Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos (2006)

Directors:

Paul Crowder (co-director)
John Dower (co-director)

Writers:

John Dower (story)
Mark Monroe (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

7 July 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Tagline:

The untold story of the team that had America at its feet.

Plot:

The rise and fall of the N.Y. Cosmos. The soccer team that brought Pele to America; against the backdrop of N.Y. City in the 70's.

Plot Keywords:

Soccer Football | New York Cosmos | Independent Film

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ahmet Ertegun	...	Himself
Nesuhi Ertegün	...	Himself (archive footage)
Matt Dillon	...	Narrator (voice)
Clive Toye	...	Himself
Shep Messing	...	Himself
Giorgio Chinaglia	...	Himself
Peppe Pinton	...	Himself
Werner Roth	...	Himself
Jay Emmett	...	Himself
Phil Woosnam	...	Himself
Raphael de la Sierra	...	Himself
Carlos Alberto	...	Himself
Franz Beckenbauer	...	Himself
Pelé	...	Himself (archive footage)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marv Albert	...	Himself
Johan Cruyff	...	Himself
Rose Ganguzza	...	Herself
Mia Hamm	...	Herself
Steve Hunt	...	Himself
Mario Mariani	...	Himself
Rodney Marsh	...	Himself
Steve Ross	...	Himself
Bobby Smith	...	Himself
Dennis Tueart	...	Himself

Directed by
Paul Crowder		(co-director)
John Dower		(co-director)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John Dower		story
Mark Monroe		screenplay
Mark Monroe		story

Produced by
John Battsek	....	producer
Vicki Cherkas	....	executive producer
Michael Davies	....	executive producer
Julie Goldman	....	executive producer
Cedric Jeanson	....	executive producer
Krysanne Katsoolis	....	co-executive producer
Jessica Ludgrove	....	co-producer
Agi Orsi	....	co-producer
John Penotti	....	executive producer
Andrew Ruhemann	....	executive producer
Caroline Stevens	....	co-executive producer
Fisher Stevens	....	producer
Tim Williams	....	producer

Cinematography by
Richard Numeroff

Film Editing by
Paul Crowder

Sound Department
Joseph Adorisio II	....	audio layback
Stuart Deutsch	....	sound mixer
Stevie Haywood	....	sound recordist
Matt Israel	....	sound recordist
Benny Mouthon	....	sound re-recording mixer
Benny Mouthon	....	supervising sound editor
Jeff Rowe	....	sound effects editor

Visual Effects by
Brad Cruz	....	visual effects: title design

Camera and Electrical Department
Josef Nalevansky	....	additional photographer
Richard Rutkowski	....	cinematographer: New York

Editorial Department
Sean Cooney	....	post-production executive
Jared Goldman	....	post-production coordinator
Benjamin Murray	....	on-line editor
Scot Olive	....	colorist

Music Department
Paul Crowder	....	composer: additional music
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor
Terry Wilson	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Harrison Barth	....	production assistant
Kyle Heslop	....	production assistant
Jennifer Piston	....	production assistant
Cecy Rangel	....	production coordinator
Geoff Reiss	....	development executive
Geoff Reiss	....	project manager
Connor Schell	....	development executive
Connor Schell	....	project manager
Jennifer Strausz	....	researcher

Production Companies

• Passion Pictures
• Cactus Three
• ESPN Original Entertainment
• GreeneStreet Films

Distributors

• Bac Films (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• Benelux Film Distribution (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• ESPN (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• GreeneStreet Films International (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• Miramax Films (2006) (USA) (all media)
• Miramax Films (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Tornado Film (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Matter Music  music
• Postworks New York  digital intermediate
• Postworks New York  post-production sound services
• Postworks New York  sound re-recording
• Superb Records  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Once in a Lifetime (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and some nudity.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | USA:PG-13

Company:

Passion Pictures

Trivia:

Pelé declined to participate in the documentary when the producers balked at his $100,000 fee.

"American" Football

I saw this film at the Hot Docs Film Festival in May 2006. The North American Soccer League was struggling along through the 1970s until the New York Cosmos, owned by Warner Communications head Steve Ross, decided to bring superstar Pele to the Big Apple. Suddenly, attendance was up, and the Cosmos started winning. Continuing the formula by bringing some European stars over, the Cosmos won several league titles over the next few years. In the process, the once-moribund NASL expanded quickly to 24 teams. Unfortunately, the resulting dilution of talent, and the inability of smaller-market clubs to pay the huge salaries demanded by European or Latin American stars, meant that the league soon imploded.

The film tells the story with humour and verve, and it's hard not to be a little bit nostalgic for the days when 70,000 people would crowd into Giants stadium to watch "the other football." But ultimately, the Cosmos' strategy was short-sighted. Building an audience for soccer in North America was going to take time, and the free-spending style of Ross and the Cosmos attracted only fairweather fans, who would melt away as soon as the team stopped winning. Other franchises couldn't attract enough fans in the first place, and the league suffered as a result.

It was interesting that the director admitted afterwards that he is a huge fan of Chelsea Football Club in the English Premiership. Chelsea are following a similar strategy at the moment, with the seemingly endless billions of owner Roman Abramovich funding the construction of another superteam. So far, they've won back to back titles in England, but to the detriment of the league, according to many observers. Without a salary cap, the English Premier League drains talent away from the rest of the world, and Chelsea are the richest club of all. This concentration of talent makes the game less competitive in the long term, and while it may attract a few new fans, they're not the sort of fans who will stick around if and when the team starts losing.

Many of the American innovations brought to the game by the NASL have made it into the game in the rest of the world. For example, penalty shootouts to decide games tied after regulation time. This will always be unpopular with football purists, but for the casual fan, it certainly adds excitement to the game. Other gimmicks weren't so successful, thankfully. Who wants to see cheerleaders at a football match?

The only flaw in the film was the absence of any present-day interviews with Pele or Johan Cruyff (who played for the Los Angeles Aztecs and Washington Diplomats franchises), though I believe numerous attempts were made to obtain their participation. The director Paul Crowder promised lots of fun stuff in the DVD extras, including their attempts to get Pele on board.