The Fighter

[MarkGrace]

That's been this month's media spin for "The Fighter," an impeccably acted drama about two brothers -- a boxer and his addict trainer -- that will be remembered as the best sports movie of 2010 by default. The film was marketed so brilliantly that nobody ever asked, "Wait a second, why did such a successful actor have so much trouble getting a relatively inexpensive movie made?"

The easy answer: Since "Rocky" captured the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976, Hollywood has churned out an average of one boxing movie per year. That's astonishing, especially when the average American sports fan can name only four active boxers right now: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and the Klitschko brothers, whom nobody can identify individually beyond, "I think one of them dates Hayden Panettiere." The complete roll call since 1976: "Rocky"; "The Greatest"; "Rocky II"; "The Champ"; "The Main Event"; "Penitentiary"; "Raging Bull"; "Body and Soul"; "Penitentiary II"; "Rocky III"; "Tough Enough"; "Rocky IV"; "Teen Wolf II"; "Penitentiary III"; "Rocky V"; "Play It to the Bone"; "Gladiator"; "Diggstown"; "When We Were Kings"; "The Great White Hype"; "The Hurricane"; "The Boxer"; "Rocky Marciano"; "Girlfight"; "Ali"; "Undisputed"; "Million Dollar Baby"; "Against the Ropes"; "Cinderella Man"; "Undisputed II"; "Rocky Balboa"; "Resurrecting the Champ"; "The Hammer"; "Fighting"; "The Fighter."

[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmonsnfl2010/week16picks"]Bill Simmons: "The Fighter" and future of sports movies - ESPN[/ame]

Would have never guessed that.

[CJF]

I finally saw The Fighter. Like most here, I really enjoyed it. The characters were well done and I thought Bale was outstanding. However, I thought most of the actual boxing scenes were pretty poorly done. That seems like it should be important in a movie based on boxing.

[Portland Ute]

Bill Simmons: "The Fighter" and future of sports movies - ESPN

Would have never guessed that.

Gladiator was a boxing movie?

[MarkGrace]

Gladiator was a boxing movie?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104346/

[Portland Ute]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104346/

Got it. I guess I never knew that one existed.

Oh, the shame.

[wuapinmon]

We watched it last night. The acting was solid, but, overall, it was a meh.

I can see why others liked it; I just didn't identify with the characters and the boxing scenes weren't believable--sometimes you could tell, easily, that no one got hit.

[Viking]

I watched this again last night. One of my favorite movies. I love the ending: he WINS!