Or, The Art of Intimidation
If I have to be honest, and honesty does seem to be the preferred policy in most circles, I must admit that I’m not really a fan of sports. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it; I’ve enjoyed several games of basketball and soccer in my day, and I’ve always tried to catch the Olympics when they roll around, but I’ve never really made the emotional connection to football, baseball, etc. that seems to drive so many people in the world. The NFL and MLB have become multi-billion dollar industries because of the world’s love of sports, talent scouts lurk around middle schools in the hope of discovering the next big quarterback, and athletes are elevated to such an iconic status that they seem almost untouchable (the recent news about Peyton Manning’s smear campaign against someone he sexually assaulted a decade ago seems especially relevant). It’s just baffling to me I guess, someone who has a casual interest in sports, as much as a sports fan would find my obsession with film and comics.
Similarly, I also tend to avoid documentaries, at least when it comes to these little writeups. I’ve done a couple of course, Crumb comes to mind, as well as Lost Soul, but in general I’m of the opinion that documentaries, particularly biographical documentaries, aren’t really conducive to the review process. Because the majority tend to follow the same beats, don’t they? ‘Subject does really cool thing, people love them, then they get into drugs or become huge assholes and they end up either dying or fading into obscurity’, adding in animated sequences and talking heads when needed. Formulaic by its very nature, I suppose you could say. It doesn’t mean that these films aren’t artistically valid or can’t be entertaining, as I believe both documentaries I’ve reviewed were worth watching/reviewing, but when it comes to biographies, you’re really dependent on the subject themselves to make or break your movie. Even Ken Burns couldn’t make a movie about Kevin Federline interesting.
Which brings us to our film for today, No No: A Dockumentary, which details the life of Dock Ellis. For those who don’t know, which included me before I actually watched this movie, Ellis was a pitcher primarily known for his tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates (who he helped earn a World Series win against Orioles) and the New York Yankees throughout most of the 1970s. Known for a time as the ‘Muhammed Ali of baseball’, Ellis frequently pushed himself into the forefront of sports news by virtue of his inherent charisma and willingness to challenge the status quo in any way that he could. Whether it was drawing ire from the old guard for knowingly violating dress codes or calling out racial prejudice in Major League Baseball, during a time when an all-black major league team was still unheard of, Ellis was a living example of the changes that were going through American society at the time. The Civil Rights Act being passed, African-Americans establishing a distinct cultural identity... it was an era that demanded action, for people to push the boundaries, and from all accounts Dock Ellis was all too eager to answer that call to action. Not as famous a figure as Jackie Robinson perhaps, but important all the same.
Almost as important as his contributions to the sport of baseball and the Black Power movement, at least from the way this film presents it, was his use of drugs. The name of the film, No No, is a reference to the infamous story of Dock pitching a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in 1970 while high on LSD, which ironically only makes up a small part of the movie, while the rest of the film focuses on Ellis’ substance abuse and subsequent sobriety and anti-drug activism. Which is nice to hear, even if it does end up feeling like an episode of Behind the Music rather than a movie about a professional athlete by the end. I mean I’m not trying to belittle the man’s accomplishments, it’s just that I’ve kind of heard this story about personal redemption before, and personally it feels like the ratio is 70% is about Ellis using drugs and 30% is about why Ellis deserves to be remembered in the first place. It’s fine if you’re already familiar with the man’s work in baseball and are looking to dig deeper, maybe not if you’re just learning about him at that moment.
So is No No: a Dockumentary worth a watch? Well, if you’re a baseball fan, then I’m sure getting a little history about the sport will appeal to you. If, however, you’re someone like me who watches documentaries on various subjects ‘just cuz’, there might not be enough here to really grab your attention. I found it fairly interesting though, so if you’re of similar tastes, you might find it enjoyable too. Try it and find out.
Result: Recommended
