As far as the sport of boxing is concerned, I can only utter the words so often used by Sergeant Schultz in the television program Hogan’s Heroes: “I know nothing – NOTHING!”
And yet I chose to watch the movie “Cinderella Man” during which viewing I saw more boxing than I have ever seen in my entire lifetime. This does not appear to me to be a happy sport; however, there are millions of people who have participated in or followed boxing from the days of ancient Greece and Rome so my opinion is of little consequence regarding its happiness factor.
The movie “Cinderella Man” is a 2005 drama titled after the nickname of heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock. It was directed by Ron Howard. The story, which is based on Braddock’s life, took place in the 1930’s in New York. Much of the plot revolved around Braddock’s home life and the devastation being experienced by his family and throughout the country at that time due to the Great Depression.
The plot
Braddock (Russell Crowe) was an up-and-coming boxer who experienced some physical hardships that had interrupted his career. He is a devoted family man who wants desperately to provide for his wife Mae (Renee Zellweger) and their three children, but finds this extremely difficult given the economic times. Without an income from boxing, Braddock takes every opportunity that arises to secure manual labor and yet at one point finds it necessary to pass his hat around to boxing moguls for donations of money in order to keep his family together. He also signs up for and accepts public assistance which he finds very difficult to have to accept.
An unusual circumstance occurs which allows Braddock to get signed for a single boxing match where it is expected that he will lose, but the $250 fee that is offered makes it very worthwhile for him to accept the match.
Braddock unexpectedly wins and he eventually has a shot at the heavyweight championship which is held at that time by Max Baer. Baer is said to have killed two boxers in the ring, so there is a great deal of trepidation on the part of Braddock’s wife, Mae, and it appears that Braddock is probably more than a little worried about surviving although the film doesn’t belabor that.
The time for the match draws near.
Will he fight? If so, will he survive? And if he fights and survives, will he win? You have to watch the movie to find that out!
In conclusion
“Cinderella Man” is as much or even more about the personal life of Braddock as it is about his boxing career.
I very much liked the emphasis that was placed on Braddock’s character: his handling of the situation when his son stole food (“We never steal, understood?”); his devotion to his wife and children; his interaction with friends; his willingness to do whatever he could to support his family; the fact that he was neither a complainer nor a quitter, and his courage at undertaking all that he needed to do for his family to survive.
It deepened my understanding of the people that I have personally known who lived during the Great Depression years.
My in-laws had no home and no money for rent, so they lived in a tent in central South Dakota during that time. It always seemed to me that because of that they never overcame their fear of being broke which affected them in many ways throughout their lifetimes.
My parents had a house in a small town in South Dakota. They were able to provide food for their family because my father had a produce business and could supply chicken and eggs for our table. They had a huge garden and my mother was expert at canning and preserving food. Also, my brothers were avid hunters and fishermen which was a big help. There was a running joke in our family that my father once provided my brother with 10 shotgun shells. My brother brought home eight pheasants, and my father had lamented somewhat that my brother that wasted two bullets! Times were tough!
Throughout the movie I had many teachable moments while I observed the hardships of the people living in the city versus in small communities during the Great Depression — those living in the city had no ready source of food and circumstances were most dire to say the least.
I even appreciated learning more about the art of boxing and the behind-the-scenes activities of the promoters at Madison Square Garden.
This film never took off at the box office, but both the acting and the storyline left me feeling satisfied that the time I had spent watching it was not ill-spent. I would give it about 3.5 out of 5. It is rated PG-13.
Other movie reviews by R.C. Johnson: Amadeus; The Incredibles; The Notebook; Slumdog Millionaire; Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog; WALL-E; Gran Torino; The Man Who Would Be King, The Princess Bride; The Mission; Top Gun; Crocodile Dundee; Maid to Order; Beaches; The Indian in the Cupboard; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Witness;The Gods Must Be Crazy;Flywheel, Facing the Giants and Fireproof.
Sources for updates on the actors and director:
wikipedia.org, Cinderella Man (film)
wikipedia.org, Russell Crowe (James J. Braddock)
wikipedia.org, Renee Zellweger, (Mae Braddock)
wikipedia.org, Paul Giamatti, (Joe Gould, Braddock’s manager)
wikipedia.org, Ron Howard, director
