Product Description

Biographical story of Dale Earnhardt Sr. starts with his young life and growing up with his father Ralph who raced for a living but initially wanted more for his son. When Dale quits high school to start driving full time his father aids him and shows a reluctant pride when he is initially successful. Armed with many of his father's philosophies Dale pushed himself to be the best. His aggressive track mannerisms earned himself fans and detractors. Fellow racer Neil Bonnett was one of those long time friends and whose death deeply affected Dale. Darrell Waltrip clearly was a detractor and the two men's rivalry is clearly depicted. Off the track Dale's determination to make it impacts two marriages. Third wife Theresa was closer to racing and met Dale when he had started his rise into the Winston Cup circuit. The story also looks at his relationship with his children particularly son Kerry from his first marriage and whom he did not see again after age 5 until Kerry in his late teens showed up to meet his father again. Similar to his own father Dale drove Dale Jr. to be the best including temporarily sending him to military school when his grades slipped but like his father Dale Jr. only wanted to race. Contains mild profanity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51029 in DVD
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Original language: English

Amazon.com
Despite a limited TV budget and a tight 20-day shooting schedule, ESPN's 3 pays honorable tribute to NASCAR's greatest hero. Barry Pepper (the ace marksman in Saving Private Ryan) is perfectly cast as Dale Earnhardt, who rose from humble beginnings as a cotton-mill worker to legendary status as "the Intimidator," whose aggressive racing style was frequently controversial. While basing its drama on Earnhardt's relationship with his stern father Ralph (himself a fearless dirt-track champion), Robert Eisele's teleplay struggles with trackside clichés while functioning as both intimate portrait and highlight reel of pivotal races from Earnhardt's career. As directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), the film succeeds as a blue-collar drama about a man driven by destiny--and ominous fate--who embodied the best (and sometimes the worst) of NASCAR culture, popularizing the sport like no driver before or since. All of the essential bases are covered, and the superb supporting cast includes Elizabeth Mitchell as Earnhardt's third wife, Teresa, J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson from the Spider-Man films) as Ralph Earnhardt, and newcomer Marshall McGee as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Titled after Earnhardt's black #3 Goodwrench Chevy, 3 is a conventional TV biopic, but it's essential viewing for those who loved--or even hated--the man who died too young, at age 49, on the final lap at Daytona in 2001.

Bonus features in this two-disc set are abundant and excellent, including an in-depth "making of" featurette, a definitive ESPN documentary on Earnhardt's life and career (featuring a virtual who's-who of NASCAR superstars), a generous archive of Earnhardt interviews, and extensive highlights from four historic races, including Earnhardt's controversial contact with Terry Labonte to win the 1999 Bush 500 at Bristol, and the Earnhardts' (Sr. and Jr.) 1st- and 2nd-place wins at IROC round 3 that same year. All in all, this is DVD heaven for NASCAR fans. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Good biopic from ESPN!!
As a huge fan of "The Intimidator", I was very skeptical about how a TV movie would portray the greatest race car driver that ever lived. After viewing "3", I must say that I was impressed by the work. Being that this was a TV movie (And I'm not a big fan of TV movies.), it didn't surprise me that the director would tread very thin on the biographical history and not ruffle feathers any further about his love life, his relationship with his fellow drivers or other tracks. The portayal of Earnhardt by Barry Pepper was great. He captured his style and essence. However, I would have loved to see more about some of his rituals at the track. Maybe this is the first of many films that will try to give fans like myself and others who don't know him a feel of what he was like. This film has my blessing.

Earnhardt Film Flawed, but Well-Made...
"3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" isn't going to win a lot of non-Nascar fans over to the sport, but as a biography, it is well-made, offers some believable insights on what made Earnhardt the often enigmatic person he was, and, in Barry Pepper, provides an eerily close approximation to the 'look' and 'feel' of the racing legend. Pepper will certainly receive an Emmy nomination for the role, and delivers such a powerful portrayal that you nearly forget how good the rest of the cast is.

While Elizabeth Mitchell is more glamorous than the real Teresa Earnhardt, she is quite solid and believable in the role; to truly appreciate how important Teresa's intelligence and business acumen were to Dale, it would have required a much longer movie, and might have seriously tilted the story away from Dale's other relationships, and the balance that Pepper and director Russell Mulcahy achieved.

Dale's early years come off best in the film, with a wonderful performance by J.K. Simmons as the inspirational Ralph Earnhardt. The grittiness and 'backwoods blue-collar' feel of Earnhardt's upbringing is well-conveyed, and reminiscent of "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "The River". The film loses a bit of steam when Dale begins racing, and as he achieves success, a lot of memorable moments had to be edited out, or telescoped down, which has disappointed some Earnhardt fans. Considering the time and budget constraints, however, I found the story to be remarkably accurate.

The young actors who portrayed Dale's children as adults should be singled out for recognition; race car driver/first-time actor Chad Mcumbee, while low-key, is pretty impressive as Dale Jr., conveying both a pride in his father, and frustration in being 'held back' so he could complete his education before being permitted to race; Corri English, while too cute, has an infectious smile and manner, and exhibits the Earnhardt joy of fast cars; best of all is newcomer Frank Glidden as oldest son Kerry, who, in a few brief scenes, offers a balanced, sensitive interpretation of the son Dale abandoned, finally winning his father's attention and respect, even as he sees Dale Jr. outshining him on the track. I look forward to seeing more of Glidden's work in future!

While there will certainly be a more detailed and polished feature film about Earnhardt in the future, this ESPN production is not without it's own merits, and provides an entertaining, dramatic overview of the racing legend's life.

*3* THE EARNHARD MOVIE !!!
I thought it was a great movie about Dale, have been a fan since the last year he won his 7th Championship. It touched a lot on what made Dale the man he really was, but the movie didn't show later racing footage until the last 1/2 hour to 3/4 of the show, a little disappointing. They could of made a 3-4 hour movie out of the life of Dale Earnhart, but none the less, it was a good movie. I will buy the movie to have but also am very interested in the 5 hours of interviews and racing footage.