Guest Booker with Gary Hart

Introduction:
In this week's wrestling DVD review, we take a look a disc that isn't on general release, in the Kayfabe Commentaries single-disc "Guest Booker with Gary Hart".

The Kayfabe Commentaries crew have garnered a fine reputation in their short time of wrestling features with the "Guest Booker", "YouShoot", and "My Side of the Story" collections.

The concept of the Guest Booker series is to travel back in time, so to speak, to ask a wrestling personality how they would book (read: script), a company's television show. In this case, Gary Hart is asked to book the Dallas, Texas territory (famous for being the home of the Von Erich wrestling family) in 1986, at a time when the company was on a distinct downslide.

Sadly, Gary Hart (real name Gary Williams) died of a heart attack just days after the filming of this DVD. He was 66 years old. Known as one of the best minds in all of wrestling, it was somewhat fitting that his final video document was to book the territory that he helped to make famous.

Video
Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen NTSC (Region 0), and is distinctly average, even in consideration of this as an interview disc, featuring no actual wrestling action.

The digital artefacts throughout are mildly annoying, and it is just as well that this is simply interview footage, because the transfer doesn't look like it could handle anything too fast-moving.

That, however, is to look at this DVD with a reviewer's hat on. For what it is, and for it's purpose, it's adequate, even on a larger screen.





Audio:
Audio is presented in PCM stereo, and is reasonable for a DVD of this genre.

The mere fact that a PCM track is used here is a little bemusing, considering that a Dolby Digital 2.0 track would have allowed much more room on this disc, to negate some of the video compression.

In any case, to the ears, the sound isn't quite at the standard expected, as Hart and host Sean Oliver don't appear to have been recorded from individual microphones, but rather from one boom mic, which thus leaves the sound a little airy.

At no point are any of the words from either unintelligible, however, and in that respect, the audio accomplishes its task.





Overall:
If you were to judge "Guest Booker with Gary Hart" by its cover, or by the fact that it comes on a DVD-R, you'd be missing the point. As much as we as DVD enthusiasts wish to talk about the technicalities of audio and video, it isn't about that either. This is an interview DVD, and it's all about the insight provided by Hart, the main participant.

For wrestling fans with an interest in the history of the sport, this DVD is a must-see. World Class Championship Wrestling - the scene in which this interview is set - is possibly the most intriguing territory wrestling has ever seen, and to hear Hart - who in real life booked the famous Freebirds vs. Von Erichs angle - talk about how he would have tried to save the company is quite the treat.

At the start of the feature, Hart talks about the history of the Dallas territory, before swiftly moving in to booking May to November 1986, building up to the main "Star Wars" show at the end of that month. At that point, he describes which wrestlers he would use, who he would use against whom, who would win, and why. All along, he talks of the nuances of drawing fans in to watch - "subtlety is a lost art" was a particularly poignant snippet of his wisdom.

Interspersed are a couple of extra segments - deleted scenes, if you will, inter-cut into the program as a kind of video breather - in which Hart gives his opinions on modern wrestling, and tells anecdotes from his own experience in wrestling's colourful history. His stories of the late "Spoiler" Don Jardine make for riveting listening, and may indeed be the highlight of this disc.

If there's a complaint to be made about the DVD content, it's that it has a niche market, and isn't going to be of interest to the average wrestling fan. But if you are familiar with some of the less famous wrestlers that made up the Dallas territory at the time - I'm thinking of The Great Kabuki, Abdullah The Butcher, Wahoo McDaniel, and even England's own Chris Adams - you are likely the type of fan who would also have an interest in listening to Hart share his knowledge of the business for what is a two-hour production.

Overall, "Guest Booker with Gary Hart" is an interesting DVD release, which while it has its flaws, will unquestionably appeal to those with an interest in this genre. On the other side of the coin, more casual fans of the business will likely fail to see the point of two hours worth of interview footage only.


NB. "Guest Booker with Gary Hart" is available by visiting www.kayfabecommentaries.com