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The Best Movie You’ll See All Year
If I could only watch one genre of film for the rest of my life, the Documentary would be the winner by leaps and bounds. What makes for a better movie than real life? I’ll watch almost anything about real people doing real things. So when I heard that a documentary was being made about one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, Jake The Snake Roberts, I could hardly wait until it hit the big screen.
Turns out, the biggest match of Jake’s career is the fight to save his own life. The Resurrection of Jake the Snake follows the former WWF Superstar over a period of months as he battles his addiction to alcohol and drugs. In true wrestling fashion, Diamond Dallas Page enters the “ring” to lend his friend and mentor a hand in battling his demons. But they’re not alone. Dallas and Jake reconnect with another former WWF star, Scott Hall a.k.a Razor Ramon, who is also battling addictions of his own. With Dallas in their corner, Jake and Scott travel down the road to redemption getting all the bumps and bruises you’d expect when getting in a Royal Rumble with life.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that it may be the nostalgia talking when I say that this is the best movie you’ll see all year, but it was certainly, at least for me, the most memorable. Maybe it was because that era of wrestling reminds me so much of my childhood. A more simple time where my biggest decision may have been Capt’n Crunch or Lucky Charms.
One of the things I loved most about this movie is that you do not have to be a fan of wrestling to enjoy it. Just a compassionate human being that roots for the underdog. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to DDT a friend of yours that may be an addict and tell them to get their shit together.
At the risk of revealing a “spoiler,” you’ll be glad to know that Jake is alive and well. So well in fact that he, Dallas and Scott showed up for a Q&A at the theatre where I saw the movie. It was a surprise to me when the lights came on after the credits, to see a childhood icon standing there and for an instant I turned 10 years old again. If only this theater served Lucky Charms.
Jake, Dallas and Scott are currently touring with the movie, doing signings and Q&A. They will be in multiple places this week in the NYC area and may be coming to a town near you. You can check their page at http://www.jakethesnakemovie.com/ for more information.
Almost every year for the past 6 years and on the same day, I’ve posted the same pic of me in the hospital during my temporary and untimely demise in 2015. A few weeks after I was back to “normal”, I asked Eric “Why’d you take the pics?” And he said, “I knew you would want to write about it if you lived.” Eric was right. Eric was often right and Eric always had my best interest at heart. I am going to miss my friend.
You ever meet someone and become friends immediately?! Well this was not the case with Eric. Before he was my manager at Morgan Stanley, I would often see this 6’4″, giant white guy walk up to the only black woman at work, say something then walk away without any hint of human emotion. Naturally I thought he was a jerk until I asked her “Yo, is that dude bothering you?” She laughed and proceeded to tell me he was a great person, which I ultimately got to experience first hand. Little did I know this Italian from Staten Island was more Brooklyn than most Brooklynites.
Eric was not with the shits!! If there were ever someone who lived their life in direct, honest and no uncertain terms, that would be Eric. He would ask me questions at work like “Why are the other consultants making more money than you?” I knew the answer to that question and so did he. Eric then proceeded to increase my salary by 15K. After arguing with all our managers that “You need to hire Alfred!”, they eventually did 1 year prior to the 2015 incident. In the hospital, one of my friends asked me, “What if you didn’t have health insurance when this happened?” I would be in debt for the rest of my life is the obvious answer. I still am in debt for the rest of my life but at least, it is to those who made sure I had a more enjoyable life and for that, I will gladly repay.
My mom loved to tell me the story of how she met Eric. After they told her I was going to be in the ICU for some time, she told the doctor “Well I’m not going anywhere.” She then hears a voice from that back of the room that says “Well I’m not going anywhere either!” That was Eric and in true form, he was at that hospital every single day until I was discharged.
Eric passed away in December 2021 of stage 4 cancer. After feeling faint on his way to my bbq, he went to get checked out and was diagnosed. During the past 5 years, Eric lost his mom, twin brother and dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like but I’m glad that pain he was feeling is no more.
From being my manager to my business partner, writer, book editor, artistic director, and most importantly, my friend, I am going to miss you MC Krispy E a.k.a “Enrique Pollazo!” And although you told me Enrique means Henry in Spanish and not Eric, it was too late!
Sidebar. The day I was discharged, while everyone was deciding what was best for me, no one had remembered that I would need clothes in order to leave the hospital. Eric shows up (unasked) with all the clothes I had on the day I coded, laundered and ready to go. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve friends like this but i need to keep doing it! Sidebar complete.
Rest in Peace Eric. “Be Good.”
I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on writing your first book, presented by the Harlem chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Alongside Jim St. Germain, Author – A Stone of Hope: A Memoir and Dr. Keneshia Nicole Grant, Author – The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century. We opined on pain points, benefits and strategies regarding our inaugural voyages into authorship. Feel free to watch for your self and I hope this provides some insight to all those looking to make the same voyage. Enjoy!
