Once in a Lifetime (2006)

Directed by: John Dower, Paul Crowder | 97 minutes | documentary, sports | Starring: Marv Albert, Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Johan Cruyff, Matt Dillon, Ahmet Ertegun, Mia Hamm, Steve Hunt, Mario Mariani, Rodney Marsh, Shep Messing, Pelé, Steve Ross, Werner Roth, Bobby Smith, Clive Toye, Dennis Tueart

Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos is the title of a documentary about the rise and fall of a star team. Steve Ross, owner of multinational Warner Communications, buys for a lot of money what later turns out to be nothing more or less than a football dream. Whether it concerns the purchase of star players such as Pelé, Beckenbauer or Chinaglia or the construction of a stadium, money is not an issue. The documentary, on the other hand, is quite sober. Low-profile interviews are interspersed with unspectacular sports clips.

Apparently not much footage of the New York Cosmos itself is available. For example, we see more of Pelé’s performance in the national colors of Brazil than in the club colors of the New York Cosmos. This is one of the missed opportunities because as a viewer you want to see images of that. As for the interviews, it is known that Pelé asked for an amount of $100,000.00 for giving an interview. This explains his absence, but only a select group of his other teammates has the floor. Again a loss because many stars played there at the end of their careers. For example, we miss Johan Neeskens, but we do see Johan Cruyff speaking. Although he did not play for the New York Cosmos, but for the Los Angeles Aztecs. The quality of the interviews becomes a questionable level as the documentary progresses.

Several people claim the credits for successes and blame each other for the debacles. Chinaglia in particular will have a hard time. Completely wry because from a sporting point of view he has ensured the greatest successes. Perhaps the makers had better been inspired by Steve Ross. After all, everything is for sale, including success. Perhaps the dollars requested from Pelé would have been a good investment. Now the documentary misses the mark on several fronts.