Bobby Fischer against the world [videorecording] / HBO Documentary Films in association with LM Media presents ; a film by Liz Garbus ; produced and directed by Liz Garbus ; produced by Rory Kennedy, Stanley Buchthal, Matthew Justus ; made with the support of ZDF in collaboration with ARTE ; a BBC co-production ; a Moxie Firecracker production.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: NNVG259121 | Docurama FilmsPublication details: New York, NY : Docurama Films : Distributed in the U.S. by New Video, 2011.Description: 1 videodisc (ca. 93 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 inISBN: - 1422986349
- 9781422986349
- Editors, Karen Schmeer, Michael Levine ; cinematography, Robert Chappell ; original music, Philip Sheppard ; featuring the photographs of Harry Benson.
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult DVD
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Main Library | DVD | BIOGRAPHY Fischer, B. B663 | Available | 33111007383660 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Director Liz Garbus presents this intimate look at the life of volatile chess player Bobby Fischer, who stunned the world in 1958 by becoming the U.S. champion, and later shot to infamy for his increasingly erratic behavior. Frequently left alone as a child by his single, Jewish mother, Brooklyn native Fischer was proficient on the chess board by the age of six. A self-taught player, he continued mastering his game though his early teens, when he defeated such star players as Arthur Bisguier, Samuel Reshevsky, and William Lombardy to snag the top slot at the 1957-58 U.S. Championship. Later, in 1972, the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War were bumped from the headlines to make room for stories about Fischer winning the world title from defending champion Soviet Boris Spassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, though it was this game that appeared to mark a turning point in the American media darling's illustrious career. Retiring from the game and disappearing from the spotlight, Fischer was essentially all but forgotten until he reemerged in the early 1990s for the "Revenge Match of the 20th Century" against his old opponent Spassy. Unfortunately for Fischer, the game was in Yugoslavia, which at the time had been hit with strict U.S. sanctions. As a result, an arrest warrant was issued for Fischer, and he became a fugitive from the law for over a decade. On the rare occasion that he did make a public appearance, he appeared disheveled, and his comments were peppered with vicious attacks on both Jews and Americans. In January of 2008, Fischer succumbed to the effects of renal failure at a Reykjavik hospital. In this documentary vintage footage of Fischer, and conversations with the friends and family who knew him best combine to provide a compelling portrait of a tortured genius whose brilliant mind became his greatest foe. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Originally produced as a documentary in 2010.
Special features: Featurettes: The fight for Fischer's estate (6 min.); Chess history (2 min.); Text features: Filmmakers bio; About Docurama; Docurama trailers (9 min.).
Titles from menu: Setting the stakes -- The lone American -- Training in the Catskills -- Hiding away -- Regina Rischer -- To destroy a genius -- "And that's when chess exploded" -- A new world champion -- Bobby disappears -- Getting back in the box -- Icelandic citizenship -- End credits.
Titles from screen: Setting the pieces -- Opening moves -- Head game -- Running the clock -- Game 1: A poisoned pawn -- Game 2: To destroy a genius -- Game 3: Son of sorrow -- Game 6: Placid beauty -- Game 21: The all-nighter -- Self mate -- King chase -- End game.
Editors, Karen Schmeer, Michael Levine ; cinematography, Robert Chappell ; original music, Philip Sheppard ; featuring the photographs of Harry Benson.
Commentators, David Edmonds, Anthony Saidy, Susan Polgar, Henry Kissinger, David Shenk, Gudmundur Thorarinsson,Garry Kasparov, Russell Targ, Larry Evans, Shelby Lyman, Sam Sloan, Malcolm Gladwell, Fernand Gobet, Dick Cavett, Harry Sneider, Harry Benson, Paul Marshall, Fridrick Olafsson, Saemi Palsson, Clea Benson, Lothar Schmid, Nikolai Krogius, Asa Hoffman, Paul Marshall, Anatoly Karpov, Kari Stefansson.
In the '70s, Chess was a Cold War sport. Since the end of WWII, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had been locked in mortal combat for supremacy of just about everything, and Bobby Fischer was America's hope. Chess prodigies aren't that rare, but Bobby Fischer made chess sexy, an almost impossible task. He captured the world's imagination, and he proved that the U.S. could produce a champion in a game where the winners always seemed to be Russians. Chess would seem to make a terrible spectator sport, but somehow this man ratcheted all of it up to new heights. Chess fans will find it short on details on what made his game unique, but most will find this a great portrait of a man who was so brilliant that it made him intensely unhappy. He couldn't handle his own genius, and in the end, that was what destroyed him. He wasn't a man against the world, but rather a man against himself. That was the one opponent he could never best.
DVD; NTSC; Dolby Digital stereo.