As Movies.ie prepares for the release of Matt Damon’s The Fighter, we get ready with five great fighting flicks!
RAGING BULL
Robert De Niro, in a career-defining performance, plays middleweight champ Jake LaMotta from the height of his fame through his self-destructive decline. Beautifully shot in Black and White, Scorsese’s brutal fight scenes remain definitive, especially with the manipulation of sound and time-lapse from the boxer’s point-of-view. An altogether classic American film.
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Weighing in with four Oscars to its name is the Clint Eastwood directed movie Million Dollar Baby. An adaptation of F.X. Toole’s gritty stories by Paul Haggis, the film film manages to perfectly captures the boxing zeitgeist through the tragic life of one female boxer (played by Hilary Swank in her finest roles to date.
ON THE WATERFRONT
This classic film tells the story of ex-prize fighter Terry “coulda been a contender” Malloy (Marlon Brando) and his struggle against union corruption along the New York waterfront. The film went on to win eight Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Marlon Brando), Supporting Actress, Story & Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction-Set Decoration and Editing.
THE HURRICANE
Directed by Norman Jewison and starring Denzel Washington, ‘The Hurricane’ is the story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter whose has boxing hopes shattered when he’s wrongly imprisoned for a triple murder… With a first class performance from Denzel, and a powerful story of racism and injustice, ‘The Hurricane’ certainly packs a punch.
ALI
Often overlooked and certainly undervalued, Mann’s boxing epic is a meditation on one of the most controversial and interesting public figures who doesn’t completely realise his importance until that legendary Rumble in The Jungle. Packed with a wealthy of Ali infor, lots of emotional depth, and a triumphant performance by Smith, ‘Ali’ should not be overlooked!