Clubhouse Article

Best and Worst Boxing Movies

February 17th, 2012 by Nat Coombs

To tie in with the premiere of ESPN Films’ The Real Rocky (about Chuck Wepner who inspired the Rocky franchise) on ESPN America on Feb 21st, Nat Coombs looks back at some of the contenders and pretenders to the “Best Boxing Movie Ever” …

"ROCKY VI" (2005)

Everyone has their favorite Rocky moment. Mine? It’s the end of Rocky IV, when Balboa, having defeated the seemingly unstoppable Russian Ivan Drago in his own backyard, and won over the hardened Muscovites in the process, launches into one of the most remarkable speeches in celluloid history, where he ostensibly appears to be securing ongoing world peace in 37 words.

“In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that’s better than twenty million. I guess what I’m trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!”

The Rocky series, amid its genuine highs and lows (I’d nominate all of Rocky V for the latter) has had a genuine significance, in terms of how sports movies are made, and in turn, what makes a good – or bad – sports movie. And with some very notable exceptions – including Hoosiers, We Are Marshall, Jerry Maguire and of course, the entire Air Bud franchise – most of the best sports films ever made are about boxing.

And, much in the same way that the noble art held an appeal for literary giants like Ernest Hemingway, some of the finest Hollywood directors – including Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood – have tried their hand at helming films about the fight game.

"RAGING BULL" (1980)

Possibly the most successful depiction of the brutality and unequivocal violence without any attempt to beatify or gloss up is Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980). Robert De Niro delivers a signature performance as Jake LaMotta – the eponymous Bronx boxer – and it’s as much about the power and fragility of the American Dream as it is about uppercuts and bloody mouthguards. Raging Bull was nominated for eight Academy Awards with De Niro winning for Best Actor.

Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby – where Maggie played by Hilary Swank escapes her trailer park roots by using boxing as a way out – is similarly bleak and indeed refreshing for it’s untypically non-Hollywood ending. Extremely resonant is the stark depiction of the spit’n’sawdust gym Eastwood’s character Frankie Dunn runs with sympathetic former boxer and cutman/janitor Eddie, played with all the authenticity and delicacy you’d expect from Morgan Freeman. Million Dollar Baby, deservedly, won the Best Picture Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards.

The fundamental implausibility of some of the Rocky films – other than each fight seemed to include 1038 direct hits to the jaw from each fighter – was that a heavyweight boxer of the size and build of Stallone would be able to win the world title. Fortunately, films based on real fighters have mostly avoided too much overtly Hollywoodian fantasyland.

"THE FIGHTER" (2010)

Will Smith delivers the performance we was born to give in Ali (2001), Russell Crowe is likeable and convincing in the 2005 Cinderella Man as James J Braddock, set against the backdrop of the US depression of the 1930’s. The critically acclaimed The Fighter (2010) features Mark Wahlberg as Irish Mickey Ward, a blue collar made good fighter from Massachusetts who’s story echoes the fictional Balboa’s. Wahlberg is arguably the most convincing boxer in recent cinematic memory, but it’s Christian Bale who is remarkable as Ward’s brother Dicky – a crack-addled troublemaker, once a capable boxer himself, headed for oblivion.

Other big names have tried their hands (and gloves) at securing celluloid greatness via the ring. Bugs Bunny’s seminal Rabbit Punch (1949) sees our favorite carrot chomper fighting dirty – including at using a cannon. Jason Bateman, a long time before Arrested Development was, of course, the star of the remarkable TeenWolf Too, which, somewhat unsurprisingly Michael J Fox passed on. In this 1987 film, the college-bound Todd Howard (Bateman) discovers he’s not only a fine boxer, but also a Werewolf. As one does. Genius.

An honorable mention must go to weepiest of weepy film ever-devised – The Champ (1979) – a remake of the 1931 movie starring Jackie Cooper. Any man that doesn’t watch the final scenes of either film without crying doesn’t have a soul.

And finally, the remarkable The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali (1970) a fictional boxing match between the Real ‘Real Rocky’ and The Greatest where they were filmed acting out every possible scenario in a fight. The result was determined using probability formulas entered into a computer. Way ahead of its time; and fascinating – much like TeenWolf Too. I won’t spoil the result. For either.

NAT COOMBS is a writer & broadcaster who is one of the live sports presenting team on our sister channel ESPN, and hosts both NFL & MLB coverage on BBC Radio Five Live. He also anchors the US sports podcast Americarnage.
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ESPN Films’ The Real Rocky

Premieres on ESPN America on Tues Feb 21st.
Check local listings for show times and repeats.
Click here to read our review of The Real Rocky.

Also, watch Friday Night Fights on ESPN America.
Click here for the latest FNF TV Schedule .