Fat City

Fat City (1972)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: John Huston

Starring: Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark

From: Columbia

There are many quality movies from the 1970's worth seeing; this is one of them. No surprise that John Huston did a good job in the director's chair, as I explain below: 

For at least the past few years I've known about this motion picture and yet it was just last night that I decided to give this heavyweight contender (this movie is about boxers on the opposite ends of their careers, but the story is a lot more than that) a shot and as many say, this film is very good. Note that there are many that classify it as a neo-noir; the label does accurately portray the tone of the movie and how it isn't something cheery and inspirational like Rocky, oh it definitely is not.

It is about Billy Tully (Stacy Keach), who is an old boxer who hasn't even fought in a year and a half. He's had his struggles in life and things have gone downhill after his wife left him. He meets up with the humorously named Ernie Munger (Jeff Bridges) in a boxing gym, and Ernie is convinced to become a professional boxer even though he is still in his teens. They then only occasionally interact with each other the rest of the movie. Much of it is them dealing with their own problems, mainly outside of the squared circle. That includes trying to make ends meet, and problems with women... Ernie has Faye (Candy Clark) while Billy meets up with the unforgettable barfly known as Oma (Susan Tyrrell). There are other fascinating characters but I mention the main ones as they deliver the best performances; Tyrrell got a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Academy but all four are quality in the acting department.

It was filmed and set in Stockton, California; plenty of unglamorous locations are seen as we see the dark underbelly of boxing. Sure, that can be said of any sport but in a brutal physical mano y mano contest like that, having to fight in small buildings for not a lot of money... pretty rough. I don't want to give too much else away but I was always interested despite the subject matter being dreary and the film having brutally honest moments. This is definitely 1970's cinema, in other words.