"RISE" Movie - DVD Sales *Updated 11/2011*

[FigureSpins]

I don't know if all the theaters gave them out, but we received exit cards for a survey.  If you complete the survey (you'll need your ticket stubs), they'll add you to the Memorial Fund mailing list and send you a commemorative ticket, collectors' pin and a special RISE edition of SKATING magazine.

Go to www.rise1961.com to complete the survey.  I don't see a link on the site yet, but I'm sure it will be up tomorrow.


Oh, they mentioned during the pre- or post-show that there will be an auction link on the Rise site, to benefit the memorial fund.

[MimiG]

Great movie! I will definitely be getting the DVD, there's so much I want to see again, and all the extras!

My only real complaint is with the theatre I was at they had their own pre-show trivia overlapped with the slide show, so we couldn't really see it. And they only figured out how to get the sound working for the remote stuff about a minute before the movie started. So we missed pretty much all the pre-show stuff.

[MimiG]

Oh, and no exit survey at our theater... at least, I didn't get one.

[FigureSpins]

The exit cards were postcards with the website URL and what you get if you fill out the webform. 
There were no serial numbers; that's why you need your tickets.
The other side was the photo of the 1961 team in front of the airplane with a note about this being a Memorial Fund benefit.

The other club's coordinator at our theater labeled half the cards from her club and half the cards from my club.  That was really thoughtful of her to share.
She decided to give them out during the slideshow, so I dispatched my kids and a few friends to help.  We were all done before the movie started, which was good because it was DARK during the post-show when people were walking out.  It would have been hard to hand them the cards in the dark.

We had one baby in the theater who cried a few times, but everyone else was well-behaved, lol. 

One of the Manhattan theaters had technical issues so that group didn't get to watch the event at all.

[Isk8NYC]

I thought it was sad that there was no mention of Bradley Lord. 

They did leave a lot of people out, right?  I felt like it was just Broadmoor and Boston skaters that were highlighted.  I wish they had trimmed the Owen ladies' stories a little bit to make time for the other skaters.  It would have been nice to explain the shortage of coaches that resulted and how that void was filled from outside the US. 

[Isk8NYC]

Don't ask how I found this link to the survey:  LINK

You can redeem more than one ticket at a time. 
You fill out the survey and you can choose not to donate to the Memorial Fund.  If you don't donate, you forfeit the special edition of SKATING magazine.
The system then sends you an email redemption form to complete in order to receive your pin(s) and commemorative ticket stub(s).
It didn't ask for the ticket number, but I'm guessing that the form will require it, so save your stubs!

I'm still waiting for the email; maybe it's not turned on as yet and I just messed up their systems, lol.  I'm so impatient!

Thank you for completing the RISE Exit Survey. Your feedback is extremely important to us. You will receive an email shortly with instructions on how to redeem your RISE ticket stub(s) for a collectors pin and commemorative ticket. Please e-mail us at risesurvey@usfigureskating.org with any questions.

Update: Never received the email response, so I tried again using a different email address and it was received within a minute.  Maybe it wasn't up and running last night - try again today.

[drskater]

I thouroughly enjoyed every minute that dealt with the 1961 skaters and coaches. Ron Lundington and Frank Carroll must have even juicier tid bits to share.

Favorites:

"It must've been hard to have a Mom who says, 'Clean your room, and straighten your free leg.'"

The cigarette commerical--yes, let's smoke and skate, omg!

The authentic wistfulness of friends, and fellow skaters and of course the pain of the surviving families.

Not so hot (imho):

why were so many people left out of the narrative? I agree that the Owen clan is compelling, inherently dramatic material, but what I wanted a fuller picture

historic context--this sad event didn't just affect future champions and coaches--it fundamentally changed rink culture, skating customs, and clubs; it wasn't just a tragedy but a complete game-changer

Nope, sorry, the coffee table chat felt like an infomercial--the whole "discussion" felt forced, self-conscious and staged--for $15.00 I 'd rather see more archival footage (that felt rare and special) and watch the other stuff on a promotional DVD

just my two cents

[Isk8NYC]

I had forgotten about this: when they filmed the post-show skating scenes at Nationals, there's one routine with Evan and a bunch of local skaters.  At one point, the kids skate while holding flags.  I said to my seatmate "See the girl on the right in the middle? She wipes out right after this part." Sure enough, a second later, you can hear the clatter of her flagpole hitting the ice as she fell.  She was a trooper (Bravo to her) ... got right back up and kept going.  I had forgotten about it until I saw the routine again.  I had wondered why they didn't reskate that routine, but you can't see her on the screen.

At Nationals, they showed footage from a pairs team on the screens with Denney-Barrett skating along live for the second half.  That didn't make the showing, perhaps because of a stumble.


SportsIllustrated article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1182018/2/index.htm

One of the statements made was that Fassi was hired from Italy to replace Scholdan, who was from Austria.
Were there really that many coaches from other countries brought in to fill slots, as has been reported?

[jumpingbeansmom]

Loved it, and very valuable for my 10 year old skater who heard that even champions have doubts, rough spots, frustration and discord with coaches at times.   I think she liked it more than she expected, she had this look on her face that I cannot even describe, at even at the young age of 10, a tear rolled down her cheek over the footage of the crash with the skate in the rubble.

[jjane45]

I thouroughly enjoyed every minute that dealt with the 1961 skaters and coaches. Ron Lundington and Frank Carroll must have even juicier tid bits to share.

Favorites:

"It must've been hard to have a Mom who says, 'Clean your room, and straighten your free leg.'"

The cigarette commerical--yes, let's smoke and skate, omg!

The authentic wistfulness of friends, and fellow skaters and of course the pain of the surviving families.

Not so hot (imho):

why were so many people left out of the narrative? I agree that the Owen clan is compelling, inherently dramatic material, but what I wanted a fuller picture

historic context--this sad event didn't just affect future champions and coaches--it fundamentally changed rink culture, skating customs, and clubs; it wasn't just a tragedy but a complete game-changer

Nope, sorry, the coffee table chat felt like an infomercial--the whole "discussion" felt forced, self-conscious and staged--for $15.00 I 'd rather see more archival footage (that felt rare and special) and watch the other stuff on a promotional DVD

just my two cents

I also felt the coffee table talk was forced, staged, or even irrelevant at times. Liked the old footage and interviews but they were cut short IMO. More in-depth analysis of the aftermath would be appreciated, after all, the movie is made for the figure skating community, not general public.

I missed the pre-show so can't comment, but the post-show really did not keep my attention except for the on-ice performances.

[FigureSpins]

I expected more of the "after the crash" history, too.

"On Thin Ice," was a biography written about the Canadian Jelinek pairs team.  Otto Jelinek has said that they were supposed to be on that flight, but their coach made them wait for him, so they gave up their seats.  I think I read it in the mid-1980's and I was shocked to find out about the crash.  I had no idea, which is why I was so interested in this movie.

[Isk8NYC]

Found video of the 13 Olympic Champions who attended last night's Rise! Premiere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNnJaWqyCIc

Not the greatest, since it's cut off while the guy with the microphone's still talking.
Still, since they were mentioned but not seen, I thought someone else would appreciate this video.

[MimiG]

iirc, Don Jackson and his coach, Pierre Brunet, were supposed to be on the flight as well, but Don fell ill and they decided to wait a few more days before flying out.

As for people not covered in the movie, I'm very interested to see what's included in the extras on the DVD. Maybe there wasn't enough footage for them to do much more in the movie...? Or maybe their families didn't want to take part?

[FigureSpins]

I think that the filmmakers had a time limit, but I also would have liked to see more of the others.

Floskate on FSU has a post linking all of the 1961 US Nats medalists' videos:
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3080476&postcount=130

[Purple Sparkly]

I enjoyed the movie and I am very motivated to skate now!  I would have liked to see more of the old videos, but I see that they are posted on FSU, so I will look at them later.  The descriptions of Maribel's teaching style sound just like my coach!  She must have been a wonderful lady.  And $5 per lesson?!?!

I went with a friend from skating, who is 15, and her mom, who is in her mid-40s and also skates.  Her mom, who is new to skating and is really odd in many ways, said she was disappointed because she expected it to be more like a movie with actors... 

[FigureSpins]

That's curious.  Why we should expect that?  Maybe because they hired Dakota Fanning to read Maribel's poem?

$5 per lesson and her pupil charging almost as much...that had to hurt.   (Remember that in 1961, you could buy a new house for $17K and gas was 30¢/gallon.)

Here's the infamous copy of Sports Illustrated with Laurence Owen on the cover:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/7704/index.htm

My coach was a lot like Maribel - very demanding, headstrong and sometimes unwelcome at given rinks.  I can only imagine what she was like.

[MimiG]

I've actually heard from a few people who were expecting more of an acted out story... I don't know where they got that impression.

[AgnesNitt]

I thought the movie was okay, but I think giving Doug Ramsay so much coverage (he came in 4th at Nationals) while ignoring Bradley Lord (1st) and Gregory Kelly (2nd) was a poor editorial choice. I didn't stay for the skating, I had to catch an early morning plane.

As far as the $5 per lesson. I looked up the worth on an economic website and in today's dollars that's roughly $50 today.

[Isk8NYC]

I wonder how long a lesson was back then.

[icedancer]

I wonder how long a lesson was back then.

When Ron Luddington was quoting that lesson price that was for a half-hour - I remember how exorbatant that seemed - when I first started in 1960 the coaches charged $10/hr but most people had 15-minute lessons - the patch session would be 45 minutes long and the coach would give 3 lessons in the session- by the time I quit in 1968 (and Ron Luddington was at my rink that year actually) it was $12/hour.

It seemed outrageously expensive at the time.  I am sure that the higher-level skaters took half-hour lessons and I do remember that my dance lessons were a half-hour for some reason - but figures lessons and freestyle lessons were 15 minutes.

My skates (stock Oberhammers - considered a decent stock boot back then) cost about $60 and I remember the Coronation Ace blade was $35.  I was jealous of my dad who had custom Harlicks that cost about $150 and he had some special blades that were made by a local Detroit guy - they were called "Space blades" - his own invention I guess.

I loved that they did such a long piece about Doug Ramsey - maybe because they thought that he might become one of the great ones or that because Tim Brown withdrew because of illness that he would not have gone otherwise -- he was from my club and his coach was also killed in the crash - Bill Swallender -

[Schmeck]

I was sick in bed with a migraine, so I missed this very special event.  Thank you all for your opinions, tidbits, and explanations!  I've enjoyed reading them all!

[Pačiūžos]

Just registered here, inspired to do so by RISE, the demise of Synchro Boards and having recently discovered this wonderful community. I've lurked for less than a week -- I'm mightily impressed by all of you, moderators, administrators and contributors! I'm just a skater mom, a sherpa for a solo ice dancer, junior coach and former synchro skater, but I believe in this sport and want to be helpful.

Our local theatre did no promotion outside the RISE poster in the lobby area -- no listing on the street-side board of the showing, nothing in the ticketing area. Essentially, one had to have insider knowledge to show up and buy tickets, and indeed, the theatre in the multiplex was perhaps 15% full at 15$ per ticket Thursday evening. Attendees were mostly teenaged girls and some parents and coaches in club jackets from skating clubs around the area. Overall, a very well-behaved crowd (such as it was!) and tween-plus, on a school night.

As a professional broadcaster, I have to say that the live portion was pretty redundant, as some posters have already noted. Peter Carruthers seemed forced, and quite frankly made me uncomfortable, Matt Lauer was as good as any network anchor might have been - clearly USFSA had to choose which national morning show to stroke for a package and which to alienate in the choice. (This is not a negative comment; this is how it works. I work for a news station in the area owned by another network and when I suggested the story, was shot down because the competing NBC affiliate got the exclusive,however, it didn't cover it at all. So, no local coverage. Pity. Again, the risk you take when you grant an exclusive.)

The post-film insights from the filmmakers was interesting and I would have liked more of the behind the scenes info as opposed to expanding (or attempting to) on thoughts the storytellers had more than adequately expressed in the film. Though anything Scott Hamilton wants to share about anything is always interesting and suprising, IMHO.

A  collective, convulsive gasp cross the entire theatre when Vera Wang appeared. Many admissions among the young girls in the lobby afterward about tears over the footage of the charred skates in the wreckage.

[Isk8NYC]

Welcome to skatingforums!

[jjane45]

A collective, convulsive gasp cross the entire theatre when Vera Wang appeared. Many admissions among the young girls in the lobby afterward about tears over the footage of the charred skates in the wreckage.

Guilty on both accounts here. Thank you for sharing your great insights and welcome to Skating Forums!

[Isk8NYC]

Same thing here.