This documentary taught me so much about Andre and his life. As a kid, I was always a huge fan of the WWE so I obviously knew who Andre the Giant was but I never gave it any thought about how Andre was able to live during his day to day life. Watching this made me realize that it he unfortunately lived a very uncomfortable and depressing life. He was just too big to be comfortable in any furniture, cars, planes, etc. To make it worse, his career as a WWE wrestler was 50% travel. On top of all that, he had to live with that fact that his disease was slowly killing him and that he won't live much passed 40. It was truly heartbreaking to learn this information about a man I viewed as a legend as a child. The documentary is very well-made. It features interviews from some of the most legendary figures in WWE history such as Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. The story of his life if paced perfectly from beginning to end. They also show footage of Andre as a teenager before the fame. It was crazy to see him not as tall and not nearly as heavy as he was during his prime in the WWE. We also get to learn a lot about the early days of wrestling entertainment which I never knew. This was overall a fantastic documentary that shows Andre's heartbreaking life story.

Great interviews and footage. Very interesting and sentimental.

Being a wrestling fan, I couldn't help myself but love this amazing documentary based on one of wrestling's most iconic figures.

I wasnt alive when Andre was but watching the princess bride as a kid, and watching his wrestling highlights was amazing! same with this documentary about his life was just amazing. He truly was a tough guy but also had a heart of gold

A fitting tribute to a man who was genuinely one of a kind On March 29, 1987, the most significant pro-wrestling match of all time took place at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome, in front of 93,173 fans, as Hulk Hogan (the greatest of all time then and the greatest of all time now) defended his title against former best friend, André the Giant. It's not the greatest contest of all time; for a WrestleMania main event, it's very short (12 minutes), with Hogan extremely restricted as to what he could do with André, whose mobility was severely compromised and who was in immense pain due to acromegaly. But it didn't matter, because the match culminated with Hogan doing the impossible and slamming André. Which brings us to Jason Hehir's excellent documentary, the emotional high-point of which is that match. Sure, it's not always successful in its attempts to separate the man from the myth, often falling back on the very mythological elements it's trying to sidestep, and it's neither as insightful nor as objective as one might wish. However, it's respectful, informed, and entertaining, avoiding hagiography, and featuring some superb archival footage. Choosing to forego a narrator, and using only archival footage and talking-head interviews, Hehir allows the interviewees to tell the story. During pre-production, he and producer Bill Simmons decided to include only material which had been directly witnessed; there was to be nothing anecdotal; "we were only going to have first-person accounts. So, if someone said, "I heard André drank 156 beers," well, were you there? If you weren't, it's not gonna make it in. But when Ric Flair says "he drank 106 beers in front of me", that makes it in." This affords the documentary a sense of personalised intimacy – every interviewee is talking about things they saw rather than things about which they heard – which works towards Hehir's mission statement of depicting the man rather than the myth. In this respect, one of the most important sections is the disappointingly brief depiction of his time in his adopted home of Ellerbe, NC, which is where Hehir is most successful in dividing the man from the mythos. André loved living there because he could be himself and because he was left alone – he could be a regular citizen. This comes in the middle of a section about how logistically difficult André's life was (as Flair points out, he couldn't put on a disguise and stroll around New York, and as Hogan explains, everything was too small for him, rendering mundane tasks such as eating in a restaurant hugely difficult). The Ellerbe section is one of the most low-key, moving, and human parts of the documentary, and it's the only part where hyperbole seems entirely absent. Another moving section concerns the making of The Princess Bride. In a direct rejoinder to colleagues who humorously extol his legendary drinking, Cary Elwes points out that André drank as much as he did because he was perpetually in so much pain. Along the same lines, director Rob Reiner and actress Robin Wright discuss how surprised they were at how difficult André found it to perform even the simplest physical tasks (a pseudo-wrestling scene with Elwes had to use a (hilariously bad) stunt double, and for a scene where he catches Buttercup (Wright), she had to be supported on wires because André couldn't hold her weight. In this sense, although the tone is never melancholy, André's story does emerge as something of a tragedy – not because he failed to achieve his dreams, but because in doing so, he dissuaded himself from availing of the aid that could have lengthened his life, and would certainly have eased his suffering. In terms of problems, the most egregious is Hehir's failure (for the most part) to disentangle André Roussimoff from André the Giant. Hogan, Flair, WWE owner Vince McMahon and, André's best friend, Tim White all talk about the man behind the persona, but none of them knew him before he became André the Giant. This is why the Ellerbe section and the brief material on his life in France are so important, as they speak to who he was rather than who we believe him to be, with many of the (probably hyperbolic) stories fitting more comfortably into the image of André the Giant than the life of André Roussimoff. Additionally, more than likely due to WWE's direct involvement, there's nothing even remotely negative said about the company, although Hogan does point out that André probably shouldn't have been in the ring at WrestleMania III. The implication is that McMahon may have exploited André's passion for the business, but this is buried under more mythologising and is quickly forgotten. Nevertheless, this is a very fine tribute. André was vitally important to an industry at a pivotal crossroads, and the film captures why he was such a compelling character, able to elicit pathos (and later antagonism) from wrestling audiences the world over with relative ease.

Fabulous documentary about a gentle giant who made an even larger impact on the professional wrestling world! Great storytelling about Andre's entire life as a mythological-like man, plus, a phenomenal side story about his history in pro wrestling and how he helped transform the sport from regional-based to the larger than life, worldwide, WWE, we all know. Also, terrific interviews!

4/5 stars I really enjoyed this. Part of this was just nostalgia as I grew up in the time of Andre, Hulk, and Macho Man. But past that this was just a really well done documentary. And it operated on multiple levels. On one level you had the story of Andre himself which was cool and touching. And then you had a whole different level where it was talking about the history of the WWF (now WWE) that I had NO idea about. I learned a bunch about how the WWF was formed and how the matches worked. Overall, really enjoyable.

An excellent doc featuring the one and only giant: Andre the Giant. I was a huge fan of WWF wrestling back in the '80s and '90s and one of my fav wrestlers was Andre. He was larger than life and a true spectacle every time he was shown on 온라인카지노추천 (even when he wasn't wrestling). This is a nice but sad doc to learn about his early and unfortunately her physical ailments too. He did so much for the world of wrestling. This is must watch for any wrestling fan.

A brilliant insight into a brilliant entertainer.

Just for Hulk Hogan's testimony on the details of the logistics and choreography of his mythical battle with Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III, this documentary is completely worth watching. But in addition, Ric Flair talks about Andre's sex life and, among others, there are details about how Andre hated Randy Savage and made him suffer in the ring. Fantastic. Essential for fans of professional wrestling. Recommended for enthusiasts of pop culture and the creation of modern myths.

Big Documentary a guy...excellent view and insight into a WWE & real life legend.

Chronicles the events of Andre's life without necessarily diving too deep into the the why of these events; the drive was there, but what created that drive? What made wrestling so attractive? Why did he become so infatuated with it? It seems there had to be more to it than not wanting to live on a farm his whole life and doing something different. No, wrestling became that something different that he loved and that made his uniqueness worthwhile. Was this all that was needed for Andre to dedicate his life to it? How did he maintain this level of commitment and why? Like many a music docs the events audiences are familiar with are easy to recount, but to get to the core of what motivated and inspired those artists to create the kind of music and persona they did is what really drives these bio docs past surface-level. "Andre the Giant" does this in bursts, has some really insightful interviews from those closest to the Giant, and some archival footage that is absolutely glorious as well as critical to viewers understanding the arc and transformation of this man. Still, it is only in these bursts that Jason Hehir's film seems to be able to genuinely pull the curtain back. As much a mini-doc about the evolution of wrestling in popular culture as it is a documentary about Andre the Giant (which isn't bad, but instead undoubtedly appropriate) this is simply a subject that requires more room to breathe and at a tight 85-minutes the room just isn't there.

It was very entertaining & sad to watch. He obviously was the man who created the WWF machine and began the era of Hulk Hogan - HOWEVER... I did not like the fact they left out howe Shepard Fairy made a fucking fortune on his likeness with OBEY and he never got a penny from it??

Buen documental sobre la vida de Andrè, uno de los fundadores de la lucha libre actual de EUA y quien tuvo una historia de vida muy singular por su acromegalia. Excelente documento que hace honor a una gigante de gran corazón.

Does a great job not only detailing his like as a wrestler but also his life as a regular. A glimpse into the struggles of being the most recognizable person in the planet and the desire to always remain on top.

Fabulous insight into the man, the character, and the business he became a legend in.

An intimate look at one athlete who could be considered truly larger than life, the aptly-named pro wrestling legend Andre the Giant. Not content to simply lean on accrued television footage or the countless tall tales about his epic nights out on the town, this HBO documentary intends to dig deeper, for a closer look at the man behind the myths and exagerrations. As a means of drawing back the curtain, we catch glimpses of Andre's upbringing, from the double-wide handmade chair that still sits at his childhood kitchen table to countless candid photos and clips from the dawn of his career in the ring. It's not a particularly happy story, laced as it is with the everyday difficulties of a jumbo-sized man in a normal-sized world, disconnected familial relationships and chronic pain as his frame struggled to deal with its own mass, but it does feel honest and (mostly) true. The one notable exception being Andre's big main event with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III, which seems overly romanticized if not slightly misleading. A better chance to get to know who the giant was away from cameras, to understand his suffering and recognize that, although his size did reap untold fame and fortune, it also made enjoying those fruits excruciatingly difficult or downright impossible. I feel like we barely skimmed the surface.

Good Documentary that any fan of the WWF/WWE should watch. It has a high production value, but overall is just okay in my opinion.

Watched Andre the giant doc on hbo last night Meh, pretty terrible Half of it is about hogan/rise of wwf All u learn about André is he could drink a lot and he cut nasty farts There was even a point where they mention that his condition was treatable as late as his mid 30s with hormone therapy but he refused Didn't really go into it, just he refused cause he didn't want to F up his wrestling career now let's move on to hogan again Half the interviews were with McMahon and other wwf staff. U could tell they had the film makers by the balls and wouldn't let them tell the real stories or anything that made wwf look bad There were some great photos and some cool early video footage but overall grade: C-/D+

This documentary was interesting from the first minute to the very end. I loved hearing about the heart of this seemingly super human man that was widely respected by all who met him. It's a story of a man who used what he was given to live as fill a life as possible. Highly recommend it!