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Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos

80% Recommended by our customers.
Catalog: DVD
Media: DVD
released in theatres: 2006-07-07
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: NTSC
released in theatres: 2006-07-07

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Director:

Paul Crowder	see more Dvds by Paul Crowder
John Dower	see more Dvds by John Dower

Actors:

Clive Toye	see more Dvds with Clive Toye
Steve Hunt	see more Dvds with Steve Hunt
Marv Albert	see more Dvds with Marv Albert
Matt Dillon	see more Dvds with Matt Dillon
Ahmet Ertegun	see more Dvds with Ahmet Ertegun

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Professional Review:

The 2006 World Cup brought a plethora of soccer films (OK, three) to the cineplex. The most entertaining is this '70s-infused documentary of the New York Cosmos and the brief life of the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Cosmos rose to the pinnacle of success in the league, bringing in many famous players from around the globe including German Franz Beckenbauer, Italian Giorgio Chinaglia, and most notably, Brazilian Pele, the most famous athlete in the world. For a brief, shining moment, these players and the league made soccer hip and viable to a country who hardly embraced the sport beyond pre-teens kicking the funny ball around. The film delves in those who knew Warner Brothers honcho Steve Ross, who funded his passion and lingered in the spotlight. The fast and breezy doc has a great array of music to power through the talking heads, including players, commissioners, agents, coaches, and even Henry Kissinger. The high-scoring Chinaglia is painted as a villain type, who charmed Ross and--now on camera--some of us as he recounts the days. Other players, like Cosmos goalie Shep Messing, recall wonderful stories about being a hack one week to playing with the greatest ever the next. The yarn of brining Pele to America is nearly half the film; an incredible story of dreams, egos, and dollars. The fact he is not interviewed for this film is inconsequential. He's better received as a legend, and deservedly so. --Doug Thomas

User Reviews:

Written on April 29, 2007
Summary: Accurate portrayal of A Great Time !!!
I worked for Warner/Cosmos for two years in the late 70's early 80's partly in Pele's office. This movie was a very accurate portrayal of the "scene". I especially like the Warner Executive's description of Pele's entourage. Schisto was a really nice guy and Pele was always the one bringing in those new very cute Brazilian players to the team, Marino stands out in my mind. I'm so glad they captured the offices and especially the doors of the elevators with the pictures of the Players on them and the BRIGHT yellow phones! No shots of the parties at the Stadium Club though after the games. That was where you would always see the players and the guests. Eric Heiden stands out most in my mind. He had thighs bigger than my waste. If you like Soccer and you like 70's Rock N Roll...you'll LOVE this movie! Very very very funny!

Written on April 21, 2007
Summary: Remember when one star shone brightest in the Cosmos?
Growing up in New Jersey in the 1980's, I was vaguely aware that there was a soccer team called the Cosmos that played not far from where I lived. Unfortunately, I was barely walking and talking by the time Pelé had played his final game in Cosmos colors, and I missed out on the magic of their championship seasons in the North American Soccer League. "Once in a Lifetime" transported me back to the 1970's and helped me see what happened during the first heyday of American pro soccer.

Some of the first soccer footage you see in "Once in a Lifetime" is set to opera music - which is fitting for a documentary that unfolds like an opera. After a brief history of American soccer, the emperor arrives on the scene. Entertainment mogul Steve Ross' millions help to raise the NASL's profile from obscurity to unprecedented heights, but he seemingly only cares about victory for his own club rather than the viability of the league. The wooing of Pelé follows. He sweeps into New York like a god to sign a huge contract and sparks national interest in soccer by demonstrating his breathtaking skills on the soccer field.

Not long after, we meet the sympathetic villain of the piece, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia, without whom the Cosmos would not have enjoyed their success. His bigger-than-life personality, however, brings him into some conflict with Pelé. Then, after the final curtain call comes for the great Brazilian, Chinaglia begins to assert himself within the organization, and his close relationship to Ross appears to lead to his running the team from the locker room.

At the height of the Cosmos' glory days, free-flowing money, superstar players, hedonism, Hollywood glitz and NASL championships were the norm. The rapid declines of the Cosmos and the league, however, mirrored the Roman Empire: too much excess and too much expansion. Still, the film does a service by reminding viewers that future for soccer in the United States isn't bleak; it may never reach the level of football, basketball and baseball, but it appears to be here to stay.

"Once in a Lifetime" features excellent bits from interviews with key characters in the Cosmos story: from the team's first coach Gordon Bradley to some of the greatest superstars of the game who donned the Cosmos colors, like Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer. More than a few members of the front office management also weigh in on the rise and fall of the club and the league.

The documentary makes good use of photographs, Cosmos match highlights and other video clips. The music video-style presentation and an excellent mix of `70s soul/funk, disco and rock perfectly match the changing moods of the film. Actor Matt Dillon's excellent narration complements the various highs and lows of the Cosmos. These elements all combine to give viewers a feeling of how New Yorkers and the rest of the nation experienced Cosmos-mania during the height of the league's popularity.

The extra features on the DVD are superb. Three edited Cosmos games give you a taste of the old NASL as it was originally presented on ABC. The "Stories of Pelé" program from ESPN gives you a better insight of what the uniquely gifted player meant to those who played with him and against him over the years.

Written on March 9, 2007
Summary: These Guys Were Even Bigger Than You Remember
No one who played US youth soccer in the 70s doesn't have at least a vague memory of the New York Cosmos, and a clearer recollection of the team's franchise player, Pele. Most probably can't relate, however, the historical significance of that team, and can't appreciate (or believe) how huge American soccer was for one, shining moment, as the 70s traded in their sequins for the early 80s. Once In A Lifetime shines a bright and admiring spotlight on the team, and narrates the remarkable conflation of events that almost put American soccer on the world's stage.

The Cosmos were the brainchild of a Warner Brothers bigwig named Steve Ross, created as the soccer equivalent to New York's Mets (the "cosmopolitan" to their "metropolitan"). And while Ross and most of his co-financiers didn't know a lick about the world's greatest game, they at least recognized its potential success in the US if marketed correctly, and they knew enough to listen to fellow record execs and worldly soccer fans Nesui and Ahmet Ertegun (former president of Atlantic Records and "the world's greatest record man," R.I.P.). Thus began the fascinating rags-to-riches tale of the Cosmos, who went almost overnight from playing on fields spray painted green and strewn with broken glass, to starring on national television and selling out major football stadiums nation-wide, all facilitated by the signing of freshly retired Brazilian star Pele and prime-of-his career Italian star Giorgio Chinaglia. The quickness with which events transpired is best told by some of the Cosmos' lineups: for example, nowhere else and at no other time could soccer's greatest player (and highest paid athlete ever, at the time) have shared field time with Shep Messing, a hayseed who'd posed for Playgirl months earlier. The pre-international phase Cosmos were literally playing alongside their heroes, and probably had to quit their day jobs as the North American Soccer League (NASL) grew.

The pace of the documentary is great, with plenty of soccer clips, paparazzi-shot photos and news conferences, and funny interviews featuring a lot of suits trying vainly to reconcile events remembered differently. The Cosmos' ascent to celebrity, the NASL's rise and fall, and the players' egos and rivalries, each are tales unto themselves that don't need embellishing. Once In A Lifetime wisely takes a hands-off approach in that regard.

Matt Dillon was an interesting choice as narrator, but gives the film a gritty feel as the team's earlier hardscrabble days are recalled. The DVD extras in particular are outstanding (to the soccer fan, anyway): a couple of NASL championship games, and Pele's retirement match in which he played a half apiece with the Cosmos and his Brazilian team Santos. Incidentally, Pele decided not to be interviewed for the movie- this could have detracted more were there not so much great stuff already included; as it was, it somehow added to the man's mystery and legend, and fit just right.

Written on February 21, 2007
Summary: History of United States Soccer
This is a great documentary. Many people do not know how popular soccer was back in the 70s in America, and this tells the whole story. Must watch for US soccer fans and all soccer fans alike.

Written on February 15, 2007
Summary: Cosmo
An extremely interesting history of the NY Cosmos. I suggest any fan of soccer should see it.

Comparison map

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Our price	-	$14.99	$14.99	-	-	$8.49
List price	-	$19.99	$19.99	$9.98	-	$9.98
Lowest used price	-	$4.75	$4.98	$2.34	$10.74	$3.13
Lowest new price	-	$9.99	$10.44	$3.60	$19.71	$3.80
Collectible price	-	-	$19.99	$19.99	-	$10.00
Catalog	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD
Release date	-	2006-09-12	2006-09-12	1998-02-24	-	2007-09-18
Media	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD
released in theatres	2006-07-07	2005	2006-05-12	1981-07-30	-	2005
Running time in minutes	-	101	118	117	-	77
DVD aspect ratio	-	2.40:1	2.40:1	2.35:1	-	1.33:1
Audience Rating	PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)	PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)	PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)	PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)	-	NR (Not Rated)
Picture format	-	-	-	Anamorphic Widescreen, Pan & Scan	-	-
Format	NTSC	Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC	Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC	Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC	NTSC, Import, Widescreen, Dolby, Subtitled, Dubbed	Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Region code	-	1	1	1	1	1
DVD layers	-	-	-	1	-	-
DVD sides	-	-	-	2	-	-
Ean	-	0786936711837	0786936700275	9786304779668	7509656206796	0026359322228
Book Isbn	-	-	-	6304779666	-	-
Upc	-	786936711837	786936700275	012569070820	-	026359322228
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Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos