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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 3829
Released: July 11, 2000 |
| Our Price: $10.13 |
| Used Price: $8.22 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Josh Waitzkin is just a typical American boy interested in baseball when one day he challenges his father at chess and wins. Showing unusual precocity at the outdoor matches at Washington Square in New York City, he quickly makes friends with a hustler named Vinnie who teaches him speed chess. Josh's parents hire a renowned chess coach, Bruce, who teaches Josh the usefulness of measured planning. Along the way Josh becomes tired of Bruce's system and chess in general and purposely throws a match, leaving the prospects of winning a national championship in serious jeopardy.
Description of Searching for Bobby Fischer:
Steve Zaillian, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Schindler's List, made his directorial debut with this critically acclaimed but little-seen drama based on the nonfiction book by Fred Waitzkin, about a father (Joe Mantegna) who discovers that his seven-year-old son (Max Pomeranc) is a genius at playing chess. The boy plays chess for fun, but when he's tutored by a former champion (Ben Kingsley) and entered into high-pressure competitions, an enjoyable pastime becomes a source of tension and resentment, forcing the father to reconsider his parental priorities. A poignant study of the difference between parental idealism and proper parenting, the movie is also an observantly witty portrait of a precocious child who is still, after all, a child, and still eager for the joyful discoveries of youth. While offering a fascinating look into the world of competitive chess, the movie's dramatically engrossing and extremely well-acted by a brilliant cast that also includes David Paymer, William H. Macy, and Dan Hedaya in memorable supporting roles. --Jeff Shannon
Searching for Bobby Fischer Reviews:
chess is just a game: more than that and you lose something 
2009-10-22 - With chess computers that can beat anybody with a database of all the best games
ever played and very deep look ahead ability, humans and chess seem a side issue.
Autistic children are a plague of the modern generation:
a mathematician who was trained from a very early age in proving and problem solving
gave up a fields medal.
Teaching you children to be hawks or lions doesn't make them
good monkeys as this movie points out.
But still it rewards the hawk over the lamb...
The ethics of bringing up a child just for one game
or one narrow hope in life is probably wrong.
Some people find themselves unable to bear losing
or admitting they can make mistakes;
that stops their learning process in a rut.
I liked the movie: it was well acted and well writen.
I love this movie 
2009-10-04 - I bought it so I could include it in my movie collection. Watched it again and STILL love it!
Great Movie (5), Lousy DVD (1)
2009-08-27 - I'm very surprised that no one commented on what the studio has done to this picture in the DVD release: The "widescreen" aspect ratio is achieved by taking the pan-and-scan version of the movie and lopping off the top and bottom to make the 4:3 aspect ratio into 16:9 (1.85:1). This means you see even less of the frame than in the VHS version! Thankfully, this practice is being abandoned by the movie studios. Let's hope this terrific movie gets a proper re-release on DVD soon.
Great find!
2009-08-11 - If you haven't bought this movie yet you need to do so. This is a fabulous family movie that inspires. I was thrilled to be able to find it new for this price. Would deal with this seller again!
King regnant -- a beautiful movie that stands on its own
2009-07-27 - I don't know from chess and chess masters, so this supposed biography of chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin may be full of it. But as a solid and delightful film, it stands on its own. Young Josh happens on a group of lowdown characters in the park who play chess for drug money. Something sparks in his mind and he becomes obsessed with the game, and soon moves into the world of competitive chess. You don't have know a thing about chess to love this film. The story is less about the game than about a boy mastering his own fear of failure and his parents grappling with seeing their boy as who he is rather than as an extension of themselves. Sensitively played by Max Pomeranc (Josh), Joe Mantegna (his dad), Laurence Fishburne (chess player in the park) and Ben Kingsley (Josh's chess tutor). Great insight into competitive chess, paralleling Bobby Fisher's strange life.
