Boxing Flicks

The Fighter is a movie that received seven Oscar nominations this year including that for best picture and best director. It won two for best supporting actor and actress. What is so special about the movie? It’s a boxing drama about Irish boxer Micky Ward who is trained by his brother on a parole from jail. Mark Wahlberg dons the role of Micky Ward while Christian Bale of `Batman’ fame, who bagged an oscar, appears as his brother.

It’s just another example of Hollywood’s continuing obsession about movies with boxing as motif. Perhaps along with baseball, boxing may be the sports predominantly represented in the flicks churned out by Hollywood.

Interestingly, most of these films have been on the life of a particular boxer or inspired by his exploits in the boxing ring. Perhaps the best one was critically acclaimed Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese, featuring Robert Deniro as middle weight boxer Jaka La Motta The film was brutally frank in depicting the boxer’s life

Sylvestor Stallone’s Rocky series took boxing to those uninitiated in the sport. The success of Rocky spawned not just one or two but five sequels, the latest one Rocky Balboa coming as recent as couple of years ago In the case of Rocky, Stallone was inspired by Chuck Wepner, an unfancied boxer who survived a 15 round fight with the great Mohammed Ali at his prime in the seventies.

Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby about a woman boxer fetched Hillary Swank a best actress Oscar few years ago. In 2008, there was Phantom Punch with Ving Rhames appearing as heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston who died allegedly from a drug overdose. Many stars have played the part of boxers in films.The Cindrella Man in 2005 had Russel Crowe as pugilist James L Braddock. Black superstar Will Smith came as Mohammed Ali in the Michael Mann directred Ali. It featured Ali’s epic fight with George Foreman in Zaire touted as Rumble in the Jungle. Daniel Day Lewis portrayed a boxer in The Boxer.

This fixation for boxing themes is not something that developed in the past couple of decades. Swashbuckling Errol Flynn played the part of real life boxing pioneer James J Corbett way back in 1942 in the movie Gentleman Jim. In 1949 the boxing movie Champion made a star out of Kirk Douglas. In the fifties Paul Newman successfully essayed the role of middle weight boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. It was the first major film of this handsome actor with sparkling blue eyes. In the seventies, you had John Huston’s Fat City on the life of two boxers Jeff Bridges and Stacy Keach at two different points in their life. Another notable boxing movie was The Great White Hope in 1970. It had James Earl Jones depicting the black heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson.

Considering the passion for the sport in the US, I think Hollywood companies will continue to bet their money on films on boxing