Packing a punch
Eastwood delivers a knockout
 | | Clint Eastwood won an Oscar for Best Director and Hilary Swank took Best Actress. |
By Raymond Johnston
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 2, 2005
Of all sports, boxing has the best track record on film. In Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood delivers a film that is a complete knockout — easily his best work as a director.
Boxing can be a brutal sport. Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, a trainer and a cut man, somebody who is an expert in stopping the bleeding between rounds. He is a man of very few words and those words are usually somber ones. He owns a run-down gym and lets another boxing veteran, Scrap (Morgan Freeman), stay there. Scrap and Frankie have been together a long time, and neither one ever achieved greatness. They communicate more by silence than by words.
The film was made at Warner Bros., the same studio that used to churn out gangster and boxing films by the mile back in the 1930s and '40s. The Warner stable of stars boasted the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis. Clint Eastwood, who has released most of his films through Warner Bros, is the last of their old-style movie stars. This situation helps to emphasize the film's theme of faded glory.
The boxing world here is mostly one of back streets and fights in front of small, neighborhood crowds. There are no limos, only the city bus or a car that is barely working. Frankie's gym offers little more than a worn-out ring. There are no modern weight machines or jazz aerobics.
Eastwood takes great risks in the film. He puts on a tough, unapproachable demeanor with everybody, even Scrap. But at home he kneels to say his prayers before he goes to bed. Only Eastwood, with his unquestionable dignity, could pull this off. He also goes to Mass every day and waits outside when the service is over to try to provoke the priest with unanswerable questions about the Holy Trinity. In his spare time he is trying to learn a bit of Gaelic. He builds a complex character that is far more than a lonely old man.
The film is narrated by Scrap, the former boxer. It's another powerhouse performance by Freeman, who makes every word and gesture count. He knows what is best for Frankie. He manipulates him a bit by dropping a few hints, but only because it's for Frankie's good.
Million Dollar Baby
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman |
Frankie thinks that female boxing is just a novelty, and a poor one at that. He has no time for a 31-year-old waitress, Maggie Fitzgerald, who wants him to train her. Maggie is played by Hilary Swank in her best performance since Boy's Don't Cry. She has no problem provoking Frankie. When he asks her to stop calling him boss, she says she'll only do it only if he trains her. Otherwise, she has no reason to do him any favors. Slowly he warms up to her.
The film, like a good fight, has a few surprise punches and is much more than a routine underdog tale. The script is based on stories by F.X. Toole, who in real life had the same background as Frankie. His experience shows in Paul Haggis' screenplay. The emotions in this bittersweet film are not just some collection of writer's button-pushing tricks. Eastwood also avoids the standard director's tool kit. His directing is simplicity itself, and his original music only intrudes on the action once.
Million Dollar Baby ranks alongside Raging Bull, Fat City, Body and Soul and The Harder They Fall as one of the best depictions of boxing as a rundown world where glory is all too fleeting.
|
Purchase online
Spotlight on
Weekly list
BOL Online
