Phoenix Suns: Official Yearbook [VHS]

It's showtime! Come Fly with Me packs in 50 minutes of breathtaking basketball highlights of the man considered the greatest basketball player of all time: Michael Jordan. Produced in 1989, before Jordan's first championship with the Chicago Bulls, Come Fly covers Michael's middle-class childhood in North Carolina, his rise in the NCAA ranks with the University of North Carolina, and the first few professional seasons with the Bulls. But if it's athletic wonders you seek as opposed to lots of factual details, you'll be well satisfied. This video clearly was designed to celebrate, not necessarily sketch out, the man and his history.

Early footage of Michael will delight longtime Bulls fans. Included are interviews with family members, school mentors (we meet the coach who made the now-famous cut of Michael from his high-school junior varsity team), and 1980s Bulls coach Doug Collins (complete with frizzy 'fro), and plenty of slam dunks, athletic ballet, and "Wanna Be Like Mike" charisma. Missing is mention of fellow University of North Carolina teammates James Worthy and Sam Perkins, as well as a decent hip-hop soundtrack (the music is early sports documentary cheezola), but these are small flaws compared to the man's jaw-dropping aerobics. Footage of the slam-dunk contest alone--where Jordan captured his own goal of taking off at the free-throw line and dunking at the hoop (complete with legs bent back in Air flight)--will leave viewers grinning and shaking their heads. His energy is endless, his creativity self-renewing, and his athleticism graceful and magical. This video is a fun peek into the youthful Michael now so far behind us. --Karen Karleski

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