Greatest Moments in Super Bowl History

Unlike most of the folks who've punched in their thoughts on this presentation, I thought it covered the big dance's best & worst moments quite well without gettin' TOO in-depth, and wasn't too short at all. Heck, with all the interviews with key participants, different camera angles of memorable plays, alternate radio broadcast tracks, pop-up player stats, action photos, and other moments they threw onto this as "interactive features" (more on this in the next paragraph), it took me over three hours to watch everything! So what's all this I hear about this platter not having enough material? I also liked NFL Films dropping the chronological format, and divvying up the various big dances by various chapters that focus on such things as the Masters of the Game (the Super Bowl's 2-plus-time MVPs Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, and Joe Montana), running backs (Larry Csonka, Emmitt Smith, Franco Harris, John Riggins, Timmy Smith (?!), et. al.), quarterbacks (Troy Aikman, Kurt Warner, Steve Young, etc.), defenses (Dallas' Doomsday defense, the Steelers' Steel Curtain, the 1985 Bears' 46 defense, and so forth), special teams, coaches, and other related positions and aspects of the sport.

Then there's the interactive features, which were the only real annoyance I encountered whilst watching this bad-boy. That, and they made Leon Lett's little gaffe in game XXVII a side feature, rather than a part of the main attraction. Also, there are some parts where the picture clarity wasn't all that great, but I blame that more on the source material than I do the video transfer. Stuff filmed in slo-mo tends to be quite a bit grainier than the regular speed variety. Anyhoo, each feature comes with an icon that pops up in the lower right corner of the screen as the show runs, prompting the viewer to access it with his DVD remote. I had trouble working them out at first, `cuz the buttons the liner notes told me to push on my DVD remote didn't activate the features they said they would. After a few rounds of random clicking, however, I eventually figured most of it out. But after taking a good look at the bonus bits, I came to the conclusion that NFL Films could've made things a lot easier if they'd just dropped most of this "interactive" nonsense, and just put the extras aside as bonus materials to be looked at after watching the feature presentation. But, this being one of NFL Films' earlier DVD release, they just HAD to get all experimental...

Then there's the inevitable thing with this and other shows like it: as the Roman numerals advance, this becomes more and more out of date, lacking the great moments from subsequent Super Bowls. Like Adam Vinatieri's game-winning kick in XXXVI. Or Raiders QB Rich Gannon throwin' three TD passes to the other team in XXXVII. Fortunately, NFL Films tends to get around this by producing a new & updated "Greatest Super Bowl Moments" show every four to five years, and subsequently broadcast on ESPN or TNT the week before the big dance. That, and they'll put together a new half-hour segment out of the best parts of the latest contest and play it on ESPN2 during Super Bowl week the following year. Speakin' of which, I'm glad to see NFL Films has finally started putting these Super Bowl highlight shows out on DVD in ten-game box sets. If you're an ardent NFL / Super Bowl nut, I highly recommend it! It sure hit the spot for me, and would make a great companion piece to this presentation on any football nut's DVD shelf. My overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

`Late


Disappointing    July 18, 2003
Neil R. Vitro (Atlanta, GA. U.S.A.)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful

I am quite possibly the biggest football fan on Earth (though I'm sure most of you will argue that point). My library of NFL films spans darn near all of them. I received this DVD as a present, watched it once and have never even had the urge to pick it up again. It's not very exciting, it's not compelling and it's basically little more than a droning documentary. It gets two stars just because it's football.


Too short    April 2, 2001
Parvez Ahmed (San Jose, CA United States)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful

Its a good DVD, but way too short considering the amount of space that can fit on a DVD. Should have had more material


Disappointing considering how much space the DVD gave them.    March 25, 2001
Peter (United States)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

My review in on par with most of the ones written below. If you're an avid NFL fan like me, DVDs like this will attract your eye, but wait for the documentary on HBO or another channel.

The documentary has a few extras included such as extended interviews, different audio segments of the same play, etc.. but there was so MUCH MORE that NFL Films could have included on a DVD capable of holding this much memory. I viewed the extras that are watchable with a computer DVD player... Nothing impressive, a collection of stats that you could get on any internet site...

Not worth it until the price drops... If you're an NFL fan, you'll enjoy what you watch, but it's over quick!