A League of Ordinary Gentlemen

This is a story of four very different men, channeled though the scope of profession bowling. It's a story of how the PBA (Professional Bowling Association) was rescued by a group of former computer executives looking for a new challenge. But more than all that, it's a story of a sport that many of us grew up with, how that was almost lost, and is being found again, one person at a time.

League of Ordinary Gentlemen is a well done, interesting documentary that mostly follows Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Pete Weber, Chris Barnes and Wayne Webb. The film takes us inside their lives and occasionally inside their mind, showing that it's not just one type of man that chooses to make his living bowling, nor is their one specific path to the PBA. Each and everyone is different. There's conflict, camaraderie, and an exciting ending.

Whether you like bowling, or even just remember your parents doing it when you were a kid, this is a great remembrance of that time. If you're just into watching documentaries, it's a fun one to view. If you're like me and you have both of those components, than check this film out.

Recommended.

Well folks, It's finally out on DVD, and I have been waiting for its DVD release since it came out in limited runs in theatres nationwide back in May 2005, predominantly in markets in which the Professional Bowlers' Association (www.PBA.com) hosts Denny's PBA Tour events.

It is the official movie of professional bowling, as endorsed by the PBA, filmed during the 2002-03 PBA Tour Season, A League Of Ordinary Gentlemen (www.BowlingMovie.com), which features four of the PBA's brightest stars:

41-time titlist and PBA/USBC (United States Bowling Congress, www.bowl.com) Hall Of Famer and 6-time world horseshoe pitching champion, Walter Ray Williams Jr.,

2005 U.S. Open champion and rising star and former Team USA great and All-American at Wichita State University, which has a tremendous collegiate bowling program led by their legendary coach Gordon Vatican, 6-time PBA champion, Chris Barnes,

"The Bad Boy of The PBA Tour", as shown by his track record of previous suspensions for misconduct, and son of the late great 26-time PBA champion, Dick Weber, and 32-time PBA titlist, "PDW" Pete Weber,

And finally, but not to be outdone, former 20-time champion, with 3 of those titles coming in events at Landmark Lanes in Peoria, Illinois (1989, 96, 97), PBA Hall Of Famer, Wayne Webb.

Anybody out there who wants to take a cheap shot at our great sport of bowling, in which my wife Alice Yantz and I enjoy very much (Alice and I are both league bowlers and proud USBC members who bowl at All-Star lanes in Silverdale, Washington, just 40 miles away from our home and BIGHMW.com headquarters here in Port Townsend), thanks mostly in part due to the negative image of it as portrayed by sham movies like Kingpin and The Big Lebowski will be awfully surprised when they see the REAL PBA Tour as well as the diametrically different roads that these four great professional bowlers take, week-in-and-week-out.

This movie is highly recommended by yours truly, as it ALSO features actual footage straight from ABC Sports of their legendary Professional Bowlers Tour series which featured broadcasting great, the late great Chris Schenkel, and that aired on Saturday Afternoons during January though July from 1962-1997 as part of "The ABC Sports one-two Punch", which was followed by ABC's Wide World Of Sports.

You might think that a movie about pro bowling would be about as boring as well Bowling but nothing could be more off the mark. This doc is wonderfully done and has a wondeful mix of humor and heart leading to an exciting finale that ranks up there with Spellbound and Murderball. The mix of characters ranging from a burned out Karaoke singing bowler to a Hamlet-esque Bowling prodigy to a crazed Alpha male Bowling CEO leaves the viewer fully engaged. If you are a Doc fan or sports buff you need to see this movie.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 20 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars