The comeback

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The comeback
Original title Cinderella Man
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2005
length 145 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Ron Howard
script Cliff Hollingsworth
Akiva Goldsman
production Brian Grazer
Ron Howard
Penny Marshall
music Thomas Newman
camera Salvatore Totino
cut Daniel P. Hanley
Mike Hill
occupation

The Comeback (original title: Cinderella Man ) is a Golden Globe and three-time Oscar-nominated film by director Ron Howard and is based on the true story of boxer Jim Braddock , who was nicknamed "The Bulldog of Bergen" and as a boxer before the Great Depression "Pride of the Irish" was named Cinderella Man in the course of its sensational comeback 1933–1935 from the press .

action

The year is 1928: James J. Braddock is a successful Irish-American light heavyweight boxer from New Jersey. His compatriots call him The Bulldog of Bergen . He is extremely happily married to Mae , rushes from victory to victory and has a beautiful little mansion in the New York area. The two have three children: Howard , the oldest, about ten, Jay , the middle, and little Rosie , the youngest, about three.

After a victory in Madison Square Garden, he drives home in a taxi with his manager and trainer Joe Gould , greets his happily in love wife, chats with her, and at the end of the evening you can see him taking off his day clothes in front of the mirrored dresser.

Temporal fading of the chest of drawers from 1928 to 1933. All the small decorative objects have disappeared, the camera moves backwards, you can see the room: the villa has disappeared, instead the whole family lives in a poor one-room apartment made of raw wooden planks, all three children have only one Bed.

It is now 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression during the Great Depression. Braddock tries to make ends meet his family as dock workers on a daily basis and through accidental boxing matches. The family lives below the subsistence level, Braddock is weakened from hunger. In addition, a metacarpal bone in his right hand broke. The pressing financial shortage makes him say yes to a fight that he cannot win with his injury. During the fight, the hand breaks with a blow, and he tries to survive the fight with clamps until the final gong. The audience boos him, the boxing organizer withdraws his license as a professional boxer.

With the help of black shoe polish, Braddock camouflages the white plaster of paris of the broken hand in order to have a chance at the dock gates to be selected as unloading and loading for one day or another.

It is winter, there is not enough food, the family's electricity is cut, the general store no longer writes, the milkman stops delivering. When Braddock is at the docks again, Mae, like many families in a similar situation, decides to give the sick children to relatives in the hope of a better chance for them to survive. This single-handed decision leads to a dispute between the spouses. Howard, the eldest, had stolen a large salami from the butcher, knowing that children will be taken away when there is no longer enough food to survive. Braddock had returned the stolen goods with the boy and promised the child never to give them away. Howard's fear has now come true.

Braddock ensures the family's survival by drawing on a sum of money from a state welfare fund. At the height of his desperation he even goes to the boxing club and begs the managers for handouts - a low point in his life. Joe Gould also gives him a few coins.

Spring is coming, the family lives together again in the poor rented apartment.

Thanks to a last minute resignation from another boxer, Braddock's longtime manager and friend Joe Gould offers him the chance to jump in for just one night for a single - approved - fight and make some cash. The fight is against number two in the world heavyweight division, Corn Griffin .

Against all odds, Braddock wins by knocking out in the third round. Braddock gets his license back and even a sum of money from Joe Gould, with the help of which he can earn a living during a few weeks of intense boxing training.

Against Mae's request, Braddock accepts Gould's offer. Mae initially believes Gould is trying to exploit her husband until she discovers that Gould and his wife have also lost everything. Joe and Lucille Gould are sitting in an empty apartment. Little by little you had to sell everything. Mae realizes that Gould is a firm believer in her husband's talent.

Braddock fights his way up through a series of opponents - until the fight for the world title. His opponent is Max Baer .

Prize money has accumulated. Braddock used part of it to personally return the Government Relief Fund bridging money during the Great Depression.

The press gives Braddock the name "The Cinderella Man" now that he woke up from a fairytale slumber.

The title fight against Max Baer is now on. Max Baer is successful and has been in good financial shape for a long time. At a big evening reception, during which the two title contenders are supposed to see each other, Mae puts a piece of steak in her handbag during dinner - for the children at home. Poverty is not yet forgotten.

Braddock is a 10-to-1 underdog. Not only Mae is afraid for her husband, but also James Johnston , the organizer, forces Braddock and Gould to watch a film of Baer in action in the presence of a lawyer, in order to make both aware of the full extent of the risk. Two men had died in the ring under the force of Baer's right straight.

Braddock was able to use the screening to study the early stages of Baer's fatal blow. Now Braddock shows no fear. He's a professional boxer and he wants the fight.

On June 13, 1935, in one of the greatest one-time miracles in boxing history, James J. Braddock defeated Max Baer, ​​who was apparently far superior in terms of training and strength, and became the heavyweight boxing world champion.

The epilogue tells that Braddock later helped build the Verrazano Bridge, continued to work as an entrepreneur and machine operator on the docks until the end of his working hours after his victory, and that he and Mae used his boxing bonus from the world championship to buy a house, where the family lived happily and in peace for the rest of their lives.

criticism

  • film-dienst 18/2005: The film is more of a sentimental family drama than a realistic questioning of an individual and social crisis situation. Morally preprogrammed and dramaturgically surprising, it captivates mainly through its excellent leading actors.
  • “The Comeback” cleverly maintains the balance between sports film and drama and puts one of his priorities on Braddock's primary goal and purpose in life: to protect his wife and children and to hold them together. That's what he fights in the ring for, that's his motivation. So neither the hard boxing scenes, which are perfectly staged down to the last detail, nor the interpersonal relationships in all their facets. " Filmreporter.de

Representation by Max Baer

The film was heavily criticized , especially in the US for portraying former heavyweight world champion Max Baer . For the script, Baer becomes an overboxer at the expense of historical authenticity, who is defeated by the blatant outsider Jim Braddock. Dramaturgically, the exaggeration of Baer's combative superiority served to illustrate the eminent risk to life and limb to which the outsider Braddock was about to expose himself through a fight with a very strong opponent.

In fact, Baer also struggled to the top during the great global economic crisis after numerous defeats and was not the outstanding fighter as portrayed in the film. Only boxing legend Joe Louis would become such a dominant figure , who knocked Max Baer three months after his fight against Braddock in the 4th round and Jim Braddock in 1937 the heavyweight title - by knocking out in the 8th.

The portrayal of Baer's character is negatively exaggerated in some places. Not addressed in the film, for example, is the fact that Baer suffered very badly from the unfortunate manslaughter of one of his opponents ( Frankie Campbell ) in the ring. The incident marked a major break in Baer's career, from which he recovered only slowly, physically and mentally, and brought the deceased's children through college through generous donations.

The film largely leaves out the religious and political background. Baer fought against Braddock with a clearly visible Star of David embroidered on his pants , which he had worn for the first time in an earlier fight against Max Schmeling , for his solidarity with the Jewish people and faith (his father was of Jewish faith, he himself was not) and at the same time to express his struggle against the Nazi regime of Hitler. The Star of David is only visible for a very short time in the film.

In relation to Braddock's Jewish manager Joe Gould , the issue of religious and ethnic affiliation is also excluded.

Depiction of other boxers

Corn Griffin is portrayed quite authentically as an emerging heavyweight "on the way up", for whom Braddock is merely a build-up opponent . Corn Griffin had a record of 44 wins (24 KOs), 11 losses (3 KOs) and 1 draw and had been knocked out twice in his last 6 fights. (Against Buck Everett in the 6th and against Bob Godwin in the 4th) Griffin ended his career in 1938 with a record of 45 wins (26 KOs), 26 losses (11 KOs) and 1 draw.

background

  • Russell Crowe learned the basics of boxing from an expert in the boxing style of the 20s to 50s, which is very different from boxing today. He also analyzed the original recordings of Braddock's fights and other contemporary boxers. Ron Howard said that Crowe had meticulously studied boxing, so he did sparring matches and punching bag exercises even after filming. Crowe, however, himself said that with the end of the project, the active practice of boxing would be over for him.
  • The official novel of the same name for the film was written by Marc Cerasini and Ralf Schmitz and was published by Egmont Ehapa Verlag in August 2005 .

Awards

Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti were nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globe Awards , which took place on January 16, 2006 . At the 78th Academy Awards, which took place on March 5, 2006, the film was nominated in three categories, but, as before at the Golden Globes , came away empty-handed.

Golden Globe 2006

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Actor - Drama (Russell Crowe)
  • Best Supporting Actor (Paul Giamatti)

Oscar 2006

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Supporting Actor (Paul Giamatti)
  • Best cut
  • Best makeup

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The Comeback . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2005 (PDF; test number: 102 905 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Das Comeback . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Film review on filmreporter.de ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.filmreporter.de
  4. ↑ https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/21023