The Armstrong Lie
Posted by Itheliving 11 years, 7 months ago to Movies
The Armstrong Lie / Rated R for language
The original title of this documentary was to be Lance Armstrong: The Road Back. It had to be changed. LA was an American Hero and one of the most famous and celebrated athletes on the planet. In the 90’s he survived testicular cancer which morphed into lung cancer and ultimately turned into a brain tumor. This involved surgery and lots of treatment. He made it. He became a competitive cyclist. And his results were spectacular.
The Tour de France started in 1903 and ran every year except for the periods of the World Wars. The length of the race has been from 2100 to 3000 miles. It involves long high speed runs and lots of incredible climbing in the Pyrenees and the Alps. From the very beginning cheating and drugs have been a stigma.
LA won the Tour from 1999 to 2005. An unprecedented 7 victories in a row. Other riders have won 5 but never 7. The great Italian Gino Bartali won in 1938 and 1948. This time span is still the record for a period between wins. GB may have won 10 times if not for WWII. He was that good. Did he use drugs? No way to tell.
LA decided to retire after his 2005 win. Then he decided to make a comeback in 2009. He finished 3rd. He came back in 2010 but had a lot of bad luck with crashes and did not finish high in the standings. While he had been accused of drug use because of the 7 previous wins he always denied it and testing turned out negative. Except in 1999 when he tested positive for a steroid. He came up with a Doctors prescription for an ointment and the test didn’t have any consequences. This is apparently where the lying began.
TAL is a superb documentary that chronicles a history of Lance and his Tour de France victories. Other than bad language mostly by LA himself it could be rated PG. When LA made the 2009 comeback the testing began again and this time the results didn’t turn out well. Then when others riders were exposed and caught they turned on LA. He continued his denial up to a point. Then it all blew up.
He admitted his drugging. His appearance on Oprah is well documented in this film. The Tour itself is seen in a lot of the footage and on BluRay is spectacular. As was Lance’s rise and fall. His victories are gone from the books. His Olympic Bronze medal is forfeit. His sponsors have deserted him and most are suing to get their millions back. His cancer charity “Livestrong” which was probably his best accomplishment kicked him out. One of Lance’s excuses is that everybody else was doing it. They all admit it. Shame, shame, shame. See it all on DVD, BluRay or download on the internet. It’s well worth your time.
The Tour returns 7/5 and runs to 7/27. Lets hope all the athletes race clean. I wouldn’t bet on it. But I will still watch every stage.
Rated 3.5 out of 4.0 reasons to pedal, pedal, pedal.
The original title of this documentary was to be Lance Armstrong: The Road Back. It had to be changed. LA was an American Hero and one of the most famous and celebrated athletes on the planet. In the 90’s he survived testicular cancer which morphed into lung cancer and ultimately turned into a brain tumor. This involved surgery and lots of treatment. He made it. He became a competitive cyclist. And his results were spectacular.
The Tour de France started in 1903 and ran every year except for the periods of the World Wars. The length of the race has been from 2100 to 3000 miles. It involves long high speed runs and lots of incredible climbing in the Pyrenees and the Alps. From the very beginning cheating and drugs have been a stigma.
LA won the Tour from 1999 to 2005. An unprecedented 7 victories in a row. Other riders have won 5 but never 7. The great Italian Gino Bartali won in 1938 and 1948. This time span is still the record for a period between wins. GB may have won 10 times if not for WWII. He was that good. Did he use drugs? No way to tell.
LA decided to retire after his 2005 win. Then he decided to make a comeback in 2009. He finished 3rd. He came back in 2010 but had a lot of bad luck with crashes and did not finish high in the standings. While he had been accused of drug use because of the 7 previous wins he always denied it and testing turned out negative. Except in 1999 when he tested positive for a steroid. He came up with a Doctors prescription for an ointment and the test didn’t have any consequences. This is apparently where the lying began.
TAL is a superb documentary that chronicles a history of Lance and his Tour de France victories. Other than bad language mostly by LA himself it could be rated PG. When LA made the 2009 comeback the testing began again and this time the results didn’t turn out well. Then when others riders were exposed and caught they turned on LA. He continued his denial up to a point. Then it all blew up.
He admitted his drugging. His appearance on Oprah is well documented in this film. The Tour itself is seen in a lot of the footage and on BluRay is spectacular. As was Lance’s rise and fall. His victories are gone from the books. His Olympic Bronze medal is forfeit. His sponsors have deserted him and most are suing to get their millions back. His cancer charity “Livestrong” which was probably his best accomplishment kicked him out. One of Lance’s excuses is that everybody else was doing it. They all admit it. Shame, shame, shame. See it all on DVD, BluRay or download on the internet. It’s well worth your time.
The Tour returns 7/5 and runs to 7/27. Lets hope all the athletes race clean. I wouldn’t bet on it. But I will still watch every stage.
Rated 3.5 out of 4.0 reasons to pedal, pedal, pedal.
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