Cinderella Man - Yea or Nay

Is this worth seeing?

How do the boxing scenes look? Realistic or phony?

I've read that Baer comes across as a brutal thug, when actually he was a fun loving type.

I have a feeling that Ron Howard has overly sentimentalized the story. Am I correct?

[hamed]

In the local paper this morning, a guy who's a tough critic gave it 3 out of 4 stars & really seemed to enjoy it.

Maybe they made out Baer to be more of a bully than he really was for dramtic effect. That's the movies, you can't have 2 good guys fighting each other. I did see a brief clip on ESPN with a guy who knew Braddock & said he was a much better/nicer person than he was a boxer.

[jaylosch]

With Angelo Dundee as the ringside consultant, Id be pretty optimistic.

[vistaman44]

... last night, and it interviewed the actors, as well as many in the fight game. Vintage footage was also shown. Howard may have made some scenes sappy, but he seemed genuinely interested in portraying Braddock's Cinderella story accurately. I'm going to see it tonight.

[tim_uwrf]

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...cinderella+man

The best sports movie I've ever seen. Probably the best of the year and won't doubt several Oscar nominations and wins.

[rickert]

Best choreographed fight scenes ever in terms of camera angles and realism. All but one thing in the film is extremely positive. To me the one negative is the, in my opinion, tremendously inaccurate depiction of Max Baer in the film. I know they probably needed a villain but I doubt they needed one that bad.

Rick T.

[jrftbl56]

I thought it was a great movie and a compelling story the fight scenes i thought were very well done but not perfect i think they were worried about pushing it with there superstar Russel Crowe but it was still a great movie. I also got a new book on the Cinderella man a couple of days ago written by a friend of my familys Jim Hague a local sports writer from the Jersey Journal called Braddox definatly a good read.

[El Cid Part II]

I saw that the camera man got beat up pretty bad to make some of those shots realistic

So if anything, you should see it just for the cameraman

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Saw the movie last night. I really enjoyed just because it's good story, put aside the boxing aspect of it. I'm sure there were some dramatic liscence taken on some of the story to make the movie more "heart pulling" for those that maybe are not that interested in the boxing. My wife who could care less about boxing enjoyed it because of the story and I'm sure what Ron Howard and the makers did with the story is in part to draw people like my wife to come see it.

How accurate are the boxing scenes and was the portrayal(did I spell that right?!) of Baer on? From what I have read about Baer, again for the aspect of that good guy/bad guy thing needed in this kind of movie, I kind of think they made Baer out more of the bad guy then he really was. But, I still liked it. It's just a good movie to see. Go into it to enjoy a good story, enjoy some pretty good boxing scenes (though I think again, over dramatized), without getting too hung up on how accurate everything is told, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Rocco

[rickert]

Baer actually almost retired from the ring due to the first death he caused. He then sent a couple of his next fight purses to the boxer's family. So he really wasn't portrayed very accurately at all.

Rick T.

[crusadecat]

I plan on seeing it tommorow. I'm a fan of Ron Howard's directing and with it being a boxing film this should be a big hit for me. Most of the reviews have been pretty solid so I'm truly hoping we get a good one.

[crusadecat]

I agree that Baer's bad guy portrayl wrankled me. Besides the great boxing shots, I think they did a very good job getting actors to look like the people they portrayed and did a great job capturing the flavor of being inside the old MSG. Not that I was ever there but in my minds eye that is just about what i envision it to be like.

[jofre]

Originally Posted by crusadecat

I agree that Baer's bad guy portrayl wrankled me. Besides the great boxing shots, I think they did a very good job getting actors to look like the people they portrayed and did a great job capturing the flavor of being inside the old MSG. Not that I was ever there but in my minds eye that is just about what i envision it to be like.

The biggest thing 'Cinderella Man' got wrong
Frank Lotierzo / BoxingScene.com
The movie Cinderella Man, as most know by now, chronicles the story of heavyweight James J. Braddock's (Russell Crowe) rise during the Depression to capture the world heavyweight championship.

Braddock's upset win over champion Max Baer (Craig Bierko) was like winning the lottery 15 times — the 15 representing the rounds Braddock survived without getting knocked out by Baer's legendary right hand. Baer's right hand was then and is still considered by many boxing historians as one of the hardest single punches in boxing history.
Braddock was a man of great character and also a good light heavyweight and heavyweight fighter. However, after only losing twice in his first 36 bouts, his life spiraled downward after losing a decision to light heavyweight champ Tommy Loughran in July 1929. Three months after losing to Loughran, America was confronted with Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed (Oct. 29, 1929).
The film tells how Braddock lost everything when the market crashed, broke his hand, had his boxing license revoked and worked on the docks when there was work, which wasn't often. After failing to win the light heavyweight title against Loughran, Braddock started to lose. But lady luck touched Braddock after he lost a decision to Art Stillman. He went on a six-bout undefeated streak and got a shot at Baer's heavyweight title.

The real Max Baer (left) and then Craig Bierko as Baer in "Cinderella Man". (Courtesy: Universal Pictures) ( / Special to FOXSports.com)
Braddock only won 14 of 36 fights after losing to Loughran before challenging Baer, resulting in him being a 10-to-1 underdog. Up until Braddock's title challenge of Baer, "Cinderella Man," the title taken from legendary journalist Damon Runyon's description of the fighter's comeback, is an accurate portrayal of the life and times of Braddock.
But Hollywood's attempt to turn Baer into a cruel and heartless villain is where the film really strays from reality.
The film portrays Baer as if he purposely killed two opponents, Frankie Campbell and Ernie Schaaf and then gloated about it afterward. But Baer didn't gloat and was forever tormented by the fact that two men he fought had died at his hands.
And Baer's son, Max Baer Jr., who starred in hit TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, is irate over his father's portrayal.
"The portrayal of my father in Cinderella Man couldn't have been more wrong and inaccurate," Baer Jr. said. "They turned a good-hearted, fun-loving, friendly and warm human being who hated boxing into Mr. T from Rocky III with no redeeming characteristics."
Baer Jr. said his father wept over the deaths of Campbell and Schaaf, and the incidents led him to start smoking, drinking and having nightmares. Campbell died as a result of a severe concussion of the brain after being stopped by Baer in the fifth round. And Baer Jr. said his father did an exhibition for Frankie Campbell's wife after that, raising over $10,000 for her. And Baer went on to lose four of his next five fights in the fight's aftermath.
Two years after fighting Campbell, Baer fought a rematch with Schaaf. Baer knocked Schaaf out with two seconds left in the fight but the bell saved him and he won by decision. Schaaf was out cold for three minutes however.
But Schaaf recovered, and six months later, as a 7-5 favorite, was stopped by Primo Carnera in the 13th round. He died four days after the Carnera fight, and Baer is blamed for his death in the movie. But what the movie leaves out is Schaaf was coming off two strong wins heading into his bout with Carnera. The autopsy showed that Schaaf died of cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) and meningitis, brought on by a recent bout of the flu.
And for those of you willing to cut the filmmakers some dramatic slack as they crafted their movie villain, consider what Braddock himself said.
"You see, Max, he was a nice fellow, but never should've been a fighter," Braddock said in the 1972 book In This Corner. "I always said that Max should have been an actor instead of a fighter."
And Baer Jr. saw some of that in his father as well.
"Like Muhammad Ali, he was braggadocios by nature," Baer Jr. said. "But he was also trying to increase the revenue at the gate and like all people during the Depression: The money was the single most important thing."
The climatic scene of Cinderella Man is Braddock's title-winning bout over Baer in 1935. Braddock's 15-round unanimous decision as a 10-1 underdog was the biggest upset in a heavyweight title bout in boxing history — a record that stood until Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson as a 42-1 underdog in 1990.
Overall, Cinderella Man is an outstanding Hollywood production, but one with a dangerous depiction of a very real human being.
"Anyone who knew my father, even slightly, liked him," Baer Jr. said. "In making a good movie, being true to the main characters is absolutely mandatory. By the same token, taking the adversary and turning him into a hateful cartoon was unnecessary, especially when that person was a real human being with a real reputation.
"Before this movie, I thought a lot more of Ron Howard."

Also, check out: http://www.ibroresearch.com/Journal/journal.htm

[Bam Bam]

hopefully its nothing like Ali...which I thought was boring, and could have been better. Plus will smith sounded nothing like Ali...though he tried


and they just skipped half of his fights....didn't like it at all

[Cap]

Just came back from seeing Cinderella Man. Ron Howard and Russell Crowe did an excellent job recreating the life and times of James J. Braddock. The frail playing Jimmy's wife was terrific and so was the mug playing manager Joe Jacobs. The fight scenes were good with Troy Ross, Art Binkowski and Mike Simmons as John Henry Lewis, Corn Griffin, and Art Lasky. Try as they did, I don't think they gave enough play to the real deprivations of those times though. They weren't called the Dirty Thirties and Hard Times for nothing.

I give it 4 stars out of five and it's easily the best film I've seen this year. I strongly recommend it.

A brief review of the film stated that the film was about Braddock who took up boxing during the Depression and became a notorious fighter. How's that for a know-nothing description?

As for Baer, he was a clown by nature, but could be really mean and vicious in the ring. He had Campbell helplessly draped over the ropes and kept hitting him until pulled off by the ref. I won't cry too much for Max.

Cap