The Armstrong Lie

Like many of you, I was a complete Lance Armstrong fan. I was receiving chemo and radiation therapy for breast cancer in 2004 at the height of Armstrong's fame. I proudly wore one of the first 'Live Armstrong' yellow bands, and one of the research projects I was involved in was funded by Live Armstrong. It wasn't until 2010 when the rumors of Armstrong's cheating and doping became too much to ignore that I finally admitted my hero was a cheat.In this documentary, Alex Gibney follows Armstrong on his comeback to the Tour de France. Along the way we follow Armstrong as Gibney films everything he can. This started out as a positive spin and ended up as the truth spin. Two hours and three minutes of the lies, then the truth as Armstrong sees it. The people he hurt and lives he destroyed. We meet everyone from the Italian physician who fashioned the doping that was not traceable, to the cyclists involved and the trainers and everyone but Armstrong's family. I wonder how they deal with this mess. What do they think of their father. He spun the winnings so many times that he actually came to believe he won Le Tour honestly. Why everyone was doing it, doping. It wasn't the doping as much as the abuse of power. The constant lying, the constant cheating.The documentary is well done, featuring Armstrong admitting to his doping, but at the same time saying he won those seven yellow jerseys honestly. All of his medals, all of his trophies have been removed. Any trace of his winning has been removed from Le Tour history. The mistake he made, he says was to return in 2009 for the last race. People were after him, and many were bound to get him. We hear from those people, and at the same we hear from Armstrong refuting any cheating claims. The lives he destroyed from his bullying tactics is apparent with many of the people interviewed. Armstrong did not have to be so vindictive. For ten years he tried to beat down his opponents, and his detractors, and he won. In the end it is Armstrong who looks the fool. He is being sued by various organizations for hundreds of millions of dollars. He can no longer compete in any bicycling races, he is looked at as a cheater. The Live Strong organization withdrew any connection to him. What is left for Lance Armstrong?We follow Armstrong from his cancer diagnosis through the end of the tour in 2011, and finally his moment of truth with Oprah Winfrey. We believed his lies, but no more. I have no pity for Lance, he deserves whatever comes his way. It will be difficult for anyone to believe in heroes from here on, what a lasting legacy.Recommended. prisrob 02-25-14

I think this documentary shows just how ruthless Lance Armstrong really is. I truly believe he is a Socio path As a cancer survivor, I can say that while I was going through my cancer treatments, a drug rep gave me Lance's book to read. I believe it was called "It's Not All About the Bike" He admired Lance and thought I would too. I read the book but came away thinking what an arrogant individual this man was. I had a conversation with a man who actually met Armstrong in Aspen. They attended the same party. He pretty much told me the same thing. He was arrogant and wouldn't give most people the time of day. Even now, today, he says he is sorry for all the lives he tried so hard to destroy but when I heard he tried to get his girlfriend to take the blame for the car accident he was in while in Aspen, I thought to myself "He will never change. I just don't think he is capable of truly having feelings and compassion for anyone. He has no conscience. I also watched another documentary on him called "Stop At Nothing" which was even better a showing his true self than this documentary. I have always felt it wasn't that he doped. Most of the riders were doping. It was how he treated people and the lengths he would go to destroy their lives that made me dislike him so much.

Another major hit and possible takedown of the Universe that was LA, but this time we get to see the fallout (partially and edited) after the Oprah interview/mock confession. This doc was supposed to highlight LA's comeback to the TDF but quickly backfired when the doping/lying/bullying/bribing/controlling/womanizing/ accusations got serious and quickly exposed LA's shady dark side and always in charge ego. The camera work and "in the peloton" action shots are high quality with snappy and creative editing. Throughout the movie we get to see LA in a dark room. In his house? He somewhat adds to his minor league confession about his win at all costs motto as he orchestrated the biggest and most methodical and expensive PED program ever recorded. Festina Affair anyone? But so were most of the other riders with a so-called "omerta" where the riders will never reveal the secrets behind the elixers they use to produce there incredible performances day after day! So with Michele "Dirty Doctor" Ferrari's medical and training plan - $$$$$) he was always one step ahead of the Testers (UCI Verbruggen had a donation from LA to purchase and EPO test machine after he tested positive at the 1999 TDF Prologue he won and on a later stage at the Tour de Suisse). So after all of the hard training and legal/non-legal substances ingested, he might gain a mere 10% advantage on his rivals. There is some great retro footage of LA in his teens and starting to reveal his "take over the world" attitude. Poor Georgie finally has to spill the beans on his not so squeaky clean image. I'm glad to see David Walsh finally getting some respect after all of his "witch hunt" and lawsuit years. He just couldn't crack LA's stone façade no matter how much evidence he had piling up in his corner. I've watched it twice already and maybe more just to watch LA sit uneasily as he wrings out his words of truth and reveals that his biggest secret is no more.

I wanted this video as I have never been able to watch it completely. Now that I have seen it, in bluray on a big screen television, all the signs were there I just didnt want to believe it. The bluRay is clean and clear with 100% image clearity. I am happy with the movie but heart broken at the story.

Hi, when this story broke it was indeed quite the turn-up. Most of the press that had been reporting their suspicions for years merely had their theories confirmed and wrote a lot of stories about it. Sponsors dropped their support and Armstrong had his celebrity pals abandon him. This 2 hour (!!) documentary has initially been about charting his heroic return to the sport to reclaim his title, but after the story broke the film-makers had to rework all their footage, re-conceptualise the piece and add on a fourth act. Armstrong's scientific support, his complicit colleagues are all interviewed giving accounts of just exactly what their parts in the farce had been but this documentary is hardly compelling. I was expecting a riveting account of all the subterfuge employed in the scam, such as organised crime and doctored samples and the attempt of the Armstrong camp to intimidate any member of the press who came close to discovering the deception. But you don't get this content at all. It's all very matter-of-fact. He cheated, his doctors cheated and so did his colleagues. That's it. Hardly a compelling watch.

Very interesting documentary following Lance Armstrong's 2009 comeback ride for the Tour de France, and the crumbling House of Cards that ensued as various disaffected team mates spilled the beans on his dope taking. What comes across is his incredible ability to lie repeatedly about his failed tests and allegations, and his indomitable will that will not brook any disrespect to his Messianic Mission to race on behalf of cancer victims and their families. His deceit is truly sickening.Only when a federal prosecutor starts to subpoena people involved in this dirty business, do sworn statements appear that detail the extent of Lance Armstrong's involvement with drug taking and testing avoidance. What comes across is just how dirty professional cycling is and how the power of 'omerta' keeps the riders in line. Everyone in this whole wretched enterprise know that a large number of cyclists and their support staff are doing one drug or another but the money being generated is so huge and benefits so many, that the crime is blithely ignored. Problem, what problem? I know nothing, it could have been said by Manuel from Fawlty Towers.What is truly pitiful is that even in his 2009 comeback where he finished 3rd it was later shown he had abnormal blood results. The winner Alberto Contador is then busted in his next win in 2010 for doping. It is farcical. The extras are very interesting with the 'Dr Dope' Michele Ferrari interview showcasing this physicians utter lack of scrupals. Here is a man who practises pseudo science to adminster various performance boosting drugs; EPO, testosterone, cortisone, steroids and human growth hormone, to his human guinea pigs and then devises ways to avoid being detected by the testing authorities. Not once does he go into the abuse of such potent biochemicals and their long term side effects like sterility, cancer and organ failure. He is an utter disgrace.I have no idea or even interest in how cycling can conduct itself in a 'clean' fashion. Why bother at all? It is a freakshow, they may as well have it as a circus sideshow, with the riders openly injecting dope and refrigerating blood bags. The individual with the highest blood drug concentration, a smorgasbord of various pharmaceuticals, is then declared The Winner, and detoxed over the following year in a Swiss Clinic.

OK, so none of this is new, but Armstrong's is such a riveting story that one never tires of it....his achievements and, alas, his brazen lies. Highly recommended for cyclists and those who like to study human behaviour....

The film was initially meant to be a look at Lance Armstrong's come-back to the tour in 2009 but changed drastically when the truth came out about Armstrong's cheating. The Director himself admits that he was "buying into" the story surrounding Armstrong's cycling history but the film is by no means a one-sided, hero worshipping tale and has some great interviews with old teammates, the infamous Michele Ferrari and people who stood up against Armstrong. The question panel in the extras is well worth watching too.

Would recommend. Eye-opening. Even if you have no knowledge of professional cycling it's presented in a way that's easy to understand and follow.