Gator

Starring:Tommy Anderson, James Best, Stephanie Burchfield, Mike Douglas, William Engesser, Don Ferguson, Lori Futch, Alice Ghostley, Burton Gilliam, Alex Hawkins, Lauren Hutton, Patrick Moody, John Nicholson (III), Jerry Reed, Dudley Remus, John P. Rousakis, John Steadman, Dub Taylor, Jack Weston
Director: James Best
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD
Average customer rating:
- LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
- Urban Cowboy Movie on DVD must have
- Great movie
- WORTH A MILLION STARS!!!
- A terrific li'l album that evokes a fun period and flick
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Urban Cowboy
Starring: Brooke Alderson , Sheryl Briedel , Barry Corbin , Steve Chambers , and Charlie Daniels
Director: James Bridges
Manufacturer: Paramount
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- Urban Cowboy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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- 8 Seconds
ASIN: B00005JKVA
Release Date: 2002-10-08 |
Amazon.com essential video
John Travolta traded in disco duds for a cowboy hat in this corny love story about a working man who breaks up with his girlfriend (Debra Winger), then plays out their relationship's turmoil inside a huge honky-tonk called Gilley's. The story essentially parallels Travolta's prior hit film, Saturday Night Fever, in its blend of ordinary life, incomplete relationships, and personal pride channeled into niche stardom at a neighborhood club. But for all its regional flavor, Urban Cowboy never enjoys the immediacy and urgency of Fever, and after awhile you can't help but feel bemused by the macho silliness of ongoing "mechanical bull" competitions (basically a faux rodeo device only brave men can master at great chiropractic risk). The Travolta-Winger relationship is pure soap, as well. But this film really is a kind of time-capsule piece on a lot of levels--notably Travolta's career and late '70s Western kitsch--and while it's silly, it's certainly not disagreeable. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES.......2007-04-11
I am someone who would rather watch "Urban Cowboy" than "Saturday Night Fever". Maybe because it doesn't feel as dated as SNF?..I don't know. It is a more entertaining film to me. I know this movie has taken a lot of flack, but it is one of those films you can watch once in a while. The DVD transfer is good, but a very weak release in the way of extras.
Urban Cowboy Movie on DVD must have.......2007-03-10
at last I found my Urban Cowboy movie... love the movie
Great movie.......2007-01-08
I like the music in this novie, the acting is wonderful! This have been five stars but I'd like to see the place they made the movie, It's gone now.
WORTH A MILLION STARS!!!.......2006-12-17
OMG I love John Travolta! This is hands down 1 of my favorite movies ever! This movie is a little inappropriate, but comon now, its John Travolta. Another great purchase is the soundtrack. I know that sountracks suck but this 1 is awesome! (and John is on the cover :)
A terrific li'l album that evokes a fun period and flick.......2006-08-26
For those of us who came of age when "Urban Cowboy" introduced John Travolta to the world in his third iconic dance-man starring role (after Saturday Night Fever and Grease) in a productive three-year period, this soundtrack is an essential. We're all familiar with the big hits that populated this disc and dominated Top 40 radio in the early '80s, but I'd buy it solely for the haunting duet by Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther, "Hearts Against the Wind," that closes the show.
Average customer rating:
- Another Burt Reynolds Classic
- very fast shipping, no complaints
- Gator. Come and Get Him.
- ***1/2 stars. not that bad.
- CAREFUL, DON'T LET THAT GATOR BITE YA ON YOUR GONADS(HA ha ha ha)
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Gator
Starring: Tommy Anderson , James Best , Stephanie Burchfield , Mike Douglas , and William Engesser
Director: James Best
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000092Q5H
Release Date: 2003-07-15 |
Description
Burt Reynolds returns as Gator McKlusky, the moonshine-running king of the Bayou, in this high-octane sequel to White Lightning. Filled with super-charged adventure and double-barreled actionand co-starring Lauren Hutton as a sexy TV reporterGator is a fast-and-furious ride you won't want to miss! The Feds want Gator. Not for moonshining, but to go undercover to expose Bama McCall (Jerry Reed), Gator's boyhood pal who is now a local crime boss. Gator is reluctant atfirst, but once he discovers Bama is involved in extortion, prostitution and murder, the suspense builds to an explosive climax, as old friends become deadly enemies.
Customer Reviews:
Another Burt Reynolds Classic.......2007-02-26
Burt Reynolds returns as Gator McKlusky in the motion picture Gator which was released in 1976. Starring in this picture along with Reynolds was Jack Weston as Irving Greenfield, Lauren Hutton as Aggie Maybank and Jerry reed as Bama McCall. Gator is released from prison after serving 26 months for making homemade whiskey. Enters Irving Greenfield who's with the justice department from the Big Apple, New York City. Greenfield hunts down McKlusky in the swamps to offer him a deal. Either Gator goes undercover to bring down his boyhood pal bring Bama McCall or his daughter gets moved around from foster to foster home, and his dad does time for making moonshine. Bama McCall runs Dunston County with his hand in everything from extortion, prostitution to murder. Enters Aggie Maybank who's a local reporter trying to a documentary on crime in Dunston County that McCall pulls the plug on. However, things start to change when Gator starts to realize just how ruthless McCall is. Therefore, when Gator tells McCall he wants out, Bama decides that him and Gator are going to sit and talk about. However, what Gator gets is a strong mix drink and finds himself in his car sitting outside the Dunston County line. Therefore, along with Greenfield, and Aggie Maybank, Gator sets out to destroy McCall. This was your typical Burt Reynolds picture with lots of suspense and action. I give this picture 10 weasel stars just for its action alone. You can get this movie along with many other Burt Reynolds Classics right here at Amazon,Com
very fast shipping, no complaints.......2007-01-04
I ordered this and it arrived very quickly. Not one problem with the seller at all.
Gator. Come and Get Him........2006-04-06
This is a very entertaining film that showcases Burt Reynolds in his 70's prime. Reynold's directing style was clearly influenced by his previous work with Robert Aldrich, and the film's tone reflects it. There are frequent shifts between character-driven comedy and hard violence.
Reynolds is surrounded by a strong supporting cast of likeable characters. Jerry Reed is particularly good as the main villain. Instead of simply being a cliche, he's an interesting character who genuinely doesn't want to harm his childhood friend, Gator McKlusky.
The story is essentially the same as it was in White Lightning: Gator goes undercover to help the Law, undergoes a moral dilemma, and ultimately decides to take matters into his own hands.
The film would have benefited from some tighter editing, and at ninety minutes, would have been a flawless B movie. Instead, it clocks in at nearly two hours, despite maintaining a breezy pace.
Most of the excess occurs at the beginning. In the film's big action sequence, a lengthy boat chase opens the film but ultimately goes nowhere. As a result, it takes nearly thirty minutes for the film to establish its setup and get things moving. The film's ending also seems as though it should be wrapping up a different film.
Despite these criticisms, "Gator" remains a lot of fun and one of the best examples of Reynolds' brand of 70's cool.
***1/2 stars. not that bad........2005-12-04
i think it's pretty incredible how much the ratings have changed throughout the years,hence the PG rating.this movie would be PG-13 today and you still wouldn't be able to have the rawness generated by this movie's and the era's film style.this is a reminder of why '70's cinema is so influential as opposed to todays overly polished style.i was suprised to see that Reynolds directed this film and he doesn't do that bad of a job.the stunts are incredible! i wonder if any of the stunt people died making this film because alot of the stunts are unreal. you sure don't see that nowadays. the always good jerry reed also stars and plays a great bad guy.a young lauren hutton stars and acts pretty good as well does reynolds.i guess why i give this only 3 1/2 stars is because it's not that great of a film.there were some things that suprised me besides the stunts and reynolds acting,which i won't mention here.but the love lines in the film and the ending are what especially made me decide upon my rating.these two elements could have been better,as well as the choice of song at the end.thought they should have used another Reed song instead.overall this is a better movie than i had expected and recommend seeing it at least once.Reynolds and Reed fans should like it just fine.
CAREFUL, DON'T LET THAT GATOR BITE YA ON YOUR GONADS(HA ha ha ha).......2005-10-20
JERRY REED IS THE MAN! ALL I CAN SAY IS SO-----------N!!!!!!!!!
Average customer rating:
- Excellent!
- Excellent Video for Gator Football Fans!
- Very well made
- Great DVD about the history of FL football!
- Outstanding -- and Zook-free!
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Gridiron Gators - The History of Florida Gator Football
Starring: Steve Spurrier
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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- The National Champions 2006 Year-In-Review DVD
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- 2007 BCS National Championship - Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Flordia Gators
- A Year for the Gators: Florida Gators: 2006 BCS National Champions
- Magnificent March: The Official 2006 NCAA Championship
Product Features:
- This DVD celebrates the winning tradition of the Florida Gators.
- The Gators celebrate their Centennial Anniversary in 2006 for the past 100 years.
- The DVD is packed with interviews from the most memorable players
- Tons of bonus features.
ASIN: B000FTCLQ2
Release Date: 2006-09-05 |
Product Description
This DVD celebrates the winning tradition of the Florida Gators over the past 100 years as they celebrate their Centennial Anniversary in 2006. The DVD is packed with interviews from the most memorable players and coaches in Gator history along with tons of bonus features.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2007-04-10
I purchased this video recently and have watched it 3 times now. This is a must for any Gator fan's collection. Great information, thorough history (though little mention of the 80's and Pell), and great video clips/interviews. I laughed, I cried. This video has it all.
Excellent Video for Gator Football Fans!.......2007-03-09
Great footage from all eras of Gator football history. Truly a video that every Gator fan should own. Provides excellent background against which to judge the current era of success. Go Gators!
Very well made.......2007-01-19
This video was very well made to tell a story, not just show highlights. If you are a college football fan, you will enjoy it.
Great DVD about the history of FL football!.......2007-01-10
I purchased this DVD for both my husband and brother. We all attended UF in the 90's so this DVD was perfect!! There is great history but the best part for us was reliving the "glory days" when Steve Spurrier was there. There is lots and lots of footage of those games. My husband has watched it several times and loves it!!
Outstanding -- and Zook-free!.......2006-12-11
The opening is enough to bring tears to the eyes of any real Gator. Outstanding history of Florida football, from the bad to the good to the very, very good. All the great players, all the great games, all the great seasons are here, all brought to life with an amazing collection of archival footage and photos, many of which this long-time Gator has never seen.
The only quibble is that the championship-winning 100th year of Florida football is not included since it took place after this DVD's release. Just buy the 2006 season DVD when it comes out to create a combo made in orange and blue heaven.
HIGHLY recommended for every boy (and girl) of ol' Florida.
Average customer rating:
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Basketball Man
Starring: Red Auerbach , Rick Barry , Michael Jordan , Oscar Robertson , and John Wooden
Director: Burt Kearns
Manufacturer: WPOE Productions
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ASIN: B000MQ4WOW
Release Date: 2007-05-08 |
Average customer rating:
- Bad, Bad Skater!
- stoked
- sad and rad.
- Sad- Unbelievable!
- Furnace of Affliction
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Stoked: Rise & Fall of Gator
Starring: Mark 'Gator' Rogowski , Tony Hawk , Jason Jessee , Steve Olson (VIII) , and John Brinton Hogan
Director: Helen Stickler
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ASIN: B0002K10NE
Release Date: 2004-10-19 |
Amazon.com
Stoked is a fascinating history of Southern California's skateboarding scene in the late 1980s, a profitable and exciting time for then-rising superstars such as Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Steve Caballero, but a far darker experience for the much-worshipped Mark "Gator" Rogowski. Helen Stickler's film begins with an entertaining overview of skateboarding's renaissance in the '80s, when Rogowski and other talented skaters in and around Los Angeles developed a massive following of boys, who in turn provided a market for flashy, Rogowski-endorsed designer boards and accouterments. For a time, the charismatic, handsome Gator became a wealthy sports celebrity in search of greater pop-star status. When the skating scene shifted from the half-pipe to the street, however, Rogowski's fortunes, sanity, and freedom tragically erode. Stickler's thorough research, smart pacing, and extensive interviews make this a compelling, cautionary tale; a jailhouse phone interview with the now-mid-30s Gator proves both enlightening and spooky. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Bad, Bad Skater!.......2007-02-18
Oh man, I hated this movie! I'd just watched "Dogtown And Z-Boys" (which I loved!) and was looking forward to seeing some eighties skate action after that great view of the seventies. Anyway, this movie is a total bummer. The skating is boring, the style is bad and it doesn't cover the eighties skateboard era well at all. If you don't already know the story, Gator was a sub-par skater who became a corporate sell-out and a has-been in short order. He was an arrogant jerk. He once punched one of his young fans after the kid asked for an autograph. As his career started to fall apart, he became a born again Christian. He then raped and killed his ex-girlfriend's best friend as a revenge ploy after she dumped him. He's currently serving life in prison. Perhaps some kind of redeeming documentary could have been made out of this sad and depressing story, but this film is not it.
stoked.......2005-08-16
Tragic story of someone who had it all, looks, money, fame, fans; and when he lost it all, he turned to destruction of not only himself, but an innocent.
Will love this movie if you grew up in the 1980's.
sad and rad........2005-05-23
this film is fascinating in content and well produced in style. having grown up in California in the 80s, i was pretty familiar with this skateboarding scene. i was not aware of the tragedy of Gator until much much later (after i had pretty much given up actual skateboarding). to see the story unfold in this thoughtful manner was amazing. highly recommended.
Sad- Unbelievable!.......2005-01-29
I saw this documentary not knowing anything about skateboarding or Mark "Gator" Rogowski, so I was surprised when I was affected so much by this story. I have never seen a "true crime" story where I actually feel sorry for the perpretator as well as the victim.
There were two sides to this documentary. First, there is the glamour, fame, hot guys, fun times, etc. of the rise of the skateboarding superstars of the 80's. This aspect is thoroughly entertaining and one cannot help but be impressed at the athletic talent of these young men, not to mention they are not bad to look at!
Then there is the incredible story of the meteoric rise of Gator Rogowski and all of the success and excess that he was exposed to at such a young age. This would be difficult for any kid, but he was particularly vulnerable because he had no father figure and not a strong parental/authoritative influence in his life. The only "elders" in his life with any influence seemed to be the executives who hired him to promote their products, and they just used him to make money off of him. They and all of his adoring fans gave him a God-like complex for a time, it seems. When you are that revered and that young and that misguided, there is only one way to go and that is down. Once the executives used him up for all they could, they discarded him. Once his fans decided that vert was out, they discarded him. His pitiful fiance, who everyone admitted used him for his fame and money, discarded him once the fame and money was gone. It seems like he was used by everyone and that all he wanted all along was acceptance and to be loved. Isn't that what we all want? His struggle to fulfill this basic human need was magnified in the limelight and he was being ridiculed. No one seemed to get that he was searching and desperate and that he was looking for a new identity outside of skating. He received no support from anyone, it seems. You can see how he slowly started to disconnect from people and reality, just by the interviews and snippets of him in film in the later years, where he started to act a little different. It is sad that he wasn't close enough to anyone or no one cared enough to try to help him during this slow, maddening spiral of manic depression and identity crisis.
On another note, I also feel that Jessica would not have died if it had not been for Brandi. She seemed so pathetic, self-involved, self-centered, unsupportive and unempathetic. He was so needy and vulnerable, I think that was the final crush for him, when she blatantly left him and flaunted her new "hot surfer guy" to him. That is just cruel to do to someone who is hurting. I think that rejection along with everything else was what made him break. These ragefull and painfull issues mixed with his bi-polar and manic depression led him down a path to the darkest places a soul can know. He turned himself in and has expressed nothing but deep remorse ever since. My point is not that it justifies what he did, but that it was not his true self. It was the extremeness of his situation. I think it is sad, because I honestly feel that if he got the help he needed and had people who genuinly cared for him and looked out for his best interest, this would have never happened. He could live a free life and Jessica wouldn't have had to be the victim of his outlet of hurt and rage.
I defanitely recommend this film- it really makes you think and stays with you for a long time.
Furnace of Affliction .......2004-12-09
Helen Stickler's Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) is an energetic, responsible, and riveting documentary about the tragic life of Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, the Eighties vertical skateboarding champion who violently raped and murdered an ex-lover's close friend after he was abandoned by the sports world and his long-stirring inner demons rose to the fore.
Stickler makes a brief but important mistake when, in the accompanying bonus feature, "Stoked: Uncovered," she questions "how one reconciles someone who has so much greatness in him and so much evil," since nothing in the film or accompanying material supports the hypothesis that Rogowski, who is today serving a life sentence in a California prison after pleading guilty to the crime 1992, was anything but a very talented and increasingly troubled young man who was suffering from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and a rapid series of emotionally devastating defeats at the time of the murder. Already brash, self-directed, and handsome at fourteen, Rogowski had literally grown up in the sport's private and public arenas, and known little else but being on object of adulation and fanfare.
While much of the Eighties footage presents Rogowski as a preening, arrogant, and narcissistic teenage rebel manque, he was clearly also highly intelligent, clever, well spoken, industrious, creative, and amazingly charismatic, in Max Weber's use of the term. While none of the factors in Rogowski's life prior to the crime excuse the murder of Jessica Bergsten, there's no evidence that Rogowski was inherently "evil" in any sense of the word, if the word is actually applicable at all. In fact, after his meteoric fall from popularity in the late Eighties, Stoked pragmatically documents how Rogowski became a zealous and sincere "Born Again" Christian who fervently preached the bible to young skateboarders both in person and in print, behavior that his friends and associates responded to only with cynical amusement and disdain.
While it could be argued that Rogowski had evidenced sociopathic tendencies in the years before the crime (an argument that could apply to a small percentage of the skateboarding subculture from the Seventies onward), it could equally be argued that Rogowski, who began skating professionally at fourteen, was a fatherless boy whose athletic popularity was both carefully and carelessly exploited by corporate sponsors, who quickly cast Rogowski aside when trends in skateboarding passed him by, leaving him tragically unable to evolve in his chosen field while only in his early twenties.
Rogowski and the other vertical skating stars were hardly the first people in the history of modern popular culture, from the vaudevillians, the stars of the silent film era, and the Doo Wop singers of the Fifties to momentarily beloved but subsequently typecast television performers, to find themselves confronted with a sudden reversal of popularity and thus of fortune; even a cursory viewing of Stoked reveals that Rogowski's life was already spiraling downward into chaos well before Bergsten's murder.
Though there is no doubt that Rogowski often made foolish personal and business decisions during the peak years of his fame, there were also repeated signs that he was greatly in need of several kinds of professional help, as well as the firm guidance of a dedicated, selfless, and financially disinterested mentor. Nothing underscores this more than an incident which took place in Germany in 1990, when Rogowski, apparently in a drunken stupor, leapt from the top of a "construction crane" and landed on a fence, severely lacerating himself; the next morning, awakening in a hospital bandaged, drugged, and sutured, he had no memory of his desperate action, which was suicidal, whether consciously so or otherwise. If this event precipitated an intervention by employers, friends, or family, Stickler does not include the related material in the film; sadly, the incident in Germany is absent from the timeline of pivotal events in Rogowski's life, suggesting that the episode is as little comprehended today as it was in 1990.
There were other warning signs: famous within the worldwide skateboarding arena as Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, he changed his name to 'Mark Anthony' while at the height of his popularity, and his fervent, potentially desperate, but enduring conversion to fundamentalist Christianity also suggests a crisis of identity--and conscience. Additionally, while touring Australia, he is widely believed to have publicly struck a persistent young fan in a fit of rage, an incident that caused significant damage to his already stricken reputation. Stoked suggests that Rogowski, as a errant taboo breaker, had been a willful source of mischievous entertainment for so many people for so long a period that a certain portion of his associates found his personal disintegration and has-been status a form of continued entertainment-in addition to a well deserved comeuppance.
The fact that Rogowski turned himself in to authorities of his own volition after the murder, which was simultaneously an act of displacement, a crime of passion, and a eruptive manifestation of a psychotic breakdown, also supports the theory of his fundamental decency. Though California law prevented Stickler from filming Rogowski, he appears in Stoked as a disembodied voice, hauntingly, hypnotically, and grimly discussing the events of his past in an eerily monochromatic tone. At no point does he lay the blame for the events of his life on anyone's shoulders but his own.
Like Dogtown And Z-Boys (2002), Stoked is a fascinating examination of a dynamic American subculture that has remained stubbornly misunderstood by the general public, a misunderstanding that the skateboarding community has both decried and perversely acerbated. Stickler treats her specific subject with intelligent objectivity, which insures that Stoked never becomes a for-or-against polemic. Rogowski's is an quintessentially American tragedy, and one that could easily have been lost to wider history without Stickler's exhaustive contribution. Like the boyish Icarus, the vertical skaters of the Eighties attempted to liberate themselves from the forces of gravity and propel their bodies into space; they succeeded, however temporarily, making Black Flag's 'Rise Above' a fitting anthem for their obsessive, poorly appreciated, and frequently heroic efforts.
Average customer rating:
- Bad, Bad Skater!
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Stoked - The Rise and Fall of Gator
Starring: Mark 'Gator' Rogowski , Tony Hawk , Jason Jessee , Steve Olson (VIII) , and John Brinton Hogan
Director: Helen Stickler
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B000127ZDM
Release Date: 2004-02-17 |
Amazon.com
Stoked is a fascinating history of Southern California's skateboarding scene in the late 1980s, a profitable and exciting time for then-rising superstars such as Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Steve Caballero, but a far darker experience for the much-worshipped Mark "Gator" Rogowski. Helen Stickler's film begins with an entertaining overview of skateboarding's renaissance in the '80s, when Rogowski and other talented skaters in and around Los Angeles developed a massive following of boys, who in turn provided a market for flashy, Rogowski-endorsed designer boards and accouterments. For a time, the charismatic, handsome Gator became a wealthy sports celebrity in search of greater pop-star status. When the skating scene shifted from the half-pipe to the street, however, Rogowski's fortunes, sanity, and freedom tragically erode. Stickler's thorough research, smart pacing, and extensive interviews make this a compelling, cautionary tale; a jailhouse phone interview with the now-mid-30s Gator proves both enlightening and spooky. --Tom Keogh
Description
DVD bonus footage:
- Five page interactive timeline
- Rare vintage interview outtakes, skate sessions and demo
- Extended scenes with arresting new material
- Private unseen home movies
- Criminal case documentation
- New short films by director Helen Stickler
- "Stoked: Uncovered" FUEL television special
- Theatrical trailer
- Weblinks
- Spanish subtitles
- Surround sound
Customer Reviews:
Bad, Bad Skater!.......2007-02-18
Oh man, I hated this movie! I'd just watched "Dogtown And Z-Boys" (which I loved!) and was looking forward to seeing some eighties skate action after that great view of the seventies. Anyway, this movie is a total bummer. The skating is boring, the style is bad and it doesn't cover the eighties skateboard era well at all. If you don't already know the story, Gator was a sub-par skater who became a corporate sell-out and a has-been in short order. He was an arrogant jerk. He once punched one of his young fans after the kid asked for an autograph. As his career started to fall apart, he became a born again Christian. He then raped and killed his ex-girlfriend's best friend as a revenge ploy after she dumped him. He's currently serving life in prison. Perhaps some kind of redeeming documentary could have been made out of this sad and depressing story, but this film is not it.
stoked.......2005-08-16
Tragic story of someone who had it all, looks, money, fame, fans; and when he lost it all, he turned to destruction of not only himself, but an innocent.
Will love this movie if you grew up in the 1980's.
sad and rad........2005-05-23
this film is fascinating in content and well produced in style. having grown up in California in the 80s, i was pretty familiar with this skateboarding scene. i was not aware of the tragedy of Gator until much much later (after i had pretty much given up actual skateboarding). to see the story unfold in this thoughtful manner was amazing. highly recommended.
Sad- Unbelievable!.......2005-01-29
I saw this documentary not knowing anything about skateboarding or Mark "Gator" Rogowski, so I was surprised when I was affected so much by this story. I have never seen a "true crime" story where I actually feel sorry for the perpretator as well as the victim.
There were two sides to this documentary. First, there is the glamour, fame, hot guys, fun times, etc. of the rise of the skateboarding superstars of the 80's. This aspect is thoroughly entertaining and one cannot help but be impressed at the athletic talent of these young men, not to mention they are not bad to look at!
Then there is the incredible story of the meteoric rise of Gator Rogowski and all of the success and excess that he was exposed to at such a young age. This would be difficult for any kid, but he was particularly vulnerable because he had no father figure and not a strong parental/authoritative influence in his life. The only "elders" in his life with any influence seemed to be the executives who hired him to promote their products, and they just used him to make money off of him. They and all of his adoring fans gave him a God-like complex for a time, it seems. When you are that revered and that young and that misguided, there is only one way to go and that is down. Once the executives used him up for all they could, they discarded him. Once his fans decided that vert was out, they discarded him. His pitiful fiance, who everyone admitted used him for his fame and money, discarded him once the fame and money was gone. It seems like he was used by everyone and that all he wanted all along was acceptance and to be loved. Isn't that what we all want? His struggle to fulfill this basic human need was magnified in the limelight and he was being ridiculed. No one seemed to get that he was searching and desperate and that he was looking for a new identity outside of skating. He received no support from anyone, it seems. You can see how he slowly started to disconnect from people and reality, just by the interviews and snippets of him in film in the later years, where he started to act a little different. It is sad that he wasn't close enough to anyone or no one cared enough to try to help him during this slow, maddening spiral of manic depression and identity crisis.
On another note, I also feel that Jessica would not have died if it had not been for Brandi. She seemed so pathetic, self-involved, self-centered, unsupportive and unempathetic. He was so needy and vulnerable, I think that was the final crush for him, when she blatantly left him and flaunted her new "hot surfer guy" to him. That is just cruel to do to someone who is hurting. I think that rejection along with everything else was what made him break. These ragefull and painfull issues mixed with his bi-polar and manic depression led him down a path to the darkest places a soul can know. He turned himself in and has expressed nothing but deep remorse ever since. My point is not that it justifies what he did, but that it was not his true self. It was the extremeness of his situation. I think it is sad, because I honestly feel that if he got the help he needed and had people who genuinly cared for him and looked out for his best interest, this would have never happened. He could live a free life and Jessica wouldn't have had to be the victim of his outlet of hurt and rage.
I defanitely recommend this film- it really makes you think and stays with you for a long time.
Furnace of Affliction .......2004-12-09
Helen Stickler's Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) is an energetic, responsible, and riveting documentary about the tragic life of Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, the Eighties vertical skateboarding champion who violently raped and murdered an ex-lover's close friend after he was abandoned by the sports world and his long-stirring inner demons rose to the fore.
Stickler makes a brief but important mistake when, in the accompanying bonus feature, "Stoked: Uncovered," she questions "how one reconciles someone who has so much greatness in him and so much evil," since nothing in the film or accompanying material supports the hypothesis that Rogowski, who is today serving a life sentence in a California prison after pleading guilty to the crime 1992, was anything but a very talented and increasingly troubled young man who was suffering from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and a rapid series of emotionally devastating defeats at the time of the murder. Already brash, self-directed, and handsome at fourteen, Rogowski had literally grown up in the sport's private and public arenas, and known little else but being on object of adulation and fanfare.
While much of the Eighties footage presents Rogowski as a preening, arrogant, and narcissistic teenage rebel manque, he was clearly also highly intelligent, clever, well spoken, industrious, creative, and amazingly charismatic, in Max Weber's use of the term. While none of the factors in Rogowski's life prior to the crime excuse the murder of Jessica Bergsten, there's no evidence that Rogowski was inherently "evil" in any sense of the word, if the word is actually applicable at all. In fact, after his meteoric fall from popularity in the late Eighties, Stoked pragmatically documents how Rogowski became a zealous and sincere "Born Again" Christian who fervently preached the bible to young skateboarders both in person and in print, behavior that his friends and associates responded to only with cynical amusement and disdain.
While it could be argued that Rogowski had evidenced sociopathic tendencies in the years before the crime (an argument that could apply to a small percentage of the skateboarding subculture from the Seventies onward), it could equally be argued that Rogowski, who began skating professionally at fourteen, was a fatherless boy whose athletic popularity was both carefully and carelessly exploited by corporate sponsors, who quickly cast Rogowski aside when trends in skateboarding passed him by, leaving him tragically unable to evolve in his chosen field while only in his early twenties.
Rogowski and the other vertical skating stars were hardly the first people in the history of modern popular culture, from the vaudevillians, the stars of the silent film era, and the Doo Wop singers of the Fifties to momentarily beloved but subsequently typecast television performers, to find themselves confronted with a sudden reversal of popularity and thus of fortune; even a cursory viewing of Stoked reveals that Rogowski's life was already spiraling downward into chaos well before Bergsten's murder.
Though there is no doubt that Rogowski often made foolish personal and business decisions during the peak years of his fame, there were also repeated signs that he was greatly in need of several kinds of professional help, as well as the firm guidance of a dedicated, selfless, and financially disinterested mentor. Nothing underscores this more than an incident which took place in Germany in 1990, when Rogowski, apparently in a drunken stupor, leapt from the top of a "construction crane" and landed on a fence, severely lacerating himself; the next morning, awakening in a hospital bandaged, drugged, and sutured, he had no memory of his desperate action, which was suicidal, whether consciously so or otherwise. If this event precipitated an intervention by employers, friends, or family, Stickler does not include the related material in the film; sadly, the incident in Germany is absent from the timeline of pivotal events in Rogowski's life, suggesting that the episode is as little comprehended today as it was in 1990.
There were other warning signs: famous within the worldwide skateboarding arena as Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, he changed his name to 'Mark Anthony' while at the height of his popularity, and his fervent, potentially desperate, but enduring conversion to fundamentalist Christianity also suggests a crisis of identity--and conscience. Additionally, while touring Australia, he is widely believed to have publicly struck a persistent young fan in a fit of rage, an incident that caused significant damage to his already stricken reputation. Stoked suggests that Rogowski, as a errant taboo breaker, had been a willful source of mischievous entertainment for so many people for so long a period that a certain portion of his associates found his personal disintegration and has-been status a form of continued entertainment-in addition to a well deserved comeuppance.
The fact that Rogowski turned himself in to authorities of his own volition after the murder, which was simultaneously an act of displacement, a crime of passion, and a eruptive manifestation of a psychotic breakdown, also supports the theory of his fundamental decency. Though California law prevented Stickler from filming Rogowski, he appears in Stoked as a disembodied voice, hauntingly, hypnotically, and grimly discussing the events of his past in an eerily monochromatic tone. At no point does he lay the blame for the events of his life on anyone's shoulders but his own.
Like Dogtown And Z-Boys (2002), Stoked is a fascinating examination of a dynamic American subculture that has remained stubbornly misunderstood by the general public, a misunderstanding that the skateboarding community has both decried and perversely acerbated. Stickler treats her specific subject with intelligent objectivity, which insures that Stoked never becomes a for-or-against polemic. Rogowski's is an quintessentially American tragedy, and one that could easily have been lost to wider history without Stickler's exhaustive contribution. Like the boyish Icarus, the vertical skaters of the Eighties attempted to liberate themselves from the forces of gravity and propel their bodies into space; they succeeded, however temporarily, making Black Flag's 'Rise Above' a fitting anthem for their obsessive, poorly appreciated, and frequently heroic efforts.
Average customer rating:
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2005-06 Season Highlights: The Gator Boys Are Hot
Starring: Gator Boys Are Hot-Official 2005-06 Florida Gators
Manufacturer: Computer Group Inc.
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Product Features:
- Classic DVD
- Exclusive interviews, highlights, and behind the scenes coverage
- DVD's main menu allow you to jump directly to the action
- Presented in full-screen digital video
ASIN: B000FNKQBA
Release Date: 2007-02-27 |
Product Description
The Gator Boys Are Hot!!! The Official 2005-06 Florida Gators Basketball Season Highlights DVD This 2 hour DVD will include all the great regular season action highlights and the six NCAA Championship battle highlights culminating in the big win over UCLA for the Gators first NCAA Championship ever!
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Semi-Tough / Gator
Starring: Semi-Tough , and Gator
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
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ASIN: B000O77LYM
Release Date: 2007-05-08 |
Description
Disc 1: Semi-Tough WS Disc 2: Gator PS
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Baby Gator "Raising Tomorrow's Florida Fan Today!"
Starring: Baby Gator-University of Florida-Raising Tomorrows
Manufacturer: Team Baby Entertainment
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ASIN: B000HOJEII
Release Date: 2006-01-05 |
Product Description
Team Baby Entertainment produces a unique series of children's DVD's for the collegiate marketplace. Each video will allow parents, grandparents, alumni and friends to share their love, loyalty and passion for their university with their children. It is an informative, entertaining and educational way to introduce your child to the school and team you root for. Baby Gator uses officially licensed footage of Gator sports, mascot, marching band and campus attractions to expose children to the University of Florida in an exciting and playful manner. "Raising Tomorrow's Florida Fan Today" features the music of The Gator Band as well as original footage of the "Gator Kids" enjoying the sites and sounds of the school you love. We invite you to enjoy this video with your child as Team Baby Entertainment takes you on a fun-filled, colorful and stimulating visual experience with the University of Florida Gators.
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Gator Glory: The Official 2006 NCAA Championship
Starring: 2006 Mens Ncaa Championship Final Four
Manufacturer: Computer Group Inc
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Product Features:
- Recaps the entire 2006 NCAA® basketball tournament
- Features early round highlights that lead the winning team's to the Final Four
- Extensive coverage of the semifinal and champions game
- Exclusive interviews with the coaches and players
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ASIN: B000FEBWMQ
Release Date: 2006-05-23 |
Product Description
The Final Four 2006 Official Highlights DVD recaps the entire 2006 NCAA® basketball tournament with the most exciting and memorable plays of March Madness. This officially licensed DVD includes early round highlights that lead the winning team's to the Final Four®. Fans will also enjoy extensive coverage of the semifinal and championship game, as well as exclusive interviews with the coaches and players.
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