CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.!—break—>
Film Review: Amazing Saga of ‘The Tillman Story’ Has Lasting Power
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CHICAGO – You are unlikely to see a documentary this year more powerful than “The Tillman Story.” This film will shake your concept of heroism, the marketing machine of government, the military complex, and the state of journalism in the new millennium. It is a remarkable film that sent me out of the theater as angry as the people who refused to let Pat Tillman become the exact opposite of what he wanted to be. Don’t miss it.
Pat Tillman was an NFL superstar. If he hadn’t changed his course, he would probably be a multi-millionaire by now and still playing for the Arizona Cardinals. But he answered the same call that many young men did after 9/11, choosing to give up his lavish lifestyle and fight for our country in Iraq. Far too shortly after he got over there, he was killed in an ambush, valiantly dying in the line of fire.
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Or so our government wanted us to believe. The truth was that Pat Tillman died in a valley as he cowered under friendly fire screaming “I’m Pat F**king Tillman!!!” until one of his fellow soldiers put a bullet in his head. It was a tragic, senseless death, but it’s what happened after Tillman’s accident that should spark outrage. A man who made his desire for privacy well-known, having never given one interview about his decision to join the military and even filling out paperwork asking that he not have a military funeral, was turned into a martyr; a face to sell an increasingly-unpopular war. The marketing hook was too good to pass up. If the enemy could kill a hero like Pat Tillman, who could possibly oppose wiping them out?
What the men who tried to turn a true hero into a marketing tool drastically underestimated was the drive of Pat Tillman’s family. If one takes anything away from “The Tillman Story,” it should be that all of us should be so lucky to have such intelligent and passionate people in charge of defending our legacy. It’s not just Pat. All of the Tillmans are heroes in my book as they refused to let their son, brother, or husband be used in a way that he never wanted to be.
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The Tillman Story
Photo credit: Weinstein Films