Review of Fat City (1972) by Martin T — 30 Sep 2010
Though John Huston is a legend in the world of directing, surprisingly this film in his list of projects tends to be overlooked; I hadn't even heard about it until I saw it listed in a textbook from one of my "Film as Art" classes in college.
Despite the fact that it may not be as famed as Huston's other films like "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or "The African Queen", the influence of this film cannot be underestimated.
When I saw this film, I saw echoes of both "The Wrestler" and "Barfly", and even "Raging Bull" likely had some influence drawn from it. And not just in the fact that it is a boxing picture; it is one of the earlier films I've seen that really depicted down and out on-the-skids people trying to reach for a shot at redemption all the while having to inhabit the shady world they had plunged to.
Stacy Keach is highly likeable in this film as the washed up boxer, and it was fun to see a young Jeff Bridges as the boxer he attempts to train. Keach isn't as much of a train wreck as some of the later films of this ilk, and in a way he is even more tragic; his character seems like a decent person who fell into rough times simply to cope and let his talent go to waste as a result, rather than someone who selfishly took in excesses to alienate himself.
Granted he does borrow money here and there without ever paying back, but theres almost a stronger since of innocence to this character's failures than other movies. Even the way Huston shoots Keach, with numerous upward closeup shots, denotes that this man was at one point a legend and theres still traces of that greatness latently there.
The boxing scenes aren't as impressively shot as later films, but still decent for the time. But the boxing is really not as important to this films as it is in other boxing films. This is less a sports movie and more an examination of a hard-living subculture and the efforts some people will have to try to pull themselves out,all the while knowing a part of them will always remain there.
This review of Fat City (1972) was written by Martin T on 30 Sep 2010.
Fat City has generally received very positive reviews.
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