Boxing Movies

[APerno]

With 'Hands of Stone' opening tomorrow I figure there is going to be much debate coming (and more than a few arguments) so I thought I would sneak in my favorite movies list early.

Best Fight Films (Not in any particular order)

1. Fat City (Sad and depressing, but honest)
2. Raging Bull (Everyone on this board has seen it; everyone has his own opinion)
3. Snatch (only a ‘fair’ fight film, but ‘great’ film all around)
4. Rocky (The first one only; the classic boxing story done well)
5. The Harder they Fall (Important for its time)
6. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Sad and depressing, but honest again)
7. Cinderella Man (Wronged Max Bear, but still a good film)
8. The Great White Hope (Almost historically accurate, with great local color)
9. Palooka (1934 version) (With Jimmy Durante as ‘Knobby Walsh’- the definitive/cliché fight manager – lots of fun)
10. Gentleman Jim (Recreation of the fight on the barge makes this film worth watching; Ward Bond’s interpretation of the Great John L is over the top, but fun)
11. The Great White Hype (Only fight fans can truly appreciate the innuendos)

Good Stuff On Television

1. Dempsey (Recreation of Dempsey-Firpo bout alone is worth the watch; interesting interpretation of Doc Kearns)
2. Don King: Only in America (Ving Rhames as Don King is amazing)
3. Joe and Max (Honest and fair interpretation of Max Schmeling; it’s about time)
4. Rocky Marciano (Not bad, not great, worth a watch)

Fight Films that Disappointed Me

1. Body and Soul (Cliché)
2. Ali (Nothing particularly wrong here but you just can’t reduce this man’s life to 157 minutes; probably should have been a miniseries)
3. The Champ (1931) - Sappy
4. The Champ (1979) – Sappy redux
5. All the other Rocky films – (no real fight fan needs an explanation why they’re on my negative list)
6. Million Dollar Baby - Sappy
7. Kid Galahad (1962) – (Elvis as a fighter, I think not)
8. Kid Galahad (1937) – (More a gangster film than a fight film)
9. Tough Enough (Just like the Tough Man competitions it’s based on, it’s disrespectful to the sport I love)
10. The Main Event (They should not have been allowed to make this piece of shit) - I did not write "poo' I wrote 'Sh**t
11. Champion (With Kirk Douglas and as cliché as you would expect)
12. The Set-up (Robert Ryan is always good, but cliché)

Fight Films I have seen but still not sure how I feel about them

1. Hard Times (About illegal bare knuckle fights)
2. Night and the City (More about promoting fights than the fights themselves)
3. Far and Away (Fights only a subplot, not really a fight film)
4. Diggs Town (Fun, but . . .I just don’t know)
5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (Would have been a better film had it been made today)
6. The Prizefighter and the Lady (Not a good film; a promo for Max Bear; a few famous pugs appear)

Fight Films I have not seen, but probably should

1. The Fighter (The Micky Ward story)
2. Real Steel (Maybe I shouldn’t see this one)
3. The Hurricane (I think he did it, so I boycotted the film)
4. The Challenger (Looks cliché)
5. The Greatest (Ali playing Ali, that should be interesting)
6. The Joe Louis Story (Having been made in 1953, it’s probably squeaky clean)

[elmersalsa]

I love the movie of "The Greatest" played by the great Muhammad Ali himself than that garbage Will Smith did on "Ali"

[Tinnie]

3. The Hurricane (I think he did it, so I boycotted the film)

[bollox]

'Somebody Up There Likes Me' too low on the list. And don't bother with 'Hurricane'. Even Bob Dylan now knows he was guilty and refuses to play the song or discuss it, as a result

[Caractacus]

I enjoyed THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY,when it came out on limited edition dvd a few years ago.
It starred Max Baer and Primo Carnera.

[Caractacus]

Joe Louis made a movie before he became champion called SPIRIT OF YOUTH,
which was interesting ( he even lknocks out some bully who kind of looks like Jack Johnson when he is unloading a truck)I think I saw it on Turner Classic Movies
were they had a good print,but on public domain dvd its a really crappy washed out print.

[Caractacus]

I enjoyed THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY,when it came out on limited edition dvd a few years ago.
It starred Max Baer and Primo Carnera.

the great "Manassa Mauler" was also in the film.

[Jaywheel]

Gladiator.

[Syntax Error]

Undisputed - The one with Wesley Snipes & Ving Rhames.

I quite enjoyed it & I thought Rhames played the arrogant & obnoxious HW champ to a tee.

[gilgamesh]

With 'Hands of Stone' opening tomorrow I figure there is going to be much debate coming (and more than a few arguments) so I thought I would sneak in my favorite movies list early.

Best Fight Films (Not in any particular order)

1. Fat City (Sad and depressing, but honest)
2. Raging Bull (Everyone on this board has seen it; everyone has his own opinion)
3. Snatch (only a ‘fair’ fight film, but ‘great’ film all around)
4. Rocky (The first one only; the classic boxing story done well)
5. The Harder they Fall (Important for its time)
6. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Sad and depressing, but honest again)
7. Cinderella Man (Wronged Max Bear, but still a good film)
8. The Great White Hope (Almost historically accurate, with great local color)
9. Palooka (1934 version) (With Jimmy Durante as ‘Knobby Walsh’- the definitive/cliché fight manager – lots of fun)
10. Gentleman Jim (Recreation of the fight on the barge makes this film worth watching; Ward Bond’s interpretation of the Great John L is over the top, but fun)
11. The Great White Hype (Only fight fans can truly appreciate the innuendos)

Good Stuff On Television

1. Dempsey (Recreation of Dempsey-Firpo bout alone is worth the watch; interesting interpretation of Doc Kearns)
2. Don King: Only in America (Ving Rhames as Don King is amazing)
3. Joe and Max (Honest and fair interpretation of Max Schmeling; it’s about time)
4. Rocky Marciano (Not bad, not great, worth a watch)

Fight Films that Disappointed Me

1. Body and Soul (Cliché)
2. Ali (Nothing particularly wrong here but you just can’t reduce this man’s life to 157 minutes; probably should have been a miniseries)
3. The Champ (1931) - Sappy
4. The Champ (1979) – Sappy redux
5. All the other Rocky films – (no real fight fan needs an explanation why they’re on my negative list)
6. Million Dollar Baby - Sappy
7. Kid Galahad (1962) – (Elvis as a fighter, I think not)
8. Kid Galahad (1937) – (More a gangster film than a fight film)
9. Tough Enough (Just like the Tough Man competitions it’s based on, it’s disrespectful to the sport I love)
10. The Main Event (They should not have been allowed to make this piece of poo) - I did not write "poo' I wrote 'Sh**t
11. Champion (With Kirk Douglas and as cliché as you would expect)
12. The Set-up (Robert Ryan is always good, but cliché)

Fight Films I have seen but still not sure how I feel about them

1. Hard Times (About illegal bare knuckle fights)
2. Night and the City (More about promoting fights than the fights themselves)
3. Far and Away (Fights only a subplot, not really a fight film)
4. Diggs Town (Fun, but . . .I just don’t know)
5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (Would have been a better film had it been made today)
6. The Prizefighter and the Lady (Not a good film; a promo for Max Bear; a few famous pugs appear)

Fight Films I have not seen, but probably should

1. The Fighter (The Micky Ward story)
2. Real Steel (Maybe I shouldn’t see this one)
3. The Hurricane (I think he did it, so I boycotted the film)
4. The Challenger (Looks cliché)
5. The Greatest (Ali playing Ali, that should be interesting)
6. The Joe Louis Story (Having been made in 1953, it’s probably squeaky clean)

Real Steel blows

If you think he did it, you're not gonna wanna watch The Hurricane. The movie is presented like Carter was always the victim of being a Black guy in a White Man's world and he never done nothing wrong.


I like Hard Times and Somebody Up There Likes Me quite a bit for the record. I'd like to see Fat City that's one of the only classic ones you mention I haven't seen.

[APerno]

With 'Hands of Stone' opening tomorrow I figure there is going to be much debate coming (and more than a few arguments) so I thought I would sneak in my favorite movies list early.

Best Fight Films (Not in any particular order)

1. Fat City (Sad and depressing, but honest)
2. Raging Bull (Everyone on this board has seen it; everyone has his own opinion)
3. Snatch (only a ‘fair’ fight film, but ‘great’ film all around)
4. Rocky (The first one only; the classic boxing story done well)
5. The Harder they Fall (Important for its time)
6. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Sad and depressing, but honest again)
7. Cinderella Man (Wronged Max Bear, but still a good film)
8. The Great White Hope (Almost historically accurate, with great local color)
9. Palooka (1934 version) (With Jimmy Durante as ‘Knobby Walsh’- the definitive/cliché fight manager – lots of fun)
10. Gentleman Jim (Recreation of the fight on the barge makes this film worth watching; Ward Bond’s interpretation of the Great John L is over the top, but fun)
11. The Great White Hype (Only fight fans can truly appreciate the innuendos)

Good Stuff On Television

1. Dempsey (Recreation of Dempsey-Firpo bout alone is worth the watch; interesting interpretation of Doc Kearns)
2. Don King: Only in America (Ving Rhames as Don King is amazing)
3. Joe and Max (Honest and fair interpretation of Max Schmeling; it’s about time)
4. Rocky Marciano (Not bad, not great, worth a watch)

Fight Films that Disappointed Me

1. Body and Soul (Cliché)
2. Ali (Nothing particularly wrong here but you just can’t reduce this man’s life to 157 minutes; probably should have been a miniseries)
3. The Champ (1931) - Sappy
4. The Champ (1979) – Sappy redux
5. All the other Rocky films – (no real fight fan needs an explanation why they’re on my negative list)
6. Million Dollar Baby - Sappy
7. Kid Galahad (1962) – (Elvis as a fighter, I think not)
8. Kid Galahad (1937) – (More a gangster film than a fight film)
9. Tough Enough (Just like the Tough Man competitions it’s based on, it’s disrespectful to the sport I love)
10. The Main Event (They should not have been allowed to make this piece of poo) - I did not write "poo' I wrote 'Sh**t
11. Champion (With Kirk Douglas and as cliché as you would expect)
12. The Set-up (Robert Ryan is always good, but cliché)

Fight Films I have seen but still not sure how I feel about them

1. Hard Times (About illegal bare knuckle fights)
2. Night and the City (More about promoting fights than the fights themselves)
3. Far and Away (Fights only a subplot, not really a fight film)
4. Diggs Town (Fun, but . . .I just don’t know)
5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (Would have been a better film had it been made today)
6. The Prizefighter and the Lady (Not a good film; a promo for Max Bear; a few famous pugs appear)

Fight Films I have not seen, but probably should

1. The Fighter (The Micky Ward story)
2. Real Steel (Maybe I shouldn’t see this one)
3. The Hurricane (I think he did it, so I boycotted the film)
4. The Challenger (Looks cliché)
5. The Greatest (Ali playing Ali, that should be interesting)
6. The Joe Louis Story (Having been made in 1953, it’s probably squeaky clean)

Real Steel blows

If you think he did it, you're not gonna wanna watch The Hurricane. The movie is presented like Carter was always the victim of being a Black guy in a White Man's world and he never done nothing wrong.


I like Hard Times and Somebody Up There Likes Me quite a bit for the record. I'd like to see Fat City that's one of the only classic ones you mention I haven't seen.

Fat City is definitely worth the time - as I said it is sad and depressing and explores a side of boxing we rather not admit to, but any fight fan should watch it.

[APerno]

Undisputed - The one with Wesley Snipes & Ving Rhames.

I quite enjoyed it & I thought Rhames played the arrogant & obnoxious HW champ to a tee.

I have never heard of the film - but I am a big fan of Ving Rhames - I think I will search out this film

[Syntax Error]

Undisputed - The one with Wesley Snipes & Ving Rhames.

I quite enjoyed it & I thought Rhames played the arrogant & obnoxious HW champ to a tee.

I have never heard of the film - but I am a big fan of Ving Rhames - I think I will search out this film

Definitely worth a watch.

[Ambling Alp II]

I guess I am alone on this one, but I didn't like Raging Bull. Thought it was boring. Never got why so many people thought that it was so great.

Liked Rocky, Cinderella Man, The Harder they Fall, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The only thing I didn't like about Cinderella Man is that they did not show Baer's goofy side.

The Mickey Ward movie was actually pretty good.
I remember watching the Dempsey TV move once as a kid and liked it; not sure if I would now or not.

[Caractacus]

I guess I am alone on this one, but I didn't like Raging Bull. Thought it was boring. Never got why so many people thought that it was so great.

Liked Rocky, Cinderella Man, The Harder they Fall, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The only thing I didn't like about Cinderella Man is that they did not show Baer's goofy side.

The Mickey Ward movie was actually pretty good.
I remember watching the Dempsey TV move once as a kid and liked it; not sure if I would now or not.

In what year did you see RAGING BULL ?
Did you watch it at the cinema ?

[Caractacus]

as far as Max Baer being portrayed in CINDERELLA MAN.
Why didnt they just call him "Buddy Brannon" in that movie ?
most people who go to the cinema these days are like easily entertained and kind of ignorant.
They were smearching a fun loving nice guy like Max Baer.

[BoxBuzz]

What....no love for "The Hammer"?

[Ambling Alp II]

I guess I am alone on this one, but I didn't like Raging Bull. Thought it was boring. Never got why so many people thought that it was so great.

Liked Rocky, Cinderella Man, The Harder they Fall, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The only thing I didn't like about Cinderella Man is that they did not show Baer's goofy side.

The Mickey Ward movie was actually pretty good.
I remember watching the Dempsey TV move once as a kid and liked it; not sure if I would now or not.

In what year did you see RAGING BULL ?
Did you watch it at the cinema ?

Must have been about 15 years ago. No, I think it was on some cable channel.

[Ambling Alp II]

as far as Max Baer being portrayed in CINDERELLA MAN.
Why didnt they just call him "Buddy Brannon" in that movie ?
most people who go to the cinema these days are like easily entertained and kind of ignorant.
They were smearching a fun loving nice guy like Max Baer.

Baer did have an arrogant side to him. However, the movie completely missed the goofball side of him.

[BoxBuzz]

as far as Max Baer being portrayed in CINDERELLA MAN.
Why didnt they just call him "Buddy Brannon" in that movie ?
most people who go to the cinema these days are like easily entertained and kind of ignorant.
They were smearching a fun loving nice guy like Max Baer.

Baer did have an arrogant side to him. However, the movie completely missed the goofball side of him.

I think his arrogance was coupled with his goofball side......Not sure he took himself all that seriously, despite his bombasticness.....so if you factor that in to the portrayal, it's all "hamming it up" even if it was seemingly hurtful words to our current generation of movie goers. What was funny and bombastic then had more an edge than it does these days.

It's not Max's personality that they got wrong....it's more like the translation of the times. Also....Max's context in the movie was purely about this one encounter....and was an outlier in terms of his general persona. He may well have been trying to beat Braddock before the fight took place by using the ol' psyche method of madness.

Not all that different than the Waternoose "jump and growl".

[APerno]

I guess I am alone on this one, but I didn't like Raging Bull. Thought it was boring. Never got why so many people thought that it was so great.

Liked Rocky, Cinderella Man, The Harder they Fall, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The only thing I didn't like about Cinderella Man is that they did not show Baer's goofy side.

The Mickey Ward movie was actually pretty good.
I remember watching the Dempsey TV move once as a kid and liked it; not sure if I would now or not.

In what year did you see RAGING BULL ?
Did you watch it at the cinema ?

If what you are saying is that Raging bull did not translate to TV well, I would agree - Scorsese is a film maker and his episodic technique does not work well on the small screen - Point in case: the recent HBO series "Vinyl" is a good series, but the weakest episode is the pilot, directed by Scorsese, it is two hours long and disjointed much in the same manner as Ragging Bull - the rest of the series, made as most HBO series are, (and directed by others) plays much better. - One other thing about Ragging Bull, it may be the only fight film that does not culminate in a 'big fight' climax - that makes it unique for boxing films - but I would suspect that may be disappointing to some.

[Caractacus]

What....no love for "The Hammer"?

you talking about the movie with Fred Williamson ?

[Ambling Alp II]

I guess I am alone on this one, but I didn't like Raging Bull. Thought it was boring. Never got why so many people thought that it was so great.

Liked Rocky, Cinderella Man, The Harder they Fall, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The only thing I didn't like about Cinderella Man is that they did not show Baer's goofy side.

The Mickey Ward movie was actually pretty good.
I remember watching the Dempsey TV move once as a kid and liked it; not sure if I would now or not.

In what year did you see RAGING BULL ?
Did you watch it at the cinema ?

If what you are saying is that Raging bull did not translate to TV well, I would agree - Scorsese is a film maker and his episodic technique does not work well on the small screen - Point in case: the recent HBO series "Vinyl" is a good series, but the weakest episode is the pilot, directed by Scorsese, it is two hours long and disjointed much in the same manner as Ragging Bull - the rest of the series, made as most HBO series are, (and directed by others) plays much better. - One other thing about Ragging Bull, it may be the only fight film that does not culminate in a 'big fight' climax - that makes it unique for boxing films - but I would suspect that may be disappointing to some.

I doubt I would have liked in the big screen either. It was not that it did not have a dramatic ending, it's that it was boring. People have different tastes; Scorese also did Taxi Driver, another movie that some people really like and I thought it was another movie that was extremely boring.

[BoxBuzz]

What....no love for "The Hammer"?

you talking about the movie with Fred Williamson ?

[handsofstone]

Calcium Kid and The Grudge Match