Thread: Boxing in the movies

I recently asked if anyone had seen the Phantom Punch and got NO replies, so looks like it might be a wash. However that said, what movies about boxing did you like , hate or maybe want to see.

As an oldie I still have a soft spot for Rocky and thought Cinderella Man was OK too.

I saw phantom punch last night, thought it was descent....the boxing was shit but wasnt a bad movie.

Can't say I'm into boxing movies...
But I have seen several.

Rocky Marciano w/ John Favreau
The Hurricane w/ Denzel Washington
Ali w/ Will Smith
Against The Ropes w/Omar Epps
Cinderalla Man
Rocky movies
Raging Bull w/ Robert DeNiro

I'm more into documentaries.
I prefer documentaries over boxing movies.
Some of my fav. documentaries:

"Bazooka" The Battles of Wilfredo Gomez
Beyond The Glory: Roberto Duran
Ring Of Fire: Emile Griffith
80's Olympic Boxing Documentary
When We Were Kings
Unfogiveable Blackness: Jack Johnson
Kings of The Ring: The Latin Legends
J. C. Chavez
When Louis Met Chris Eubank
Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: Sugar Ray Robinson
Sports Century: Marvin Hagler
Little Prince, Big Fight
Lionel: Lionel Rose

on the Documentary theme - I loved 'Clash of the Titans - Benn v Eubank'

movies - all the usual Rocky ect.. but quite liked Play it to the Bone with Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas in. Worth a watch I reckon.

I liked "Gladiator" with Cuba Gooding Jr., some white kid, and big fat Brian Dennehey.

"Head. Hardest part of the body kid"

Anyone ever see 'The power of one'??Think it came out in the late 80's and was set South Africa,Australia??Short on details but that is one that stuck with.

Oldie 'Requiem for a heavyweight' was an absolute classic and must see.'Play it to the bone' was far fetched but had a awesome fight finale

Originally Posted by Spicoli surfs 'Nawlins

Anyone ever see 'The power of one'??Think it came out in the late 80's and was set South Africa,Australia??Short on details but that is one that stuck with.

Oldie 'Requiem for a heavyweight' was an absolute classic and must see.'Play it to the bone' was far fetched but had a awesome fight finale

South Africa. A good one. My favorites were The Harder The Fall. The Set-up, and Raging Bull

I just love Rocky. Not 2,3,4,5 or the new 1 (tho i kinda liked it) Just the 1st, love it to bits.

and though im a bit shamed to admit it i liked the one in 1930's South Africa about the white and black boxers who work together and have a fight. Bad description really but maybe its for the best so you dont know what im on about.

Generally not into boxing films, as I find myself getting frustrated by the lack of realism in the fighting. There's way too many big power punches and hooks, apparently in movie boxing, NOBODY jabs. Cinderella Man particularly pissed me off with this, as well as its disgusting portrayal of Max Baer.

Even some of the Rocky films pissed me off like this (such as in Rocky III where he punches the guy off his feet like 2 feet into the air). In fact the Rocky films wind me up partly because Stallone is quite clearly never a Heavyweight, at least not one who could be successful, purely because of his size. In fact most of the guys in the films look like blown up MWs or LHWs.

All of that said, I absolutely love Ali, one of my favourite films. They have realistic boxing (which they apparently choreographed to his fights) and the performances all round fantastic, particularly Will Smith actually making me forget he's bloody Will Smith & thinking "that's Ali". It's also well-directed, fairly objective and & has a fantastic score. I actually have yet to see Raging Bull, which is apparently really good.

Otherwise I've seen a fair few, which by and large are all very disappointing. Also too many films about boxers whose lives don't really warrant a movie (see the Rocky Marciano film & probably the upcoming Micky Ward film). Ironic when you consider how many great characters & stories there are in boxing, but a lot of the best will never get made.

Hve to echo a couple of posts above, Ali was a great film & actually realstic coempared to Rocky (Balboa) at the least

Theres a new documentrary out or coming out soon called 'Tyson' featuring....yep Mike Tyson all about his career with exclusive interviews and his crazy thoughts on pretty much...everything

Originally Posted by Spicoli surfs 'Nawlins

Anyone ever see 'The power of one'??Think it came out in the late 80's and was set South Africa,Australia??Short on details but that is one that stuck with.

Oldie 'Requiem for a heavyweight' was an absolute classic and must see.'Play it to the bone' was far fetched but had a awesome fight finale

It came out in the early 90s and the film is fairly poor. The book written by Bryce Courtenay is very good but the follow up Tandia doesnt quite match it.

Its set in South Africa during apartheid and a young Daniel Craig plays a pretty good part.

fav is rocky

one i hated most was ALI just that will smith tried so hard to immitate him that he had no energy almost, film just did not work for me, but maybe because if u know the story so well already then pretty boring watching a film abt it. same as some tyson film i watched that was crap as well.

documentrys defo better the thriller in manilla doc that was on abt 6 mths ago was one of the best but when we were kings in defo my fav doc

If they ever did one on Bobby Chacon, no one would believe it because the truth (in that one) would be stranger than fiction.

Lovin' the first 3 Rockys