SMASHING
MACHINE - Debuts of
SpikeTV
1-15-2005
Denver/Broomfield/Boulder,
CO
GET READY FOR "THE SMASHING MACHINE" BEGINNING FRI., JAN. 14, ON SPIKE TV
by Eddie Goldman
If you have yet to see the documentary film "The Smashing Machine" about mixed martial arts fighter and wrestler Mark Kerr, you will soon have another chance beginning this Friday, Jan. 14, and for free.
As we have been reporting, this film, which originally appeared at the 2002 TriBeCa Film Festival and later on HBO's "America Undercover," will now be featured on the "Untold" series on Spike TV. The first showing will be in a two-hour slot on Friday, Jan. 14, beginning at 9 PM. As always, check your local listings.
The original film ran about 92 minutes. This version has had some minor editing to make it fit into the two-hour time slot which includes commercial breaks. But we have been told by a spokeswoman for Spike TV that the dialog from the original version has been left intact, and that only a few minutes of scenes were edited out for time purposes, such as some outdoor shots.
Here is the schedule for the showings of "The Smashing Machine" on Spike TV in the U.S. (all times Eastern):
Untold, "The Smashing Machine", Spike TV, Friday, January 14, 2005, 9 PM
Untold, "The Smashing Machine", Spike TV, Sunday, January 16, 2005, 9 AM
Untold, "The Smashing Machine", Spike TV, Monday, January 17, 2005, 12 AM
For more information, go to: http://www.spiketv.com/ .
[Note: I had a part in this film as a narrator. -- Eddie Goldman]
(Director
John Hyams)
Editor's
note:
In 1999, Stars fighter Larry Parker and manager
W. Hendricks traveled to
Tokyo, Japan, for the Pride 7 Fighting Championships. Also on the show was then top-ranked heavyweight fighter Mark
Kerr. Accompanying Kerr was a Fuzzball Productions film crew who were making a documentary called “The Specimen”.
At the time, director John Hyams had focused on Kerr’s training, his fights and the then new sport of mixed martial arts fighting. Also to be in the film were Parker’s fight and portions of a 2-hour long interview with him and manager Will Hendricks. Following the show in Japan, arrangements were made for Kerr to be filmed training with Parker and Ron Waterman at the Stars Training Center in Colorado. Unfortunately that never happened. Upon his return to the states, Kerr’s
addiction to painkillers came to light and his career as a fighter declined.
Several years passed and the film emerged at the 2002 TriBeCa Film Festival
under the new title “Smashing Machine”. The overall theme had changed
from mixed martial arts fighting to Kerr's battle with his drug problems.
