Apr 25
So I finally got around to watching King of Kong, which I would now argue might be the best movie I have seen in at least a year, and the one thing that remains in my mind is what a jerk Billy Mitchell is.
On the one hand, he is a savvy competitor, but on the other hand, he is just like jerky jocks or other super egos out there, and it made me want to yank hard on his mullet. Real hard.
Anyway, that movie is awesome. Can’t recommend it more.
the movie is very good, and Billy Mitchell sucks
The movie is very good, yes, but it was also heavily, heavily edited in Steve Wiebe’s favour. Billy Mitchell has an ego, I’ll agree with that. However, you’re only getting one side of the story here. I honestly wouldn’t take King of Kong as gospel, no matter how entertaining. Many, many things were left on the cutting room floor.
The movie manipulates you, like any documentary, into setting up a hero and a villain. At the end of the day, every documentary filmmaker has an agenda.
There were plenty who sprang to Billy’s defense after the movie aired, but after reading and watching interviews with him, I’m more convinced than ever that he is actually a jerk, and the filmmakers didn’t have to try very hard to make him come off that way.
My favorite movie of the last year, period.
Without spoiling anything; the last 5 minutes gave me goosebumps.
Sure, it’s manipulated, but sometimes the truth looks so much better manipulated
yea, Billy was edited to log like a horrible jerk, but as they say “where there’s smoke…”
Indie,
I agree with you, but I still hated Billy Mitchell the character. That’s what made the movie so good. I think anyone would enjoy this movie, gamer or non-gamer.
@IndieJones –
There’s only so much that editing can do. Mitchell and those on his side were clearly not always playing straight up. I think it was good that the Twin Galaxies dude, after seeing Steve perform in person, no longer doubted that his machine was legit, even with the supposed goofy board from the other dude. And he redeemed himself at the end of the film for doing so. But you can’t edit Mitchell’s obvious voracious competitive nature into the film.
my boyfriend showed me it (he’s an arcade nut) and it is the best film, and yes billy mitchel is epic fail.
you should read the stuff about him, especially his interviews, he is actually a jerk.
Btw the referee guy is the main winner of the film, simply ‘cus he is awesome xD
sheesh! it is about time you finally saw this movie scott! i went with my girlfriend, worried that at the end of the movie she’d tell me i needed to stop playing video games, but instead she couldn’t stop talking about how much she hated billy mitchell! we immediately checked out the scores on twin galaxies to find in horror that billy retook the title shortly after the movie finished production. no matter though. in the eyes of everyone who saw the movie, it was steve who actually won, it was steve with the way better wife and it was steve who is the true american.
perhaps one downside to the movie is how obvious the filmmakers were on steve’s side. if they just let billy speak for himself with no movie manipulation, he probably would have come off looking even worse.
Observe my wife! I bought her an excellent pair of fake breasts with the money from my gaming! Oops, I forgot… gaming doesn’t bring in any money. Please purchase a bottle of this sauce. Sauce pays for my gaming habit. I am great.
- Unedited Billy Mitchell footage
I’ve seen the flick, and it’s a darn good one at that. Anyone who hasn’t seen it must. Especially the gamers.
Straight from the King of Kong wikipedia page under the Disputed Facts:
Walter Day of Twin Galaxies believes that the documentary is dishonest in its portrayal of the actual events. In posts on a Twin Galaxies forum entitled “The King of Kong — Official Statement”[18] he contends, among other things, that:
* In 2000 Tim Sczerby reached a high score of 879,200 points. Steve Wiebe beat both this score and Billy Mitchell’s 1982 score. (In response, the film’s producers claim that “Tim Sczerby’s consistently disputed record was impossible to verify and did not merit inclusion in the film.”[19])
* Billy Mitchell was not always avoiding Steve Wiebe. They met and played together on several occasions before the time period of the film, notably the 2004 Classic Gaming Expo, and they were on very friendly terms — even giving interviews together. In one scene in the film, it is implied that Mitchell drove away from his restaurant when he learned Wiebe was there, but Day contends that in fact Mitchell came in with his whole family and greeted everyone apologetically, including Wiebe.
* Steve Wiebe actually held the high score record for almost 3 years, and when his videotaped score of 1,006,000 points was rejected, the record actually reverted back to Steve’s own previous record — it did not revert to Billy Mitchell’s 1982 score as implied by the film.
Day feels that the information presented above “shows that Twin Galaxies did recognize Steve Wiebe’s great skills and honor him,” and “reveals that Twin Galaxies did not elbow Steve’s accomplishment aside so as to protect Billy Mitchell’s 874,200 point score.”
I see a lot of folks calling him a jerk. The dude is just insanely competitive. Did you all miss the part where he helped the little old lady get to the tournament?
Nope…loved that part. I thought that was really sweet.
Billy was classic. I knew going it the controversy surrounding it, so I was able to take some of it with a grain of salt. Now Billy’s buddy, he was a bit much. The saddest thing is because of the way the film portrayed him, apparently Bill Mitchell won’t do interviews any more.
Billy came off as a total d-bag.
Quit playing Donkey Kong and wipe my butt. That was too funny!
I too loved it when he was reaching the high score his kid complaining about dumping in his pants. Yeah, im glad Billy’s record is broken.
The thing I love about it is that Steve comes across as a genuinely sincere, stand-up guy. Sure, every documentary has an agenda, sure they edited for the best good vs evil story they could find. It ended up with a fabulous film where the good guy came out on top. Even IF it was heavily edited, I still believe that meeting Steve for lunch would be awesome, while meeting Billy for lunch would suck rancid hot wings.
I was really surprised by the film. I was expecting something kind of silly and poorly done and instead got a pretty good look into the modern arcade gaming world. And it was really enjoyable. Makes you wonder what the documenters had against Billy Mitchell to give him that bad of a spin though.
Not only did people get upset at the editing that was purposely made to create controversy by inventing the villain for the film, but I could have sworn Billy went back and beat the high score yet again…?
The movie doesn’t point out that twin galaxies all but worship billy. It makes no sense. The guy is a louse.
I really enjoyed it, and, frankly, the protagonist could be Scott and any number of the big comic egos as billy mitchell… king of webcomics… coming in 2009!
Oh to quantify, they not only gave billy the win later, but then they all but erased the other guy from their books. He beats the game in front of them, and billy on tape, tape that looks like *I* edited it. Go figure.
Well here is the straight from the horses mouths scores:
HyperLink 1 100.00 % 1,050,200 Billy L Mitchell 06/26/2007 1 1 1050200 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 40527 28206
HyperLink 2 99.90 % 1,049,100 Steve J Wiebe 03/23/2007 1 1 1049100 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Video 36272 29305
HyperLink 3 83.72 % 879,200 Timothy F Sczerby 04/23/2001 1 1 879200 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Video 32541 12958
HyperLink 4 76.34 % 801,700 Stephen K Boyer 11/04/2007 1 1 801700 0.00000 21 0 0 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Video 93859 13036
HyperLink 5 73.10 % 767,700 Tim Jackson 02/01/1983 1 1 767700 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 49409 37539
HyperLink 6 56.29 % 591,200 Jeffrey Brandt 10/25/1982 1 1 591200 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 49410 36547
HyperLink 7 54.12 % 568,400 Brian Kuh 05/11/2001 1 1 568400 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 33661 13762
HyperLink 8 53.45 % 561,300 Shawn Beard 07/24/1982 1 1 561300 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 49411 36477
HyperLink 9 45.56 % 478,500 Scott Talmage 07/10/1982 1 1 478500 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 49412 37369
HyperLink 10 39.24 % 412,100 Ben Woodson 11/17/2007 1 1 412100 0 ###,###,###,###,###,###,###,###,##0 1 Points 0 0 0 0 0 Referee 75185 41818
1 2 3 4 5 6
Here’s the straight from the horse’s mouth scores off of Twin Galaxies:
1 100.00 % 1,050,200 Billy L Mitchell 06/26/2007
2 99.90 % 1,049,100 Steve J Wiebe 03/23/2007
3 83.72 % 879,200 Timothy F Sczerby 04/23/2001
4 76.34 % 801,700 Stephen K Boyer 11/04/2007
5 73.10 % 767,700 Tim Jackson 02/01/1983
So I was wrong on my last post. But it does appear that Billy recaptured the title, as if anyone is surprised given how gushy Twin Galaxies is over him.
True, Billy Mitchell is a greatly competitive man. True, Steve Wiebe was manipulated, and wronged. Thats what makes this movie truly wonderful. Its a great story about a sub-set of people.
Thats really what documentaries are about. People, places, and things that are important to the film maker. The best way to enjoy a documentary is to COMPLETELY buy in to the premise. Then, when the movie is over, you can debate its points.
That is not a mullet. Long hair in the back not the definition of a mullet. He has to have short hair on the sides and top as well. Now if you would have said “yank the hair on the back of his head” we wouldn’t need this discussion. Game Over. lol Enter additional quarters to increase health. Wizard needs food. Scott shot the food.
i found the whole thing very entertaining, and TG was so lobsidedly in favour of Mitchell it’s ridiculous
when wiebe sent in his million point video, two goons went to his house to prove he ahd a non-original board in his machine.. yet when mitches ships in a dodge crappy quality video of an acclaimed milion point game, the TG dude has no second thought and recognizes it as the world record..
And mitchell helping the woman get to the event was BS. the only reason for that was to get the video to the location. no ands, ors and butts about it..
the movie is very nice..
i love how mitchels is quoted that a true champion is in the arcade setting the record. yet he phones it in to usurp wiebe at the event..
Final note.. people should get with the now and at the least play a game released after 1999,
though i get that older games had much more prestige in a high-score, because they are difficult as sh**.
I coincidentally watched The King of Kong today (without looking at this here front page). I agree, it was a fantastic movie and I’ll tell all my friends to watch it. And yes, Billy Mitchell is a jerk. You can say what you will but the line of “there are some people I don’t want to hold myself up with too long” to his with really makes him an asshole, no matter what else was in the movie.
While I read that there where a discrepancies with the depiction of Billy’s and Steve’s relationship, there is no real excuse when you preach that only live records count but yourself are unwilling to even try.
At least to his credit, he regained the record in person.
But the mullet is still awful.
Oh I forgot. Since I watched the South Park episode “More Crap” before I watched TKoK, I found it even more hilarious as I though that the SP-episode was so overdone and no real record keeping organization could judge this lopsidedly. I guess I was wrong.
Um how can you just enter into someones garage and open there machine with out your ok………and that skinny little dude that started twin galaxy’s…is he in love with Billy Michell???
Doesn’t Billy Mitchell look like Sylar?
billy mitchel > antwoine sugar anybody agree? XD
Huh? This is about Donkey Kong and one guy’s fight to keep the only recognition he’ll ever get?
While I see why someone would want to expose the attitudes and unfairness that was encountered, I don’t see why someone would want to watch it.
Billy Mitchell is the only person that can give Billy Ray Cyrus mullet-envy.
@Scott, Ringo, chaosof99:
Again… not a mullet. here’s a mullet… http://home.columbus.rr.com/theehlens/images/mullet.jpg
I guess to your mullet standards, the BeeGees all had mullets. geesh!
I watched this movie a couple of months ago, on recommendation from Len at Jawbone Radio. Definitely worth it for a computer/gaming geek, all people in that range watch it. And while I’m sure some things were sort of hollywoodified – with all due respect for Billy and what he has done, he came across as a pompous ass, and things I’ve read since he still comes across as a pompous ass. Folks can claim the movie was skewed to make him the villain – I think from what I’ve read he did that to himself. He is so obsessed with being number one that he cannot fathom anyone else possibly being that – thus the conundrum
That being said by god I haven’t had watched something that drew me in and kept me interested like that in ages….get it or watch it from netflix – definitely worth your time
@ Zach: I don’t care. It’s an ugly hairdo, no matter what you call it.
@ Eric: You are probably not a fan of video games but you should still watch it. This movie doesn’t just show footage of how they play it, that is actually shown only very little, but more about why this matters and what people think about it and how the competition progressed. Doing this the movie is very informative and entertaining.
If you want to see billy mitchell again check out Chasing Ghost beyond the arcade. It’s all about arcades in the early 80′s and hot making it competitive killed it. Check it out if you can find it.
One thing I did notice in the movie was that with the exception of Mr Weibe and “Captain Awesome”, the rest of the video game people worshipped Billy Mitchell. There has to be something behind that. If he is as big an asshole as the movie portrays him, why do they love him so much?
I get the feeling that as long as they’re not trying to steal his thunder (ie: beat his record), he treats those people well.
@ chaosof99: Dunno if I could be considered a fan. I was one of them ’80s arcade kids. A lot of time spent there playing pretty much everything. My bests were with Star Wars, Tempest, some 3D racing and most pinball games. (My best score-based PC games today are racing, flight and space sims.)
The movie does Billy no justice, read the Gameinformer article about it, it’s in an older issue but you can probably find it on their website, they really make him look like a much bigger dick than he is.
But he still is a dick
Unless it’s one of them movies where the guy you want to die actually dies (like Jurassic Park), then it’s a really hard sell to me.
A friend of mine set this up after watching the movie.
Get your tshirt here:
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/king+of+kong/-/pv_design_details/pg_1/id_25709547/opt_/fpt_/c_666/
lol Chris, the shirts are great
Billy really did come off poorly, the only time he didn’t was when he was with the old lady, though he used that, or tried to anyhow…too.