perry is an underrated actor, and he balances an "aw-shucks-ness" with an internal spark that makes that salt-of-the-earth stuff not so salty. When the film is finally over and the end credits show home movies and stills of the real-life Frost, you'll wish the ride was just a little longer. The 1994 movie was directed by John G. Avildsen and produced by Danny DeVito. The supporting cast includes James Rebhorn, Cameron Finley, Carrie Snodgress, Dustin Mayfield, Stephen Baldwin, and Gabriel Folse. [1 set available]
$ 6.39 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

THE BLIND SIDE (with new Afterword) (Movie Edition)
by Michael Lewis. Movie still front cover. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2009 WW Norton Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Lewis takes a statistical X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of point scorers. In his sketch of the gridiron arms race, first came the modern, meticulously choreographed passing offense, then the ferocious defensive pass rusher whose bone-crunching quarterback sacks demolished the best-laid passing game, and finally the rise of the left tackle—the offensive lineman tasked with protecting the quarterback from the pass rusher—whose presence is felt only through the game-deciding absence of said sacks. A rare creature combining 300 pounds of bulk with "the body control of a ballerina," the anonymous left tackle, Lewis notes, is now often a team's highest-paid player. Lewis fleshes this out with the colorful saga of left tackle prodigy Michael Oher. An intermittently homeless Memphis ghetto kid taken in by a rich white family and a Christian high school, Oher's preternatural size and agility soon has every college coach in the country courting him obsequiously. Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect. Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
$ 5.79 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

BRIAN'S SONG, I AM THIRD, & BRIAN PICCOLO: A SHORT SEASON
The Brian's Song Trilogy
Brian's Song by William Blinn, I Am Third by Gale Sayers and Al Silverman, and Brian Piccolo: A Short Season by Jeanne Morris. Condition: Brian's Song is the TV movie edition with B&W movie stills to illustrate - UNREAD with tiny edgewear & tanning to page edges. I Am Third is a gently pre-read book with pale spine crease and small edgewear. Interior clean & tight with tanning to page edges. Brian Piccolo: A Short Season is used with spine crease, tiny edgewear, tag removal mark upper front cover, tannnig to page edges, and a slight roll. Content: Everyone knows the story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers: friendship, sports competition, and ultimate tragedy. These 3 books cover the entire story. [1 set available]
$ 9.50 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

THE CUTTING EDGE (DVD)
by MGM. Skating choreo by Robin Cousins. Condition: NEW (shrink-wrapped) c. 2000 release of the 1992 movie. Content: I love this movie! This romantic movie is one of the best about ice skating, thanks to utterly charming performances by underrated actors D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly. The couple play, respectively, a washed-up hockey player and a prima-donna skater who end up in doubles figure skating together at the Winter Olympics. Of course, the mismatched pair fall in love. In between, there's a lot of verbal sparring, talk of toe picks, and surprisingly skillful directing by Paul Michael Glaser. Direction here is critical--unlike in Flashdance, where the dancing was done in the shadows, face and feet obviously shot separately--and credibly highlights the actors and their professional stand-ins. This is such a fun, sweet story that the facts the film takes liberties with--including the alacrity with which a hockey player takes to Olympic-level figure skating--are easily forgivable. To get some surprising background on this movie, read the autobiography of Gold Medalist Robin Cousins. [2 copies available]
$ 6.79 + $ 3.09 first class shipping.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: A Novel
by Michael Shaara (Pulitzer Prize-Winner The Killer Angels). Condition: NEW 1991 Carroll & Graf Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: A certain Hall of Famer, Chapel is a major-league anomaly, a contemporary throwback to another sporting era. He's pitched 17 stellar seasons for the same club, and his love of the game has remained paramount; neither money nor fame has been his motivation. But on the single day this story takes place, he finds himself in crisis. At the crossroads of his life, his career, and his future, he must make the hard choices that will define the direction of the rest of his life. It's the end of the season, his team's out of contention, there's a rumor he may have been traded, and the woman he can't fully acknowledge that he loves announces she's leaving him. It is, as he tells himself, "Time to grow up, Daydreamer." Still, he dreams, but he also acts. As Billy takes the mound for his final start of the year--and maybe forever--we enter his stream of consciousness, and rush with him over the sometimes treacherous rapids of what has preceded this moment, and what may come. Amazingly, though his mind seems to wander through time, his concentration is fierce. Pitch by pitch, inning by inning, he remains focused, honoring his job and his legacy as he pitches a masterpiece of mythic proportion, ultimately leaving the field more a man than when he took it. Using baseball to sound the depths of human experience, Shaara delivers a masterpiece, as well. The 1999 movie was directed by Sam Raimi (Xena) and starred Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, J.K. Simmons (I love this guy), and the great sportscaster Vin Scully. [1 copy available]
$ 1.79 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

THE HURRICANE [DVD - Collector's Edition, Widescreen]
written by Armyan Bernstein, Dan Gordon, Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, Sam Chaiton, Terry Swinton. Movie stills both covers. Condition: NEW (shrink-wrapped) 2001 Universal DVD release of the 2000 movie. Content: In his direction of The Hurricane, veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison understands that slavish loyalty to factual detail is no guarantee of compelling screen biography. In telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter--who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1967 and spent nearly two decades in jail--Jewison and his screenwriters compress time, combine characters, and rearrange events with a nonchalance that would be galling if they didn't remain honest to the core truth of Carter's ordeal. Because of that emotional integrity--and because Denzel Washington brings total conviction to his title role--The Hurricane rises above the confines of biographical fidelity to embrace higher values of courage, compassion, and ultimate justice. Lesra's real-life Canadian mentors are compressed from nine characters to three, but their efforts are superbly dramatized, and Jewison hits the small but important grace notes that make a good film even better. By its final scenes, The Hurricane conveys the rich, rewarding satisfaction of surviving a difficult but valuable journey of mind, body, and soul. The 2000 movie also starred Vicellous Reon Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, Dan Hedaya, Debbie Morgan, David Paymer, and Rod Steiger. [1 copy available]
$ 4.50 + $ 3.09 first class shipping.

ICE CASTLES FOTONOVEL
by Columbia Pictures - Fotonovels. Condition: UNREAD, but NOT PERFECT, 1978 Fotonovel paperback, first printing. Problems: rubbings along front hinge, small edge wear, stain inside front cover and it appears it has had a rubber band around it at one point. However, the interior is clean & tight. Content: This book is complete made of color movie stills with movie dialogue on the stills. A young girl is on top of the world until a tragic accident dashes her hopes and dreams of becoming a world-class figure skater. Only with the help of those who love her can she prove to the world -- and herself -- that she still has the potential to realize her dreams. One of the most popular skating films ever made, the 1978 movie starred Lynn-Holly Johnson, Robby Benson, Tom Skerritt, Colleen Dewhurst, David Huffman, and Jennifer Warren. [1 copy available]
$ 12.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

THE NATURAL
by Bernard Malamud. Movie still color photos front (Redford) and back covers. Condition: Good+, 1982 Avon paperback, seventh printing. Hinge creases with small edgewear, pale spine crease. Interior is clean & tight but tanning. Content: Although this is the movie edition of the book, it is NOT the novelization of the screenplay. If you have seen the movie and think you know all about Roy Hobbs, you are simply wrong. The ending in the novel will surprise you. The c. 1980 movie stars Robert Redford, Kim Bassinger, Glen Close, and a very evil Robert Duvall (steals the movie). [1 copy available]
$ 2.79 + $ 2.89 media shipping.

NORTH DALLAS FORTY (Sports Illustrated Classics)
by Peter Gent. Condition: NEW 2000 Total/Sports Illustrated Classics Trade Paperback, reissue. Content: This is the book that sent Dallas football reeling and stood Tom Landry on his ear. "The compelling story of one man's search for truth amid hypocrisy, compassion amid wanton sex, and equilibrium in a sport that knows only stimulation . . .and depression." The movie, released in 1979, starred Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman, & Bo Svenson. Directed by Ted Kotcheff. A reall hoot! [1 copy available]
$ 4.79 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

PARADISE ALLEY
by Sylvester Stallone. B&W movie stills section. Condition: Good only, 1978 Berkley paperback, first printing. Edgee wear with hinge crease and tag removal marks front cover near hinge. Interior clean with light tanning to page edges. Content: The Carboni Boys. They haul ice, lay out stiffs and dance with monkeys. Three Italian-American brothers, living in the slums of 1940's New York, try to help each other with one's wrestling career using one brother's promotional skills and another brother's con-artist tactics to thwart a sleazy manager. The 1978 movie was directed by and starred Sylvester Stallone with a supporting cast of Anne Archer, Armand Assante, Lee Canalito, Kevin Conway, and a host of pro wrestlers. [1 copy available]
$ 1.09 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

SHOELESS JOE
by W. P. Kinsella. Condition: UNREAD 1991 Ballantine paperback, 12th printing. Light tanning to interior cover edges. Content: W. P. Kinsella plays with both myth and fantasy in his lyrical novel, which was adapted into the enormously popular movie, Field of Dreams. It begins with the magic of a godlike voice in a cornfield, and ends with the magic of a son playing catch with the ghost of his father. In Kinsella's hands, it's all about as simple, and complex, as the object of baseball itself: coming home. Like Ring Lardner and Bernard Malamud before him, Kinsella spins baseball as backdrop and metaphor, and, like his predecessors, uses the game to tell us a little something more about who we are and what we need. The 1989 movie was directed by Phil Robinson and starred Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, Gaby Hoffmann, Timothy Busfield, Burt Lancaster, Frank Whaley, and the great James Earl Jones. If you haven't seen, rush to Blockbuster today! [1 copy available]
$ 1.49 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

SHOELESS JOE
by W. P. Kinsella. Condition: UNREAD 1996 Ballantine Trade Paperback, first printing. Light tanning to page edges. Content: W. P. Kinsella plays with both myth and fantasy in his lyrical novel, which was adapted into the enormously popular movie, Field of Dreams. It begins with the magic of a godlike voice in a cornfield, and ends with the magic of a son playing catch with the ghost of his father. In Kinsella's hands, it's all about as simple, and complex, as the object of baseball itself: coming home. Like Ring Lardner and Bernard Malamud before him, Kinsella spins baseball as backdrop and metaphor, and, like his predecessors, uses the game to tell us a little something more about who we are and what we need. The 1989 movie was directed by Phil Robinson and starred Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, Gaby Hoffmann, Timothy Busfield, Burt Lancaster, Frank Whaley, and the great James Earl Jones. If you haven't seen, rush to Blockbuster today! [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

VICTORY (DVD) (1981)
directed by John Huston. Condition: NEW (still shrink-wrapped) Warner DVD. Short remainder mark top back cover. Content: Fans of The Great Escape will cheer venerable director John Huston's rousing 1981 adventure that pits Allied prisoners of war against their German captors in a soccer match. Michael Caine heads an international all-star cast as true-Brit John Colby, a former soccer champion, who heads the rag-tag squad. Max Von Sydow costars as the humane German officer who proposes the match, improbably staged for maximum propaganda impact in a stadium in Paris. As the Allied team, which includes real-life soccer legends Pele and Bobby Moore, practices, the officers' only goal is an audacious half-time escape. Sylvester Stallone is somewhat out of his league as the American determined to join the team. As an actor, Pele may not be on the same playing field as his Oscar-winning costars, but he is thrilling to watch as he executes some awesome, game-winning kicks. [I love this movie!!!] [1 copy available]
$ 4.00 + $ 3.09 first class shipping shipping.