This is a review of the joint NFL Films/HBO Sports documentary, “Lombardi” and it continues the line of excellent sports documentaries by HBO. Using extensive NFL Films footage as well as procuring some footage from his days at Fordham University as a player, we get the definitive TV look at the man who became a coaching legend. The story of Vince Lombardi is well documented especially in the quintessential biography, “When Pride Still Mattered” by author David Maraniss. Using that book as a base, the documentary explores what made Lombardi tick and how he used disappointment, prejudice and a strong desire to become a winning coach at Green Bay and Washington.
The documentary uses interviews with his son, Vince, Jr. and daughter Susan, brother Harold as well as many ex-players who at first hated Lombardi, but grew to love him both as a coach and as a man.
A common theme of Lombardi was not only his constant desire to win, but his desire to teach his players to become the men he wanted them to be and the men he knew they could be.
One great story is when Lombardi was a high school football coach at St. Cecelia in New Jersey, he took on coaching the basketball team. And while never having played coached basketball, he found a book on coaching the sport, used it as his bible, and won the state championship.
We also go back to his playing days at Fordham where he helped to form “The Seven Blocks of Granite” on the football team’s defensive unit and was part of a championship team.
In addition, we see how Lombardi knew that he had a higher calling and while he did want to be a priest growing up, he eventually knew that being a head football coach is what he wanted to be. Part of the desire to be a head coach was when he was an assistant coach at West Point and as he was hoping to become the head man at Wake Forest, he heard that he wouldn’t be hired because his name ended in a vowel, meaning he wouldn’t be hired because he was Italian. It was stories that like these that drove Lombardi and influenced him later in life.
As usual, the storytelling by HBO/NFL Films is done so well that you don’t realize the documentary is 90 minutes long. In fact, some stories were glossed over too quickly. But there was a good amount of time spent on the legendary 1967 Ice Bowl which the Green Bay Packers won, of course.
From the interviews, we pick up that Lombardi could be a complex man, but also shared a love for his players, a love that his players gave back. It’s the winning that caused the NFL to name the Super Bowl trophy after Lombardi, but it also represents a lot more as well.
Some of the better insights came from Lombardi’s children, Vince, Jr. and Susan, as well as Packers offensive lineman Jerry Kramer and the aforementioned Maraniss. One of the funnier stories comes from John Madden who talks about going to a Lombardi coaching clinic.
After the documentary, I feel we get a better sense of Lombardi especially after hearing some of his thoughts in his own voice that are sprinkled throughout the film.
This is done by NFL Films and HBO Sports and narrated so expertly by actor Liev Schreiber. It’s a formula that works well and shines throughout. The overall grade for “Lombardi” is an A plus. And it is one of the better produced documentaries that has been aired by HBO Sports.
