Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story
Posted: 04 Mar 2005, 12:06
Sounds a good one, and it's due out soon -
Hollywood reporter -
Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story
By Kirk Honeycutt
Bottom line: A terrific examination of a sports tragedy with much larger implications for American society.
PARK CITY -- The makers of "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story" tackle the issues, controversy and lingering effects of one of the most famous deaths in the sport of boxing with rigorous inquiry and open mindedness. The death of Benny "Kid" Paret at the lightning-fast hands of Emile Griffith in 1962 touches on themes ranging from violence in sports and the cult of machismo to media sensationalism, the role of fate and forgiveness and the taboo of homosexuality in virtually all sports. While looking at these issues, producers- directors Dan Klores and Ron Berger also create a profound portrait of a man haunted by a single moment in his otherwise glamorous past.
NBC has acquired the film for broadcast on USA Network, probably in April. It makes a great big screen movie, however, so a small theatrical release might bring in an interesting mix of sports fans and students of American cultural history.
On Saturday night, March 24, 1962, a national TV audience looked on in horror as challenger Griffith caught welterweight champ Paret, exhausted in the 12th round of their fight in Madison Square Garden, in a lonesome corner. In a pummeling that seemed interminable but in reality lasted only seconds, thus denying referee Ruby Goldstein a chance to intervene, Griffith knocked Paret senseless. He lapsed into a coma and died 10 days later. It was the first live death on in network television history. The sport was taken off the air for ten years.
Defying expectations, Griffith, actually a very gentle soul who admits he hates to get hit, went on to win and lose championships throughout the '60s and '70s. He retired in 1977.
Over the years, the story surrounding the tragedy has grown and deepened, and this is what the filmmakers explore. The bout was the third and final showdown between the fighters. Bad blood had grown between them since the first bout, which Griffith won.
An illegal immigrant from the Virgin Islands, Griffith attracted the attention of trainers due to his astonishing physique. He proved a quick study and his rise was meteoric. Yet whispers soon circulated in boxing circles that Griffith was gay. Nothing, of course, could be more at odds with a boxer's image. Nor could any boxer expect a career if such were the case.
Paret, a Cuban exile, taunted Griffith at the second fight and the weigh-in for the third with the Spanish slur maricon, which in American lingo means "faggot." What impact this really had on what happened is hard to say. Griffith and his trainers still insist the fighter, a superb professional athlete, only followed orders to batter his opponent until the ref intervened.
The film offers a much more telling fact during an interview with Gene Fullmer, who had all but destroyed Paret in a bout 100 days earlier. Fullmer says Paret's manager had no business letting his fighter back into the ring so soon after such a thrashing.
The movie ends with a touching and tearful meeting between Griffith, now physically and mentally weakened due to a brutal beating outside a bar in 1995, and Paret's now grown son, Benny Paret Jr.
As to the issue of his sexuality, Griffith admits he goes occasionally to gay bars and shrugs off questions about his homosexuality. People can think what they want, he says.
This is a magnificent and emotional look at a sports tragedy. It is enormously aided by commentary from such figures as Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, Neal Gabler, Norman Mailer and a host of boxers as well as use of archival footage and popular music of that era that capture a time when America still largely dwelled in self-imposed innocence. The most telling song is the first one: James Brown's recording of "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World."
RING OF FIRE: THE EMILE GRIFFITH STORY
Hole in the Fence Films in association with Shoot the Moon Productions
Credits: Directors/producers: Dan Klores, Ron Berger
Executive producer: Lewis Katz
Co-producer: Jack Newfield
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Editor: Michael Levine
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 87 minutes
Hollywood reporter -
Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story
By Kirk Honeycutt
Bottom line: A terrific examination of a sports tragedy with much larger implications for American society.
PARK CITY -- The makers of "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story" tackle the issues, controversy and lingering effects of one of the most famous deaths in the sport of boxing with rigorous inquiry and open mindedness. The death of Benny "Kid" Paret at the lightning-fast hands of Emile Griffith in 1962 touches on themes ranging from violence in sports and the cult of machismo to media sensationalism, the role of fate and forgiveness and the taboo of homosexuality in virtually all sports. While looking at these issues, producers- directors Dan Klores and Ron Berger also create a profound portrait of a man haunted by a single moment in his otherwise glamorous past.
NBC has acquired the film for broadcast on USA Network, probably in April. It makes a great big screen movie, however, so a small theatrical release might bring in an interesting mix of sports fans and students of American cultural history.
On Saturday night, March 24, 1962, a national TV audience looked on in horror as challenger Griffith caught welterweight champ Paret, exhausted in the 12th round of their fight in Madison Square Garden, in a lonesome corner. In a pummeling that seemed interminable but in reality lasted only seconds, thus denying referee Ruby Goldstein a chance to intervene, Griffith knocked Paret senseless. He lapsed into a coma and died 10 days later. It was the first live death on in network television history. The sport was taken off the air for ten years.
Defying expectations, Griffith, actually a very gentle soul who admits he hates to get hit, went on to win and lose championships throughout the '60s and '70s. He retired in 1977.
Over the years, the story surrounding the tragedy has grown and deepened, and this is what the filmmakers explore. The bout was the third and final showdown between the fighters. Bad blood had grown between them since the first bout, which Griffith won.
An illegal immigrant from the Virgin Islands, Griffith attracted the attention of trainers due to his astonishing physique. He proved a quick study and his rise was meteoric. Yet whispers soon circulated in boxing circles that Griffith was gay. Nothing, of course, could be more at odds with a boxer's image. Nor could any boxer expect a career if such were the case.
Paret, a Cuban exile, taunted Griffith at the second fight and the weigh-in for the third with the Spanish slur maricon, which in American lingo means "faggot." What impact this really had on what happened is hard to say. Griffith and his trainers still insist the fighter, a superb professional athlete, only followed orders to batter his opponent until the ref intervened.
The film offers a much more telling fact during an interview with Gene Fullmer, who had all but destroyed Paret in a bout 100 days earlier. Fullmer says Paret's manager had no business letting his fighter back into the ring so soon after such a thrashing.
The movie ends with a touching and tearful meeting between Griffith, now physically and mentally weakened due to a brutal beating outside a bar in 1995, and Paret's now grown son, Benny Paret Jr.
As to the issue of his sexuality, Griffith admits he goes occasionally to gay bars and shrugs off questions about his homosexuality. People can think what they want, he says.
This is a magnificent and emotional look at a sports tragedy. It is enormously aided by commentary from such figures as Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, Neal Gabler, Norman Mailer and a host of boxers as well as use of archival footage and popular music of that era that capture a time when America still largely dwelled in self-imposed innocence. The most telling song is the first one: James Brown's recording of "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World."
RING OF FIRE: THE EMILE GRIFFITH STORY
Hole in the Fence Films in association with Shoot the Moon Productions
Credits: Directors/producers: Dan Klores, Ron Berger
Executive producer: Lewis Katz
Co-producer: Jack Newfield
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Editor: Michael Levine
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 87 minutes