I understand the need in one's life, when they are in the autumn of their years, the need to take stock of the things in their early days that bring them to that point, or some of the people who influenced them in their youth. Hell, Mitch Albom's made a cottage industry out of things like that. So it was with mild intrigue I was curious to see what Billy Crystal's foray into that exercise. You know that Billy Crystal, really good award show host, baseball fan, comedian, or any other label you want to throw onto him. But I did not know the backstory behind it and it struck a chord with me.

700 Sundays originally began as an autobiography from Crystal, recounting the number of Sundays he spent with his father Jack, who was a key portion of Commodore Records, a recording label for jazz artists. Jack died of a heart attack when Billy was 15, hence the title. The book was turned into a one-man play which Crystal won a Tony for, and it eventually came to television in this special, taped for HBO, Crystal's longtime home for much of his non-cinematic work.

The feature intersperses some of the home movies from the Crystal family archive, along with video of Crystal in his childhood home now in his sixties, wandering around an empty house. The former helps provide some faces to those Crystal describes onstage, the latter are somewhat needless touches to put on this production. But Crystal's gifts as a storyteller do him great justice as he illustrates effectively what it was like to grow up in New York in the 1950s with his mother, father and two brothers.

And for as much as I thought I knew about Crystal, some of the stories in 700 Sundays blew me away. I mean, who can say they went to see Shane in a movie theatre with Billie Holliday for God's sake? His father Jack probably had some fantastic stories in working with these musicians during the day, and then coming home to a warm and loving family, including the hyperactive youngest Billy who loved to make the family laugh, however he could.

However, as 700 Sundays goes on, two things come to mind that tamp down my feelings about it. First, there is a bit of indulgence in Crystal's storytelling, making 700 Sundays feel more and more really like 2500 or so Sundays, as he talks about his mother, and how he related to her. After Jack died, the older sons were out of the house and at college, so the feelings of being the only one in the house and doing what he could to make life comfortable for his mother while she went out to try and find work (to bring money into the house) are recounted. And I understand that, she sounded like a wonderful woman, and his recounting being around his mother after she had a stroke was touching. But as a play, this drags down the emotion of 700 Sundays to an exercise where you begin to wonder when it ends after 90 minutes. The other thing as part of the length and pacing of the play is that there are certain events in Crystal's life that are almost a bingo game for those who are familiar with his work. Namely, the baseball stuff. I get the first ballgame feeling and have had that in my life, but there is some overkill with this and other components that make the viewer want to fast forward.

As a whole, 700 Sundays does show a side of Crystal that one may not have been exposed to before, one that is generally pleasant to experience. It does strain a bit from running more than two hours, and when Crystal does attempt to expand on some of his feelings after his Dad died, they sound a little…awkward. In the sense that Crystal is the type of guy who does a good job of emotion when it comes to facial expression and timing (decades of being a comic, no doubt). But when it comes to elaboration, it is almost as if that his descriptions are not worthy of the material being delivered. As a play, 700 Sundays is a nice robust wine, but discussing some of the feelings after Billy's father died are a bit like Thunderbird. Harsh and leaving a bitter taste.

As far as forays into the world of dealing with mortality, family, youth, love, and wondering what it's all about, 700 Sundays is a noble foray into some of those subjects by such an accomplished comic actor. It is not without some growing pains, but the material is heartfelt and worthy of consumption, regardless of your place in the sands of the time hourglass.

Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, I can only assume HBO originally filmed 700 Sundays with high-definition cameras as part of whenever this was broadcast, because it looks nice. It juggles the vintage home movies and newly shot film around the old Crystal home nicely without little image adjustment. There is little crushing during the cuts to the crowd shots and the color palette is reproduced nicely, though is muted for most of the film. The image is pristine with little in the way of artifacts or haloing and the lighting is natural looking without any moments when it could be blown out. Nice work, HBO.

Dolby Digital 5.1 surround for a one-man show? OK, I'll take it. While the dialogue and some of the music is in the front of the home theatre and the front speakers, when some of the moments in the play hit to laughter and/or applause, one can definitely pick out the crowd reacting to them and putting the viewer in an understated position in the middle of the show. Channel panning is nil, to say nothing of low-end fidelity (not that the latter should really be a surprise), but it delivers the goods just fine.

Nothing, regrettably.

700 Sundays is an admirable attempt at exploring the life of Billy Crystal using his memories and his movies, and you can see how Crystal developed into the person he is with the family around him growing up. You will laugh, you may even cry and while it has some problems is still a welcome change of pace from Crystal. Technically it is fine from audio and video perspectives, but with the lack of extras, better to check it out on HBO rather than to throw some money on the disc.