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ESPN film 'Four Falls of Buffalo' documents highs and lows of Bills' Super Bowl era

Mike Desmond/wbfo news

Fans and players of the Buffalo Bills from two decades ago relived the four years of ecstasy and agony Wednesday night, as a standing-room only crowd packed the North Park Theatre to see "Four Falls of Buffalo."

The  film, produced by ESPN, looks back at the team which went to the Super Bowl four times in a row and came back empty-handed.

"This will be the first time during the film that I got a chance to even watch even highlights of any of the four Super Bowls," admitted Thurman Thomas, the Bills' Hall of Fame running back. 

"I don't think about it a lot. I really don't."

Thomas sat with quarterback Jim Kelly, wide receiver Andre Reed and special teams leader Steve Tasker in the center of the audience for the two-hour show which will air on cable on Saturday.

Kelly says fans and current players still can't believe the team went to the big game four straight times.

"It's not so much the negative. Nowadays, I [hear], ' I can't believe how you guys did that. How did you mentally get focused?,'" said Kelly. "I made a career of playing in the National Football League. I was able to take care of the people I love. I played a game that I loved and I would have played for free. Just so happens that we came in second place. There were 28 teams back then that wished they were in our position."

The show is narrated by actor William Fichtner who grew up and went through college in this area. Fichtner had seen the film several weeks ago.

Credit Mike Desmond/WBFO News
Former QB Jim Kelly was one of the stars of the red carpet for Wednesday night's premiere.

"I thought I was going to see something that was about a football team. It's not just about a football team. It's about our town, about our people, about our team. I was blown away. I was really proud to be from Buffalo."

While the heart of the movie is images of the four Super Bowls and regular season games, much of it is interviews with players talking about how they were knocked over and got back up again and again.

The film will air on ESPN Saturday night.

 

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.