Upcoming James J. Braddock movie

[crooked nose]

At the movies yesterday, I saw the preview for "Cinderella Man", opening in the spring. It's hard to tell just from the trailer, but it looks like they're going for heavy Hollywood cliche - the underdog with a dream routine that's most recently been used in "Seabiscuit" and "Miracle On Ice". Russell Crowe is Braddock, Renee Zelwegger (sp?) is the loyal wife and Paul Giamatti is the manager. Directed by Opie Cunningham (Ron Howard). I hope it isn't too sappy. Braddock was an OK fighter who did make the most of his opportunity, but he won mostly because Baer was a lover not a fighter and hurt his hand early in the bout. I hope the filmmakers are honest.

[We Wuz Robbed]

I hope the filmmakers are honest.

It looks like they won't be. You've got to remember this is a Ron Howard film.

Check the cast list. There is no Joe Louis listed in the film, so it looks like we're just getting the upbeat, feel-good ending of Braddock's boxing life. We won't be seeing the Cinderella Man get smashed by The Brown Bomber's right hand. At least Scorsese included Ray Robinson smashing the Hell out of LaMotta. If Ron Howard had dirtected RAGING BULL, the film would have ended with good old Jake rising up from the slums in the Bronx to take the title from Cerdan. Happy, happy ending.

Mr. Ron Howard does not deal with unpleasantries in his films (in his film A BEATIFUL MIND he left out the facts that Nash was a rascist, bi-sexual). Joe Louis smashing the Cinderella Man is a fact that Mr. Howard feels his audience can not deal with. We must leave the theter feeling good and thinking that Braddock held the title for decades and is the greatest heavyweight of them all.

Also, the word is that the CINDERELLA MAN actually turns Max Baer into a Clubber Lang type bad guy. Mr. Howard must have a dragon that his hero Jim J. must sleigh, so Howard and his writers have turned lovable Max Baer into a nasty bastard. That's a great thing for the general non-boxing fan public who sees this film to learn -- or should I say, mislearn.

Ron Howard is not an honest filmmaker (in APOLLO 13 he turned the engineers from Grumman into bufoons when in actuality it was those Grumman boys and their LEM that saved thoe astronaut's lives). You get little honesty in a Ron Howard film, so I don't expect much from THE CINDERELLA MAN.

[crooked nose]

I hope they're not going to make Max Baer into the bad guy. That would be a shame. He was probably one of the most fun-loving, interesting and charismatic heavyweight champs, and I think his biography would make a better movie. If they do trash him in Ron Howard's film, I wonder if Max Jr. will have anything to say. That would be great publicity: Opie Taylor takes on Jethro Bodine! All we need are Granny and Aunt Bee carrying the spit buckets.

[Ric]

There is a thread at the CBZ site that comments on this up-coming movie:
http://p068.ezboard.com/fcyberboxingzon ... 1241.topic

[enrique]

Mike de Lisa, Hank Kaplan and yours truly are historical consultants on this film.

[KOJOE90]

Here is a link with some details about the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352248/