Watch Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius For Free

Best movie ever!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

So, why did this film flop...so badly. Simple. To enjoy this film you pretty much have to have a true interest in golf, and perhaps even more so, and interest in the history of golf. That brings things down to a pretty small audience.That being said, this is a very good film. I do have to admit that I preferred the depiction of Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen in "The Legend Of Bagger Vance", but the depictions here are probably more accurate. The film also suffers from being a bit too long...123 minutes...it could have been edited more tightly. And, I wish it had spent a little time telling about Jones' illness later in life.The performances here are, in my view, solid. Jim Caviezel was excellent as Bobby Jones, although I did prefer the depiction by Joel Gretsch in "Bagger Vance". Claire Forlani is good as Jone's wife. Jeremy Northam was good as Walter Hagen, although again, I preferred the depiction by Bruce McGill in "Bagger Vance". I never cared for Malcolm McDowell in his younger years, but as he has matured I've come to appreciate his performances, and he's enjoyable here. I almost didn't recognize Aidan Quinn as a British golfer...watch for him...it's a rather small part. Brett Rice was very good as Bobby's father, and Connie Ray good as his mother. Dan Albright was interesting as the grandfather. I also enjoyed Paul Freeman as the Scottish caddy.If you're a golfer, I recommend this film. If you're not a golfer, you may find it boring. But it is a nicely executed film.

Bobby Jones' life was amazing and this movie missed a great opportunity to tell all. This movie is very slow. The acting is good, but the direction is boring. There could've been more suspense when Jones went for the Grand Slam. The movie only covers Jones from age 6 to 28. It would've been cool if the movie showed how Jones revolutionized golf instruction and equipment production after his retirement at age 28, how Augusta National was formed, and how the Masters was started. Give me birth to death not 6 to 28. This movie should have been promoted better too. It grossed less than $3 million and costed $17. Sad. It should've been called "Bobby Jones: Grand Slam" so people wouldn't think the titled was ripped off. With Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Martin Scorsese directing it (much like the Aviator), this would have been awesome.

There is a difficult paradox that the seeing of this film provides for and that is that there is need for at least another showing or viewing and perhaps even more.Why more than once?I don't know absolutely however the film I felt in its attempt to place the life of this true gentlemen in Bobby Jones was not able to be the communicator Bobby Jones was and even more so the real man was in fact quite a hero both on the Links and otherwise.It is not such a simple task to allow for a value that superseeds a bottom line idealogical premise and as it is not so simple it is as well not that way at all anyway.The truth is that there is no justice in this film that is worth the life and times of Bobby Jones and though there is an attempt to sell this film as the life of Bobby Jones,it seems to me more like a passing motorcade in which an opportunity presented itself and indeed it is in the name of an opportunity that this film was entered into.There is a quality of the timeless and the everlasting that that degree of man represent and indeed the Grand Father was aghast at the playing of Golf on the sabbath.Part of the failure of this film was the films pretense to eclipsing time as it tried to tell the story of Robert Jones.It is much more of a task to know better than to be made fools of when all we as viewers do is say ooh and ahh.This film much to my surprise is something of a failure with an emphasis on the inability to know the world in which we live in and to know the very life and man in which this film entered into when it was decided to make a story called Bobby Jones-A Stroke of Pure Genius.There is a lack of imagination that from time to time render the film something of a Hollywood wannabe rather than the real thing.It is this lack of imagination that provides for the story telling ability and it is this lack of imagination that earmark this film as an opportunity that tried to time it right.It might be further argued that the money men who bank rolled this endeavour were looking to cash in on the time is right.This is that weak and it is as well not entirely without merit so compelling is the story of Bobby Jones that even a weak willed deal like this still is in fact interesting.Bobby Jones is that much the man that even a Hollywood hatchet job could not deny Bobby Jones his place as one of Golfing greatest players though his life story is made thread bare in the movie.Bobby Jones deserves better though I may very well find myself watching this DVD another day with emphasis on another day it is not unlikable and perhaps however mediocre it may very well be worth watching again.

I can't believe the reviews above: Bobby Jones, neither the movie or the man, was inspiring or uplifting. The story is about a rich kid who becomes a great golfer. The the attempts to create dramatic tension, overcoming a bad temper, mild disapproval from a grandfather, dispute with his wife, are forced and unconvincing. The man had no great problems in life and the movie makers were unable to create any. Further, we learn nothing about him. He doesn't change. Everybody loves him. This is a relatively dull movie, saved only by some nice photography, the occasion bit of wit and Jeremy Northam's portrayal of Walterr Hagan.I also found the naive an eliteist attitude about being an "amateur" grating. The reason that Jones, and like-minded people like the Olympic committee for so many years, played up amateurism and locked down their nose at professionals had nothing to do with love of the game. It was snobbery. Only the wealthy could afford to be amateurs. Professional athletes came from lower classes and had to make money, as Walter Hagan explains.In fact, this would have been a far more interesting movie if it had explored Hagan's background and how he fought his way to the top ranks of golf. He certainly was a far more interesting character than Jones. And Jeremy Northam is a far more interesting actor than Jim Caviezel.