"All Madden" Directed by Joel Santos, FOX, Sport, Documentary

1 h 32 m

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

“All Madden” is a documentary that goes over all of John Madden’s accomplishments within NFL coaching and broadcasting plus some personal aspects of his life. He was an inspiration to football players, coaches, and fans, so many are saddened with the news of his death on December 28, only three days after Christmas, which was when the documentary originally aired on Fox. 

The 90-minute documentary has clips from some household names, such as Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, plus more. They show their admiration for the Hall Of Fame coach. There are also clips of a young Bill Belichick, who was also featured, which you might want to see. 

John’s wife, Virginia, and his two sons, Mike and Joe, also tell what Madden was like as a husband and a father and how his career affected them. Madden was married to Virginia for 62 years, and she supported him throughout his career. 

“Well, I never saw any reason why the Raiders should ever lose a game,” Virginia said. “And I used to get so upset with coaches’ wives who said ‘Well, you can’t win them all,’ and I said ‘Why the hell can’t you?’” 

That was Madden’s mentality, and the documentary proves how that spread to his family and his players. 

There are also tidbits from a couple of players who played for Madden, specifically Howie Long and Dave Casper, as well as the former Raiders owner and General Manager, Al Davis. 

This was an experience to watch, especially since I am not a big football fan. It was intriguing, especially how he reached audiences of all ages, with his broadcasting, or when the EA Sports Madden Football video game came out in 1988. Some of the Madden cover players were also featured in the documentary, such as Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, and as of now, NFL fans have called for Madden himself to be on the cover of Madden ‘23 since his death.  

The documentary really dug deep into his life, personal and professional. Between him winning the Superbowl with the Oakland Raiders at the time, the decision to retire from coaching after ten years, becoming a broadcaster for NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS, and then the decision to retire from broadcasting, the documentary explains what that was like, from all points of view.

In short and simple terms, the documentary explains how John Madden changed football history. “You can’t write the history of professional football on the field without Coach Madden,” said one of the contributors in the documentary. He was famous for coaching, broadcasting, videogames, Turducken, and owning a bus, the Madden Cruiser.  

“All Madden” can be streamed on Peacock, Hulu, ESPN+, and Tubi. The documentary originally aired on Christmas Day on Fox.