The story may well be extraordinary, but a full appreciation of it will demand an extraordinary interest, or at any rate an above-average interest, in American sports and/or American entrepreneurialism. The story, in short, of the efforts of the late Steve Ross, the Mr. Big of Warner Communications, to legitimize the North American Soccer League in the mid-Seventies — "a semi-pro league," in someone's blunt assessment — by signing to the New York franchise such international luminaries as Pelé from Brazil, Chinaglia from Italy, and Beckenbauer from West Germany. We all know now that, no matter how tempestuous the teapot, the general public never really bought the brew, never acquired a taste for it, continued to prefer the familiar beer of their own brand of football. And soccer passion in America, to say nothing of soccer competence, has not yet reached a height to justify the Founding Fathers salute at the end. Still, the highlight clips are fun, and the characters highly colorful: Chinaglia, portrayed as a backstabber and a power-grabber, and as the only known man ever to find fault with Pelé on a soccer field, does not come off well, and in up-to-date interviews does not give a goddam.) The whole package — disco soundtrack, retro typefaces, split-screen effects, jazzy cutting, jaded Matt Dillon narration — is just about good enough for a televised documentary on a slow weekend afternoon in August, before the stretch run in the baseball season and the start of football season. Directed by Paul Crowder and John Dower. (2006) — Duncan Shepherd
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