Hacker Cinema
Run Ricky Run
2010 · Film · documentary · 53 min
Directed by Sean Pamphilon, Royce Toni
Ricky Williams does not conform to America’s definition of the modern athlete. In 2004, with rumors of another positive marijuana test looming, the Miami Dolphins running back traded adulation and a mansion in South Florida for anonymity and a $7 a night tent in Australia. His decision created a media frenzy that dismantled his reputation and branded him as America's Pothead. But while most in the media thought Williams was ruining his life by leaving football, Ricky thought he was saving it. Through personal footage recorded with Williams during his time away from football and beyond, filmmaker Sean Pamphilon takes a fresh look at a player who had become a media punching bag and has since redeemed himself as a father and a teammate.
1 positivefrom 1 commenter
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
1 comment on Hacker News
Sports is cool because it's a documentary-style narrative about people trying to overcome their limitations and most of the time coming up short. To be honest, I enjoy the failures than the successes, the show of vanity and insecurity than the squeeky-clean polished professional athlete.
Some cool sports-related books and doc's I've watched over the years,
Seven Seconds or Less; about Phoenix Sun's "Run & Gun" season which reads more like a kladeiscope novel about the star players, role players, injured players and coaching staff. The Sun ultimately falls short of their goal of winning an NBA championship. The morale of the story is that it doesn't really matter if you win in the end, the point is to try something different (score in 7 seconds or less of your posession clock, play unselfishly and make the extra pass). And even a Canadian unatheletic, relatively undersized white guy can become the NBA Back-to-Back MVP, by owning up to who he is.
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/0743298136
The Finish Line; about Steve Nash (the former MVP)'s potential last season with the LA Lakers which reads more like 'Old Man & The Sea,' about a man's denial of his aging, struggle to defy against it and his slow acceptance and somehow finding dignity and putting on a last fantastic hooray against the elements.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-finish-line-episode-3-steve-nash-reacts-to-the-backlash/
Skip Bayless, Stephen A's conversation with TO; which watches more like the last act (on St.Helena) of Kubrick's "Napoleon" if it was made). It shows a broken down once high flying and flameboyant professional athlete coming to terms with his vanity and ego, after it's already too late. But that's the beauty too, of a man accepting who he was, how the situations turned against him and appreciating life because the circumstances forced him to grow, even if it meant no longer in the NFL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6UouXlWuvo
Other similiar doc's: Run Ricky Run (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617299/), Survive & Advance (http://vimeo.com/62966564), Hoops Dream (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/).
Hope you can find enjoyment and value in sport as much as I do.