They toasted “Ueck” with free Miller Lites, from the front row, and from every row – a fitting touch before the documentary’s Milwaukee Film Festival world premiere Thursday night. Then the sold-out Oriental Theatre crowd laughed, time and again, throughout a fast-flying 90 minutes covering Bob Uecker’s 90 years. By the time it was over, they might have even cried a few tears into their beer.
For all the facets this intimate portrait captures about Uecker – be it his side-splitting humor or passion for baseball, his Hollywood fame or love of hometown Milwaukee – it’s all tinged with a poignant nostalgia. The beloved Brewers broadcaster has been gone for more than a year, his voice of summer silenced in the winter of 2025, and now, “Ueck” stands as a comprehensive epitaph for the man who meant so much to so many, and especially those who call Milwaukee home.
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Local directors Steve Farr and Michael Vollmann have crafted a striking and reflective tribute to Uecker while simultaneously delivering a concise history of Brew Town baseball, because it’s hard to think of one without the other. What could’ve been an unwieldy rabbit hole dug beneath information overload – the first cut was five hours – is instead a memorable retrospective that packs an emotional punch.
“Ueck” showcases plenty of expected, though still appreciated, material ranging from his ballplaying youth to his entertainer renaissance. It liberally splices Uecker’s old Johnny Carson Tonight Show interviews, Miller Lite commercial outtakes, “Mr. Belvedere” TV scenes, “Major League” movie lines and career-spanning Brewers broadcasts to faithfully reflect his public persona. It wraps the narrative around Uecker’s final two seasons in the Brewers radio booth, 2023 and 2024, thanks to the broad access granted by Uecker, his family and the Brewers.
But the film truly excels when it weaves in the unexpected and goes beyond the funny. Like inside stories from his family and friends as Uecker puts a brave face on his fading health. Or reminiscing about the time he playfully shagged fly balls with a tuba, but at the cost of getting benched by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1964 World Series. Or a day of Uecker fishing on Lake Michigan, when we see him relaxing in one moment, then wincing in pain from the dual tolls of cancer and age.
These are rare glimpses into who Ueck was away from the microphone and cameras, and they’d be more than enough to make for an engrossing watch.
But it’s all taken to another level when the focus shifts to Uecker’s calls of the Brewers playoff series in 2023 and 24. Back then, season-long preludes built high hopes that the Brewers could match their 1982 run to the World Series, and perhaps even eclipse it with a championship, sparking dreams of how Uecker would narrate it to the masses. But when each season ends, and the camera lingers on his reaction, you see how it hit Uecker just as hard as the Brewers fans who revered him.
It all made for a natural curtain-raiser on the two-week Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs through April 30. When tickets originally went on sale, they sold out so fast that organizers added a second screening on opening night – and that one sold out, too.
In addition to that pregame Miller Lite toast, audience members enjoyed a postfilm Q&A with filmmakers moderated by current Brewers radio broadcaster Josh Maurer. The filmmakers, in turn, recognized and thanked Uecker’s family, who were seated in the crowd and received a standing ovation.
As for those who missed the “Ueck” magic on opening night, the chance to enjoy it is coming soon. A broader release in July 2026 hits Marcus theaters throughout Wisconsin, which means Ueck’s voice will float across one more iconic Milwaukee summer.
