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Two Giants of Sport Documentaries - RIP

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    Two Giants of Sport Documentaries - RIP

    Just learned that Warren Miller, the legendary skiing documentarian, has died at 92. I can't count how many of his films I've seen, but he made and released one a year since 1949, so I've missed quite a few.

    https://www.outsideonline.com/227745...en-miller-dies

    Which prompted me to google Bruce Brown, the (equally) legendary maker of motorcycling doc On Any Sunday and countless surfing docs, including The Endless Summer. I was surprised that his death in December at age 80 snuck by me.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituarie...neer-obituary/

    I credit my dad with my knowing who both of these guys are.

    #2
    As this thread's going gangbusters, I'll add that Dominic Frontiere - who composed the absolutely marvelous soundtrack for On Any Sunday - died about two weeks after its director, Bruce Brown. Which is a bit weird, timing-wise.

    Frontiere was a talented and prolific composer, but also did time for some poorly-conceived ticket scalping scam / tax evasion nonsense involving his ex-wife. What is it with people?

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      #3
      I heard that about Warren Miller. I had no idea he was that old or had been making films for that long.

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        #4
        I have never seen any of his films, but I had heard of Warren Miller. I remember that when I was a kid, there would be TV commercials for annual ski shows in LA, and they'd usually have "and screenings of Warren Miller's new film" as part of the ad.

        How did people watch these back in the day? Were they released theatrically, or were there just sort of special screenings like that? Did he get funding from ski companies to help make them?

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          #5
          They were mostly shown at ski shows, in ski towns, etc.

          The whole ecosystem was rather similar to that for surfing films (indeed, Miller did at least one surfing film early in his career).

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            #6
            Exactly. My dad took me to see a couple when I was a kid, and I later saw them in school auditoriums in Collingwood (major ski town 2 hrs north of Toronto). Never a wide theatrical release, though, that I can recall. And then home video arrived...

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