Keepers of the Streak

Overview

The film opens with a photo of John Biever, Walter Iooss, Mickey Palmer and Tony Tomsic meeting in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967 right before Super Bowl I. The film goes on to discuss how each man got into the photography business, and centers around their work during Super Bowl XLVIII. It also talks about multiple near misses for members of the group, including Palmer checking himself out of a hospital after a heart attack, right before Super Bowl X. At the time of the release of the film, three of the four men were in their seventies, and a fourth was well into his sixties.

Production

According to director Neil Leifer, he aimed to show how hard it was to film the game, stating,

And I probably didn't succeed in one thing that I wanted to do. I wanted to show how difficult it is to do what these guys do ... If I could re-edit it I would probably make that point, even just to show what it's like to go from the hotel to the stadium. But that doesn't make a good story.

He added that he remembered what it was like to miss Super Bowl XIII after shooting the first twelve, and marveling how the photographers did it every single game.

Reception

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated states that the film (erroneously called "Keepers of the Flame" in his review) provides a good look at the past. He points out that the original AFL–NFL Championship game had 338 press passes handed out—of which 75% went to print media personnel—compared to over 6,000 today. He also mentions that the film shows how the original Super Bowls were played during daytime, and were not the massive events that they are today.