"As soon as you hear the title to this new one, you know exactly what it's about and why it's likely to be good, especially if you were a sports fan growing up in the 1970s. Even to good boys all the way across the country in New Hampshire, the authority-flouting baseball A's and football Raiders were magical. Not only did they win championships, they did it amid clubhouse brawls, feuds with an owner and a general embrace of the 1960s aesthetic. Filmmakers Rick Bernstein and Ross Greenburg tell the stories of these turbulent, talented teams and show how they perfectly fit their city. Oakland was blue collar and home to hardcore hard-core 1960s rebellion, exemplified by the Black Panthers. Oakland, especially, was not San Francisco, the effete, world-class city across the bay."
Direction
Frank Deford captures the era with zero nostalgia goggles.
Production
Archival footage that screams cigarette smoke and polyester.
Director
Frank Deford
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The doc explicitly frames these teams as Oakland's answer to San Francisco's 'effete' reputation—a class warfare subplot hiding in a sports film.
John Madden appears before he became the video game icon, still just a grumpy genius with a telestrator.
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