Disgraced (2017)
**** (out of 4)
Patrick Dennehy went to Baylor University to play basketball but one day he went missing and weeks later his body turned up. There was a mystery as to what happened but pretty soon details started leaking out including a cover up by head coach Dave Bliss.
Having been a rabid basketball fan all my life, I still remember this ordeal and the shock waves that it sent through the sport back in the day. As someone in the documentary says, this here was much bigger than a sports scandal but I think the film also shows how powerful the NCAA and schools are that to this day there are so many unanswered questions as to what actually happened and why the school and Bliss were so determined to lie.
The documentary interviews friends and family members of Dennehy as well as the man who would eventually be convicted for his murder. There are interviews with various officials, detectives and of course the big one is Bliss himself. The entire mystery that wraps around this story is something that would seem made up because you just can't believe some head coach would try to cover up a murder. What's even more shocking is how Bliss addresses the matter in his interview as well as a bombshell that happens towards the end of the picture.
The documentary does a terrific job at explaining what all happened, when it happened and where we stand today. Like a lot of crime documentaries, this one here also opens up a can of worms by suggesting that there's more to the story than we currently know. There was more to the story as Bliss' interview here eventually came back to haunt him and he lost a job that he was. We shall see what happens going forward but it's clear there's much more going on.
