History of Boxing in Film: “The Great White Hype.”

Boxing has long been fodder for some of the greatest movies Hollywood has ever produced. “The Champ,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “Rocky,” “Raging Bull” and the new Clint Eastwood film, “Million Dollar Baby,” to name but a few. “The Great White Hype” is not a great movie, but the beautiful thing is that it doesn’t pretend to be.

A thinly disguised satire of heavyweight boxing in the Tyson era, it uses some of Hollywood’s leading actors to play roles that should be familiar to fans of the sport. The jive-talking promoter Reverend Fred Sultan (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is a take on Don King. Damon Wayans plays the Mike Tyson role (James “The Grim Reaper’ Roper), that of an undefeated heavyweight champion, rapidly running out of challengers and desire to train.

With Roper taking all before him, the boxing world is frantically searching for a real challenger. Sultan decides to go looking for the only man to defeat Roper as an amateur – the conveniently white “Irish” Terry Conklin (played by ER’s Peter Berg). Trouble is, “Irish” Terry is no longer boxing, but instead fronting a death metal band. Once he’s aware how much money he’ll be taking home, however, his mind soon changes and the match is made, to the skepticism of the boxing media and sporting world in general.

Reverend Fred first has to bribe the head of the sanctioning body in order to get Terry ranked high enough to get a shot at the title. Jose Sulaiman, er…I mean, Julio Escobar (Cheech Marin), the head of the organization, is thankfully as crooked as a rattlesnake and it doesn’t take much cocaine, or many hookers, for Conklin to get his ranking. Shades of Tyson-McNeeley perhaps?

Jeff Goldblum is particularly funny as the reporter-turned novice boxing promoter, so convinced of Conklin’s success that he signs him to a deal, stealing him from under the Sultan’s nose. Corbin Bernsen, Jon Lovitz and Jamie Foxx provide excellent support, as does Michael Jace (who can now be seen on TV’s “The Shield”) playing the role of the rightful challenger to Roper’s throne, Marvin Shabazz. Brian Setzer also makes a cameo and fans of his rockabilly guitar style will get a treat.

It won’t change your life but hey, grab a six-pack, leave your brain at the front gate; relax and enjoy an hour and a half full of laughs and, sadly, some home truths about the sport of boxing that most fans would rather not admit.

Greig Johnston can be reached at levibillups@yahoo.com