It seemed like a long wait, but finally we got to see "3" last weekend, the purported life story of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. As a lot of things go, the anticipation was more exciting than the actual event.
The two-hour ESPN-produced program, starring Barry Pepper, who also was co-executive producer, started at 9 pm on a Saturday night. Like many of those two-hour made-for-TV biographies of popular idols, by 10:20 p.m. or so, I was looking at my watch, wondering when the eleven o'clock news would come on.
Things got a bit better by eleven, with its not-distasteful handling of the crash that took Earnhardt's life in the Daytona 500.
That particular episode included my favorite scene from the whole movie. It was the shot, apparently from real life; of an Earnhardt fan with a big number 3 shaved into the hair on his broad and flabby back. A classic.
Pepper, for his part, did his homework. Miki Tuner, writing for ESPN.com, reports that Pepper spent some time in Earnhardt's hometown of Kannapolis, NC, talking to the "local townsfolk." He also attended a weekend racing school.
Turner reports that Pepper, who was not a racing fan before this project, is now hooked on NASCAR and recently bought a 1965 GTO. Just what a '65 Goat has to do with NASCAR Miki doesn't explain.
Of course, just in time for Christmas, you can buy the program on DVD from ESPN, Making the actual cablecast a two-hour commercial. The DVD also includes five hours of "bonus scenes." That's ad-talk for scenes that were taken out of the show.
Some may be interesting, but for the most part they were removed because they didn't belong in the show.
A lot of the movie was predictable and formulaic … Dale, Sr's strained relationship with his father, Ralph, for example.
Ralph Earnhardt is played by that guy from HBO's "OZ" who now plays the police psychiatrist on "Law and Order" but looks more like a football referee.
The relationship between Ralph and Dale, Sr. is carried over to the way Sr. treated Jr., according to the movie. Grandpaw kicked Dale out of the house for not finishing high school. Dale, Sr., in turn, was adamant that Jr. stay in school.
Soon, Dale got married and his girlfriend got pregnant in some order. That marriage broke up in a couple of years because Dale neglected his family in his drive to be a professional racing driver. That marriage produced Kerry.
A second marriage ended for the same reason, after producing Kelly and Dale, Jr.
The movie portrays Dale Sr.'s third marriage, to Theresa, as the one that made him a household name even in non-NASCAR households. Theresa is credited with being the brains that led the sport to the highly commercialized culture it is today.
While Dale, Jr. was able to maintain a continual relationship with his famous father, it too was contentious. Especially, according to the movie, when it came to arguments about staying in school.
While "3" is typical of many TV bio-pics, it handles some sticky issues with some uniqueness.
The script allows some of Dale, Sr.'s warts to show, although it excuses most of them as the price of his drive to "win." It doesn't rely on a lot of stock racing footage and crashes to hold its audience, although there is some.
Overall, it does a nice job of telling about its main character. When it's over, you will know a little more about Dale Earnhardt than you knew before.
And you'll know how important it can be to stay in school.