The_winner_takes_it_all: The Boxer and the Boxing Movie

Lately i caught myself getting fascinating by a large number of boxing movies. It may be the way that these particular movies represent, or sometimes actually present, masculinity, or it could be the role that play in shaping male -hero- model roles. Leger Grindon's 'Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema' is probably the first proper academic book that isolates the boxing movie, without 'considering it as a sub-genre of sports movie' (Newman, 2012:93). From Martin Scorsese's Ranging Bull (1980), to Gavin O'Connor's The Warrior (2011) we are talking for more than 30 years of filmmaking that evidently formed a particular genre that has a lot more to address and show than merely 'fighting'.

'One sure thing was that it wouldn't be a film about boxing!' Leger Grindon quotes Martin Scorsese on the approach he and Robert De Niro took to the Jake LaMotta biopic Ranging Bull (1980). 'We didn't know a thing about it and it didn't interest us at all.' Martin Scorsese admitted his immatureness in directing a boxing film and to be fair that was the right thing to do (!), since it was another man who gave birth to the boxing genre as we know it today. Sylvester Stallone's boxing saga Rocky, not only established a whole new era and genre, but became the inspiration for a great number of boxers. Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky V (1990) and Rocky Balboa (2006) are the 5 popular films all written by Sylvester Stallone. Each film's unforgettable and, in a way, classical training sequences are still the ultimate motivation for every prospect and, why not, professional boxer.

Grindon's book is not only about boxing movies, it is also about documentaries like When We Were Kings (Leon Gast, 1996) and On the Ropes (Burstein & Morgen, 1996).

When We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary documentary of the 1974 heavyweight championship bout in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali. 

On the Ropes (1999) is the story of three young boxers and their coach who is determined to guide them in a positive direction in and out of the ring.

'The Boxer stands alongside the cowboy, the gangster, and the detective as a figure that has shaped America's idea of manhood,' (Grindon, 2011). Grindon's book considers the changing face (and ethnicity ) of American manhood as embodied by such characters as the Champ, ruthless Kirk Douglas in Champion (1949), ex-boxers like Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954), Rocky Balboa, LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980) and the Heroines of Girlfight (2000) and Million Dollar Baby (2006). In this point it is interesting to mention how often boxing movies - and performances as boxers  - have earned Oscars, suggesting that Hollywood voters at least respond to boxers than they do to cowboys, gangsters and detectives. 

Michelle Rodriguez as Diana Guzman in Girlfight (2000)

Academy Award Winner Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (2006)

The 21st century's film industry has shown a particular interest in producing boxing and fighting films. From Fight Club's (David Fincher, 1999), to Fighting's (Dito Montiel, 2009) street-fighting and from Ron Howard's Cinderella Man (2005) to The Fighter (David O. Russell, 2010) biopics, the boxing film is present and relevant more that ever. 

Channing Tatum in Fighting (2009)

Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter (2010)

Daren Aronofsky's The Wrestler (2008) could not be dismissed. Giving and exceptional performance, Mickey Rourke plays an aging professional wrestler who continues to wrestle matches in an attempt to cling on to his 1980s heyday despite his failing health, while also trying to mend his relationship with his estranged daughter and find romance with a stripper. The film received universal critical acclaim and Rourke's performance in the film gave renewed interest to his career. 

Circa 2012 and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) catches more and more attention. These fighters have become the new superheroes for the young generation. The fascination with the sport has even seeped into the walls of academia. Of course, the impact of Fight Club could not be discounted; it became a manifesto for a generation of boys who felt estranged from their masculinity. While boxing was on the decline, Mixed Martial Arts was evolving into a tamer, more socially presentable version of itself. I won't say more about MMA, since i am not an expert (yet!), but i will leave you with the following closing scene (and the amazing song) from the film Warrior (2011); a film that i watched last night and made me realise that i really have a certain fascination with this kind of films. Hope this will lead to something inspirational and creative for all of us..