It is no shock to anybody that knows me that I am a huge fan of pro-wrestling. Therefore, when I first heard that Bill Simmons and HBO would be releasing a documentary about the Eighth Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant, I was intrigued. As a fan of sports entertainment for over 24 years, Andre the Giant was a name that was first introduced a year after his death in 1994 and I was immediately amazed by his size and stature. As I grew older, I began to hear about the myths about the man that became nothing short of a legend. However, despite being respected by every wrestling company in existence throughout his life, until now there was no documentary chronicling the complicated life of Andre.
Andre the Giant looks at Andre’s early childhood and his mother’s surprise when Andre began to grow at an extraordinary rate. This was a result of acromegaly, also known as “Gigantism“, a hormone disorder, which leads to Andre spending his later years in considerable pain from spine and leg conditions consequently leading him to need assistance with walking. The concept of humanizing the Giant in the early stages of the documentary was a great strategy as it showed his mother’s struggle during Andre’s youth to figure out the issues he was dealing with because of this disease. This was supported through interviews with his brothers in which they look back at Andre’s youth.
Andre’s athletic prowess was also looked at as he was a rugby player turned wrestler. The reason for his becoming a wrestler was simple – money. He wanted to take his unique look and profit from it and boy did he ever. One of the biggest benefits to Andre the Giant’s early career was word of mouth. A time before the internet, when professional wrestling was in its territory days, there was not the over saturation that we see in today’s business. Andre was special and he was treated as such, as mentioned by Jerry “The King” Lawler. The importance of this should not be underestimated because the young wrestling fan today will never truly understand the necessity of quality over quantity in the wrestling business. Andre the Giant is able to capture that.
Andre’s ability to “teach wrestlers a lesson” if he did not like you was also examined throughout the first half of the documentary. A look at the realism that can occur in the ring when personal feelings or vendettas enter the squared circle, except in this situation that vendetta is being carried out by a 7’4 500-pound man. Before there was the legendary wrestler’s court, there was Andre’s court.
Andre’s love of beer was always something fans were always curious about. Myths surrounded the amount of alcohol consumption Andre would have in a day. Those stories are no longer myths as the documentary shares stories by Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Mean Gene which confirmed that Andre would consume between 24 to 106 beers a night, a stat that is nothing short of mesmerizing.
While Andre was perceived as a once in a lifetime talent, the surprising fact that he was consistently put down by people while on the road and labeled a “freak of nature” based on his size and his inability to use one seat on a plane, use a bathroom on a plane, or use a bed in a hotel room. His sadness was expressed to his road partner, WWF referee, Tim White. White stated how he wished he was Tim’s size on a consistent basis. The documentary did a great job in showing the difficulty living as a giant was, and Andre, despite his fame and fortune was not immune to constant depression because of it.
In a shift of tone that quite frankly hurt the pacing of the film, a look at Vince McMahon’s take over of the wrestling business was examined and while it incorporated the changing business that Andre returned to after his ankle surgery, it certainly felt unwarranted when the documentary should be focused solely around Andre, not Vince and the rise of Hulk Hogan. Quite frankly, I don’t give a shit about Hulk Hogan’s involvement in Rocky 3 and Hulkamania. While some may look at it as a necessity as we eventually look at the biggest moment of professional wrestling at the time, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III, when you have an 80 minute look at the myth of the giant, this was wasted time in the documentary that took away from the focus of the film – Andre.
When it does shift back to Andre, the cast of the Princess’s Bride comments on Andre’s gentle giant personality and declining health. A declining health, which leads him to tell Vince McMahon that he was done with not only wrestling but life. Eventually, love him or hate him, McMahon’s pitch to Andre regarding selling out the Pontiac Silverdome is the reason the WWE is still around today and other companies are fighting for second place. Wrestlemania III is nothing without Andre the Giant, and this documentary confirms that Hulkamania would not have had the longevity it had without the slam heard across the world.
The downfall of Andre began after Wrestlemania III as his inability to move grew harder and harder for him but he chose not to give up on wrestling and still tried to be a part of the action. Eventually, he was forced into retirement from a life that gave him motivation and allowed him to flourish in the ring and outside of it. Little did I know that towards the end of Andre’s life, his relationship with Vince McMahon took a turn for the worse as he blamed Vince for his decline and felt used by the man and as his life ended, the two never mended their relationship as Andre passed away in 1993 at the age of 46.
Andre the Giant is the documentary that wrestling fans needed, but never knew they wanted. A character study of a man who was not only bigger than life but a man that influenced the growth of one of the biggest industries in today’s society. As a fan of wrestling, any fan of the business should watch this documentary and at its conclusion should have two words to say – Thank You.
Reel Tak gives Andre the Giant 3.5 Reels
