Box On, Box Off

Oh, my God, this sounds just like "The Next Karate Kid" - just replacing the karate with boxing and Mr. Miyagi with Dirty Harry, and Oscarizing Hillary Swank. The trades report that Clint Eastwood will direct and star in "Million Dollar Baby," "a tragic and platonic love story involving a fighter turned-trainer and a woman in her early 30s who is determined to begin a boxing career." Okay, so maybe it's a little classier, but let's face it, Pat Morita launched his career in television, as did Morgan Freeman who will co-star in "Baby."

Boxing themed movies seem to come around every so often, even though none have done that well since Rocky. There was The Boxer, Ali, oft-delayed Against the Ropes, and Ron Howard is aiming to shoot The Cinderella Man, with Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. The only one that has done well is Girlfight, and that's an indie.

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By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on April 1, 2004 2:00 PM

Comments [rss]

pjh

jen...your awesome

Jen

James - yes, Raging Bull did well, but I guess I was thinking in more recent (past 10 years?) terms.

pjh - Mr. Miyagi is troubling as a stereotype, but overall, as he was a positive character, I'm not as upset. Plus I think the idea of the Clint movie is pretty silly.

pjh

the karate kid's stereotypical treatment of elderly Asian men as introspective junk collectors and inveterate outsiders with a flair for sparking more than idle curiosity is entirely too offensive. i abhore this post and im going to have trouble keeping my dinner down. please refrain from reinforcing this sort of blantant cultural terrorism here on Gothamist. Ralph Macchio (sp?) also has strange thumbs.

james

i don't know about gothamist, but i kinda think "raging bull" did rather well too. (and it was four years after "rocky.")

Jen

I think Hillary Swank will go back to television, because while she's a fine actor, she's yet to prove herself commerciailly. Sure, she can do indie films, but I see a 1 hour legal or police drama for her. Or a Bev-Niner reunion.