Being Australian and not having really followed NFL when I was a young tacker, I was unaware of the bills story and the heartache they endured losing 4 Super Bowls. One of the greatest achievements of a sporting powerhouse coupled with so much disappointment this documentary raises some good questions about what greatness really is and how society looks at winning and losing. A true credit to the people of Buffalo... I won't say any more other than do yourself a favour and grab a bag of chips and a froffie and sit down for a couple hours and enjoy this filum
30 for 30 The Four Falls of Buffalo
2015
Action / Biography / Documentary / History / Sport
30 for 30 The Four Falls of Buffalo
2015
Action / Biography / Documentary / History / Sport
Plot summary
While chronicling quarterback Jim Kelly's battle with cancer, this documentary examines the American obsession with winning and losing through the spectrum of the early 90's Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls and lost every time. They've been seen as football's ultimate "losers," who if circumstances were different, may have been remembered as the ultimate winners.
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Fantastic, sad and inspirational all at once
Time Gives Perspective
I was just a kid of 6 years old when the Bills went to their first Super Bowl. We weren't living in Western New York yet, but it wasn't much longer until we moved there and I began following the Bills. Though I hadn't been a life-long fan, those three other Super Bowls hurt.
Time has a way of flipping the narrative though. As a fan of a team in which their greatest accomplishment is losing in four consecutive Super Bowls, that's what the haters always point to. Yet this documentary brings to the forefront an accomplishment that not even the Cowboys of the 90s did, nor did the Patriots of the 2000s do: they played in four consecutive Super Bowls. Considering that the game of football is a violent train wreck that happens four weeks in the pre-season, 16 weeks over the regular season, and for the best teams 3-4 more weeks in the post season, that's a lot of physical, emotional, and psychological strain that sports medicine and science is just beginning to understand. Even the victors of those Super Bowls against the Bills have to admit that what they accomplished is not likely to ever be repeated. Though the Bills didn't win, the greatness of those teams is now better understood.
What I particularly liked about this documentary though is the character that shone through of Scott Norwood. When people think of "character" and "Bills Super Bowl appearances" the first, and sometimes only thought, that comes to mind is Don Beebe chasing down Leon Lett in a blowout loss, and rightly so. Yet Scott Norwood, who should have never been put in a position to have the game on his foot, addressed the media and answered every question about it. I'm sure in that moment only Bill Buckner could truly understand how he felt. Yet 24 years later he was still being asked about it. Given how the other three Super Bowls went, and how victory in that first one was a 47 yard kick away, he wasn't crushed. Of course it haunts him, but he didn't wallow in agony. I think that, as much as anything else (if not more) revealed that those Bills teams had big egos to be sure, but a lot of character too.
This documentary didn't need to answer the question of why didn't they win. It showed that those were very special years that likely will never be repeated ever.
Guilt, Grudges and Growth in the Saga of Football's Ultimate Bridesmaids
Triumph and tragedy with the Buffalo Bills, four time conference champion and four time Super Bowl loser. Buffalo's story is one of perseverance, of epic highs and humbling lows, the forge of many a rich human character.
Starting quarterback Jim Kelly is a prime example, a hot-headed kid who joked at the city's expense before jilting them for a rival league after the draft. During his early years in the NFL he was a petulant prima donna, throwing teammates under the bus and running his mouth at press events. The adversity of four straight bitter pills changed him, though, steeled him, prepared him for what trials his life held in store after his career was through. Scott Norwood, whose errant kick spoiled the team's first championship try, lives every day with the guilt of that one defining misfire. He also wells up with pride in reliving the days immediately after the game, when the community taught him lessons in compassion and forgiveness.
These teams are rife with such stories, of morals wrenched from each player's deepest disappointment. It's a bittersweet tale - of course there's no Hollywood ending - but also a resonant lesson in humility, acceptance and personal growth.