Jump to content

ESPN 30 for 30 - O.J.: Made in America


YoloinOhio

Recommended Posts

It was important to show that in the documentary, because the guy who didn't really care to associate himself with the civil rights movement when things were going his way, had to cling to its' benefits to get away with murder.

 

I think he's talking about in real time, not in the doc - because that's the way I feel, too. It's his decision..........It is ironic how it came back to him, anyway.

 

I don't really remember any of this longing for OJ to join the movement. I heard way more about Jordan's "shoes" comment than ever about OJ...........The only thing I remember was kind of after he was at his peak - probably in the late 80s/early 90s that Jim Brown hated him. I had always thought they were friends. But, the reason was because of this.

I think "Fantastic Lies" (the Duke Lacross piece) was pretty amazing as well.

 

The first one I thought of, as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 192
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I only casually watched the trail when it was happening in '95....too busy with other life activities to care. I'm totally ashamed to admit this now, but at the time the Bills fan in me was glad he got off. As I got older and saw the depth of what he more than likely did in destroying those lives and families I have hard time with how I felt back then. Long story short I think it may have taken a while but he finally got what he deserved. After watching the 30 for 30 I'm really wondering if somehow the Vegas bust which finally landed him in jail was orchestrated by the Goldmans. Did anyone find it really odd that the guy who arranged the meeting with the person that they all thought stole OJ's "property" recorded the whole thing despite his reasons?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not done yet, but from what I've seen, I agree with everything you said, Mark V. Is Kenny a member of this board?

No Kenny is not on the board. He pretty much avoids message boards and fan groups.

 

He's a great guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After watching the 30 for 30 I'm really wondering if somehow the Vegas bust which finally landed him in jail was orchestrated by the Goldmans. Did anyone find it really odd that the guy who arranged the meeting with the person that they all thought stole OJ's "property" recorded the whole thing despite his reasons?

 

lol nice conspiracy theory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

 

Because this documentary is not a biography of OJ Simpson. It's about why and how the event that took place on 6/13/94 became such a national phenomenon. It's amazing how some people don't get it.

 

Bingo.

 

I finally got a chance to watch it all. This was a terrific documentary, fascinating in so many aspects; the irony of "I'm not black" OJ becoming the poster child for black justice in LA, how his lawyers were able to leverage that to defeat a slam dunk case, and especially his personality -- his insatiable need for adoration and self aggrandizement which he fulfilled with this combination of universal appeal that attracted people at all levels of society and resulted in him being even more famous after football, and a dark side capable of the frequent abuse and horrific crimes he committed.

 

I came away thinking there really is a psychopathic aspect to his nature; his steadfastness in his innocence (shouting his innocence at Gill Garcetti on TV after his acquittal) combined with bouts of near confession (the 'suicide note', the book, etc) -- really eerie. And even after the trial and after most of society has shunned him entirely, he was still able to connect with people. He was still able to be OJ, albeit with a smaller and lower audience. I think the Esquire reporter summed it up perfectly when she said she never believed he was not guilty, but she came to understand how badly people wanted to believe that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bingo.

 

I finally got a chance to watch it all. This was a terrific documentary, fascinating in so many aspects; the irony of "I'm not black" OJ becoming the poster child for black justice in LA, how his lawyers were able to leverage that to defeat a slam dunk case, and especially his personality -- his insatiable need for adoration and self aggrandizement which he fulfilled with this combination of universal appeal that attracted people at all levels of society and resulted in him being even more famous after football, and a dark side capable of the frequent abuse and horrific crimes he committed.

 

I came away thinking there really is a psychopathic aspect to his nature; his steadfastness in his innocence (shouting his innocence at Gill Garcetti on TV after his acquittal) combined with bouts of near confession (the 'suicide note', the book, etc) -- really eerie. And even after the trial and after most of society has shunned him entirely, he was still able to connect with people. He was still able to be OJ, albeit with a smaller and lower audience. I think the Esquire reporter summed it up perfectly when she said she never believed he was not guilty, but she came to understand how badly people wanted to believe that.

There were so many OJ documentaries around the same time that I forgot where I saw what but his agent came right out and said OJ told him he did it. There were many new things I learned. I didn't recall the part where the Goldman's got the rights to the book and released it but the word "If" was in very small font. I saw another documentary "How Robert Kardashian helped OJ go free". When OJ returned from Chicago, he had two bags, a carry-on and a garment bag. They showed that the garment bag was set down and Kardashian stood near it talking to OJ's publicist, with a female cop standing nearby. The cops grabbed OJ's carry on and they went inside then brought OJ back out to take him downtown. All this time Kardashian stood by the bag like it was his. When they drove off with OJ the others cops dispersed and Kardashian just picked up the bag and walked to a car with the publicist and they drove off. A news crew was looking at tapes and noticed all of this a few weeks later. They showed Kardashian walking into the court building with a different bag with OJs suit for trial and the media was asking where the bag was and he responded with "this is the only bag I have". Eventually someone brought in a garment bag that looked like the one that disappeared and the cops commented that it looked brand new. We'll never know what was in that garment bag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we do - the knife.

 

It doesn't matter, though - after watching this, I'm now even more convinced that there could have been a video of OJ doing the murders, and this jury still would have let him go.

 

Juror #9 - what a delight she was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we do - the knife.

 

It doesn't matter, though - after watching this, I'm now even more convinced that there could have been a video of OJ doing the murders, and this jury still would have let him go.

 

Juror #9 - what a delight she was.

Exactly. This trial was never about the specific crime. It was a referendum on "the system".
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes - but the point myself and some are making is that the lengthy exploration that was done in episode 2 could have been not so long (even half as long IMO) and still could made the point very clearly and effectively to provide the context later. Honestly after continuously being beaten in the head about the race issue for the first hour of that episode, and then proceeding to be beaten for another hour in the second (where is OJ?), I was questioning the agenda of the filmmakers. The point was made, but they just kept beating on it for 2 hours.

You are missing the point. The documentary is about race in America as much as it is about OJ. OJ is, in the view of the documentary, as much a product of the racial geography in the U.S., and its history, as he is a great athlete and individual spousal abuser. OJ is at the center, but the story radiates outward from him. All those other people and incidents are part of this bigger story. To complain that they spend too much time talking about racial politics is to totally miss the boat.

 

That's, in my opinion, why this documentary is so much greater than the usual jock biography.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we do - the knife.

 

It doesn't matter, though - after watching this, I'm now even more convinced that there could have been a video of OJ doing the murders, and this jury still would have let him go.

 

Juror #9 - what a delight she was.

That one juror said "It was time to go home."

 

I strongly believe the US should have professional jurors like they do in countries like Japan and France

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part 5 was by far the most interesting. Tons of stuff on OJ's playing days and on the whole trial. But the post trail OJ era doesn't get the same amount of press and isn't covered much. It is a very interesting to see how a man who everyone thought publicly was a murder carried on with his life after the trial and the civil conviction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That one juror said "It was time to go home."

 

I strongly believe the US should have professional jurors like they do in countries like Japan and France

 

I agree about the professional jurors............And, it was Juror 9 who said "it was time to go home." As well as saying she voted not guilty as payback for Rodney King. And, she had few other gems in there.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...