Recorded in a series of clubs countryside, as well as at the News of the World Darts Championship, ARROWS offers a filmed record of Eric Bristow (aka "The Crafty Cockney") at the beginning of his professional career, as he took the darts world by storm. He comes across as a brash, self-confident personality, enjoying the trappings of fame - a chauffeur-driven car, a large income (by 1977 standards), and regular appearances on television and radio. Confronted by a truculent local radio DJ, who berates him for his louche lifestyle, Bristow answers the questions calmly, while never losing his sang-froid; here is a man who knew himself and what he could do.
As a sociological document, John Samson's documentary is fascinating, evoking a long-lost world of workingmen's clubs, whose patrons spent most of their evenings swilling bear and puffing happily away on their cigarettes. In this smoke-filled atmosphere darts acquired its reputation as a not-quite-respectable sport that nonetheless attracted huge audiences. Bristow went from club to club, challenging all comers, and offering them big cash prizes if they could beat him. No one succeeded, of course, but the main attraction lay in the prospect of seeing 'The Crafty Cockney' defeated, especially in the north of England.
On the other hand ARROWS captures the tedium of the celebrity dart- player's life, as he travels nightly from place to place, charged with the responsibility of putting on a cheery face to please the patrons who came to see him. In truth Bristow preferred to practice on his own, refining his unique dart-throwing technique to such an extent that he would eventually become the major force in the sport during the Eighties. But, like the game trouper he was (and still is), he knew how to please audiences; to appear as 'one of the lads,' despite leading a lifestyle infinitely more affluent than those of his audiences. Despite his apparent cockiness, Bristow comes across as an attractive person; if he hadn't been, he would not have remained a celebrity for over three decades.
As a sociological document, John Samson's documentary is fascinating, evoking a long-lost world of workingmen's clubs, whose patrons spent most of their evenings swilling bear and puffing happily away on their cigarettes. In this smoke-filled atmosphere darts acquired its reputation as a not-quite-respectable sport that nonetheless attracted huge audiences. Bristow went from club to club, challenging all comers, and offering them big cash prizes if they could beat him. No one succeeded, of course, but the main attraction lay in the prospect of seeing 'The Crafty Cockney' defeated, especially in the north of England.
On the other hand ARROWS captures the tedium of the celebrity dart- player's life, as he travels nightly from place to place, charged with the responsibility of putting on a cheery face to please the patrons who came to see him. In truth Bristow preferred to practice on his own, refining his unique dart-throwing technique to such an extent that he would eventually become the major force in the sport during the Eighties. But, like the game trouper he was (and still is), he knew how to please audiences; to appear as 'one of the lads,' despite leading a lifestyle infinitely more affluent than those of his audiences. Despite his apparent cockiness, Bristow comes across as an attractive person; if he hadn't been, he would not have remained a celebrity for over three decades.
