At 37 years old, Houston native Bradley Jackson’s earliest memories of Nolan Ryan aren’t of him pitching inside the Astrodome as an Astro. The director of the new documentary about Ryan, “Facing Nolan,” only knew him as the player’s career wound down in the early ’90s with the Texas Rangers.

“I remember when I was just a little kid, my dad said he saw Nolan in the airport, and I couldn’t stop telling my friends about it,” Jackson said, speaking from Los Angeles, where he’s working on his next project, a documentary about the Milli Vanilli lip-syncing scandal.

杰克逊（Jackson）的电影快节奏但认真地看着阿尔文·培育（Alvin）的投手如何处理成名，家庭和衰老，因为他的职业生涯跨越了四十年和四个MLB球队，包括在休斯顿度过的十年。这部电影在晚上7点通过Fathom活动在800个剧院屏幕上播放。5月24日，流媒体协议不远。

Ryan’s legend loomed large if you grew up in Texas in the last half of the 20th century. His likability, longevity and steely-eyed swagger probably inspired Little Leaguers as much as their fathers, themselves pushing 40. He never disappears from the Texas zeitgeist, as we continue to hear his voice in commercials while his sports memorabilia commands top dollar. He makes enough public appearances that a soundbite in his Gulf Coast drawl is easy to come by.

深入的瑞安（Ryan）纪录片花了这么长时间才出来？杰克逊说，一家人在2020年8月提出治疗之前拒绝了很多报价。一家人希望它为2022年的西南电影节做好准备。

“From conception to premiere, it was about 16 months of work,” Jackson said. “It was a very smooth process because the Ryan family got behind it. They opened up all the doors and greased the wheels, like getting interviews with George W. Bush and Craig Biggio.”

According to Jackson, there was an unspoken sense of timeliness in getting the film made.

“Many of the icons from his era are passing away,” Jackson said. “His grandkids are all getting older, and the family thought it was the right place and time, and as filmmakers, we were prepared. I always thought of Nolan as a superhero, and I wanted to get his origin story.”

Ryan’s former Astros teammates Biggio, Art Howe, Jose Cruz Sr., Enos Cabell and Alan Ashby make appearances. Fellow MLB luminaries Pete Rose, George Brett and Rod Carew all recall the sheer terror of facing Ryan’s brain-sizzling fastballs in his prime. Jackson was learning new things every day.

“I didn’t realize he had won the World Series with the New York Mets in 1969 or that he played such a big part in that,” Jackson said. “When he signed with the Angels, he had the right people believing him. He had his wife, Ruth, supporting him emotionally. He doesn’t become the Nolan we know without that.”

“Facing Nolan” isn’t just a story about a guy who threw exceptionally hard; it’s about how he pushed his body to the limit when 40 was considered over the hill. Between the ages of 39 to 46, Ryan was still brutalizing batters. What made Ryan exceptional is that he was doing this in an era when sports medicine and rehab were in the stone age compared to what’s available now. Ryan always knew he had a God-given gift, and he understood he needed to keep up his part of the cosmic bargain.

“Nolan was always ahead of his time,” Jackson said.

瑞安（Ryan）为老龄化运动员举起了酒吧，为汤姆·布雷迪（Tom Brady）等人铺平了道路，他本人是大自然的怪胎。难怪布雷迪（Brady）目前的投掷教练是瑞安（Ryan）在游骑兵任职期间的投球教练汤姆·豪斯（Tom House）。

During the final minutes of “Facing Nolan,” we see Nolan and Ruth presiding over their extended Ryan brood at their Hill Country ranch and visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“他是一个非常满足的人，”杰克逊说。“他不喜欢谈论自己，但是一旦他看到了我们要拍的那种电影，他就开始向我们开放。”

At the end of the film, Jackson lists some of Ryan’s most untouchable stats, like no-hitters and strikeouts, right alongside stats that aren’t as celebrated, like the number of walks and grand slams he gave up.

杰克逊说：“这描绘了他职业生涯的全部情况。”“他的统计数据无处不在。”

Craig Hlavaty is a Houston-based writer.