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Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling | 
 enlarge | Author: Bret Hart
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $26.99
Buy New: $14.54
You Save: $12.45 (46%)
New (38) Used (12) Collectible (1) from $14.00
Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 5775
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 592
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 2
ISBN: 0446539724
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.812092
EAN: 9780446539722
ASIN: 0446539724
Publication Date: October 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Book, ALL days Low Price !
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Product Description
Written without collaborators and based on decades of tape recordings he made throughout his career, HITMAN is Bret Hart's brutally honest, perceptive and startling account of his life in and out of the ring that proves once and for all that great things come in pink tights.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 Honest, Heartfelt, Tragic. January 4, 2009
This book, written by perhaps the best worker the wrestling world has ever known, is simply fantastic. Such an amazingly detailed account of one of the most storied careers in the history of professional wrestling.
It's truly amazing to see how a man who achieved so much success professionally, still dealt with such tragedies and injustices in his personal life.
Bret Hart was a great wrestler and an even better human being. This book is everything any wrestling fan could hope for.
FANTASTIC AND IN DEPTH December 31, 2008
I recieved this book for Christmas and couldn't put it down.It put you behind the scenes and in the locker room.Very in depth.I am so used to sports books being 200 pages of fluff.This is definately not one of them.
 Fast-paced entertaining life story December 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bret Hart was a great, old-school worker and his autobiography was a surprising fast-read given the 592 pages in small print. I couldn't put the book down enjoying the early years and stories of the old Stampede wrestling. His relationship and attitude towards his siblings is a bit of a downer. I didn't realize Bret really paid his dues with years of jobbing for multiple promotions. His very detailed accounts of some of his greatest matches proves his excellent scripting and booking ability. His relationship with Julie was disappointing as was his constant frolicking.
The book has a bit of a negative slant but is very entertaining and it really portrays the best and the worst of the wrestling business from someone who reached the summit in the most popular promotions of his time.
JK
Enjoyed Hitman December 22, 2008
Bret Hart's book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, is to be taken seriously. Although he clearly shows professional wrestling was his calling, there's quite a bit of sadness. Most surprising to me was the number of professional wrestlers who have died before they reached 50. Readers have to have some familiarity with professional wrestling to understand terminology and the names. Here are some thoughts that came to me as I read the book:
- You can't fake fidelity, and you can't fight fragility.
- Even the toughest are fragile.
- The WWF's post 1980's success proves you can succeed with sleaze. Whether you should or not is another question.
- Story lines are important in setting up fan interest.
- There is also a spiritual wrestling match: His wrestling with Vince Mcmahon's success and Owen Hart's death reminded me of the Biblical laments in Psalms and Habbakuk about the success of the wicked and the oppression of the righteous.
- Another spiritual wrestling match: He remained loyal to Vince McMahon who gave cause for disloyalty but not to his wife who didn't seem to give cause for disloyalty.
- Drugs and alcohol were abused to even out the highs and lows of the job. It also resulted in wasting money and talent.
- Professional wrestling, like other forms of entertainment, illustrates the difficulty of breaking out from the pack into success.
Sincerely,
Leroy Hurt
www.C-scapeBlogazine.net
www.YourUnfinishedBusiness.net
Interesting and insightful December 16, 2008
'Hitman...' is an in depth and intriguing autobiography from the man himself, Bret Hart. I have always been a fan of Bret; a guy loaded with natural charisma and arguably one of the best wrestlers to have ever entertained us. This book is quite lengthy: 500+ pages (and the print aint that small!) but this is not a problem at all as I never once grew tired of what I was reading. If you were ever a fan of Bret this is essential. Unlike other wrestler biogs (which are generally rubbish and usually written under the guise of the WWE) this is an honest and at times gritty account of Bret's life from his childhood to his retirement in 2000 and subsequent stroke in 2002. Bret's childhood was tough; part of a very big family with older brothers not afraid to throw their weight around and enduring periods of financial poverty. He then moves to how he started in wrestling under his dad in the Stampede wrestling organisation. This tracks his early friendships with Dynamite Kid and Davey Smith. The next part of the book is the WWF days 1984-1997. All the poignant moments of his WWF are covered. The last part covers his WWF departure, his brothers Owen's death and his miserable WCW run. The strengths of the book are the depictions of Bret's comrades through the years (and the unsavoury figures... ahem, Shawn!). The craziness that went on: drugs, sex, fights... its all in there. Bret travelled a lot during his career visiting all parts of the world. It seeems he enjoyed these times the best. This memoir also provides an intriguing insight into the machinations of wrestling business, ie. booking (and screwing over!). Its amazing just how poor some writing (storylines etc) was even by the big guys WWF. Despite Bret being a 5 time WWF champ he was held back for years (particularly during the 80s) while they promoted Hulk Hogan, who was essentially a crap wrestler. Even when they gave him his deserved run at the top they still screwed him around (eg. Wrestlemania XI: they had Bret fighting Bob Backlund in a low card event... !!! This at the peak of his career!) The Montreal Screwjob is covered in depth as one would expect, but it was only on reading this book that I am now convinced it was a genuine screwjob (I was a bit of a skeptic before, the 'Wrestling With Shadows' docu NOT helping to assuage my doubts. What was also shocking was how poorly he was utilised in WCW. That company (despite beating WWF in ratings from mid '96 to mid '98) were a bunch of idiots who couldn't hold down a balloon if they tried. Aside from the in the ring stories, Bret's difficulties with his siblings are well documented and paint a very sombre and unfortunate picture. Some of his sister appear to be genuinely horrible people and the only really decent one of the bunch was Owen.
Bret is at times a bit presumptious and maybe too expectant in his relations with others, at times he thinks that everyone should consider him first before anyone/thing else. This is his ego leaking through but when you're that talented you can expect and forgive a bit of an inflated ego. In saying that Bret is not a total ego maniac and is at times quite humble too. He also seems to take wrestling a bit too serious, but when you consider he lost his brother and many other friends to the business it does validate his seriousness I guess.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you are a fan of Bret, a fan of wrestling or even a fan of biographies, pick up this book as you wont be disappointed. It is well written and articulate, (particularly for a wrestler!) and is intersting the whole way through.
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