Ron Howard's new movie, Cinderella Man, stars Russell Crowe as boxer James J. Braddock. Braddock earned the nickname "Cinderella Man" when he came back from a failed career and the depths of the Great Depression to upset heavyweight champion, Max Baer, in 1935. It is sort of like a 1930's version of Rocky, but I hesitate to make the comparison, because A) it really happened and B) it's all-around a much better movie.
Braddock was a top contender in the late 1920's, but he lost everything after a couple of defeats and the Stockmarket Crash of 1929. After that, he lost more fights than he won, and eventually no one would hire him. He took odd jobs down at the docks and stood in bread lines to keep his family together. In 1934, he got a lucky break and became a last-minute stand-in against John "Corn" Griffin. Everyone expected him to be the designated punching bag, but he knocked out Griffin in 3 rounds. After similar upsets against top contenders, John Henry Lewis and Art Lasky, he got a title shot against Max Baer. Overcoming 10-to-1 odds, he defeated Baer and became the heavyweight champion. An excellent recap of his history is at East Side Boxing.
What surprised me was how closely Howard followed the true story. After reading up on Braddock, about the only thing I see that's different from the actual events is the portrayal of Baer as a snarling heavy. Baer was much more of a clowning goofball than a serial killer. While mentioning that Baer killed two men in the ring, the film does not bring up the fact that Baer donated the money from his subsequent bouts to the victim's family and lost four of his next six fights due to his fear that he might do it again. Consider it a nit picked, however. The rest of the history is as accurate as you can get inside a major Hollywood film. I almost wish they went further into Braddock's life, as he went on to fight and lose to Joe Louis in almost as dramatic a fashion as when he defeated Baer.
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1 - Paul Ferrazzi
HOLLYWOOD HYPOCRISY HITS ALL TIME HIGH!
"When the country was on its knees, he brought America to its feet," proclaims the advertising campaign for "Cinderella Man," Academy Award© winning producer/director Ron Howard’s new film about American boxing legend James Braddock. "I wanted to remind people that the working poor existed then, and we have it today. While the economy is mostly up and then sometimes down…we’re anxious. Our population is anxious," said Howard.
Obviously, Mr. Howard’s anxiety does not include the members of the American filmmaking community, who were put out of work by the runaway production of his film to Canada.
In a pair of astoundingly hypocritical promotional events aimed at the hearts of the American film production and talent communities, the producers of the film have allied themselves with Below the Line trade publicationâ€"the self-proclaimed "Voice of the Crew," and The Screen Actors Guild Foundationâ€"the humanitarian and educational arm of the Screen Actors Guild. Below the Line is hosting a screening of the upcoming release on Thursday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at the Writer’s Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills. The Screen Actors Guild Foundation is hosting a screening on Sunday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at the Directors Guild Theater in Hollywood. At each event, members of his cast and crew will join Mr. Howard for a "Q & A" session with audiences of American film workers and actorsâ€"talent ineligible to work on this very project by virtue of his choice to outsource his production to Canada.
American film actors and production workers will unite at each of these events, asking outsourced actors and workers not to patronize this "poster child" for Runaway Production.
"In the Great Depression, America saw a jobless rate of twenty-five percent. In the American film industry right now, that figure is much higher. Perhaps Ron Howard doesn’t realize that the decision to make this story in a foreign country is contributing to the same kind of suffering that he finds so film worthy." â€" Tim McHugh, FTAC Executive Director
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