After seeing the trailer for Bobby Fischer Live, I managed to track it down and could not have been more disappointed. The film fails on so many levels that it is difficult to know where to begin. Let's start with the premise. A book publisher wants a new work on Bobby Fischer, so he chooses a chain smoking alcoholic writer who knows nothing about chess or Fischer. It is left to us to wonder why a publisher would make such a decision when there are many excellent writers that are knowledgeable about chess and do not have substance abuse problems. As we watch the writer doing his research, it becomes clear that there was no chess consultant used for this film. Chess pieces are often set up incorrectly on the boards. Chess terminology is misused such as the actor playing Boris Spassky referring to the 1972 match as a tournament. Dr.Zukhar, the hypnotist from the Karpov/Korchnoi 1978 World Championship match was somehow transported via time machine to Fischer/Spassky 1972!! Fictional people are invented. I don't recall anyone named Coach Gary assisting Fischer in the World Championship. Real people that influenced Bobby such as his teacher Jack Collins are missing in action. Two games from the 1972 match are shown. The critical Game 3 when Bobby had his first win over Spassky and the final Game 21. In both of these recreations, Fischer is shown playing the wrong color pieces. According this this film, Fischer forfeited Game 2 because he overslept! No mention is made of the film maker Chester Fox and the conflict that kept Game 2 from being played. The budget was apparently so low for the film that the World Championship match in Iceland had an audience of only 12 people. The casting is terrible. Fischer is presented first as a chubby little boy and then looks like a 45 year old overweight man who should be a thin 27 year old. There is a scene with Fischer playing with a gun as a child which is probably a complete fabrication. We are led to believe in this film that all of Fischer's problems stem from his mother's separation from his father and her refusal to provide information to Bobby about who his father is. None of the events that shaped Fischer's career such as his match with Reshevsky and his ongoing struggles with match and tournament organizers is mentioned. None of Fischer's achievements such as his elevating playing conditions, raising the amount of prize funds, the Fischer clock, Fischer Random Chess or his chess writings are mentioned. Fischer's later life in the Philippines and Japan are not in the film. My impression is that the director is very much like the writer in his movie, he has heard of Fischer but has no familiarity with the chess world. There is a way that experienced players behave at the board, touch the pieces and the clock and there is no sense of this here. The movie Searching for Bobby Fischer captured this very well. The film will be a disappointment to chess fans, and misleading to the general public. Someday I hope that we see a truly comprehensive film about this complex man and the world that he dominated.
Review of Bobby Fischer Live
