For those who might wonder why The Church in Sag Harbor chose the Sweet Science as the subject of a film series and exhibition titled “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing,” the answer is simple: On screen, at least, no other sport has been portrayed more intimately and successfully.
There have been a handful of popular movies about other sports, such as basketball (“Hoosiers,” “White Men Can’t Jump”), football (“Remember the Titans,” “Rudy”), hockey (“Miracle,” “The Mighty Ducks”), and golf (“Tin Cup,” “Happy Gilmore”). One could make a strong argument for baseball with such memorable movies as “The Natural,” “Moneyball,” “Field of Dreams,” and whatever else is on Kevin Costner’s resume. But boxing scores a knockout at the box office and often among critics because since the silent era there have been more very good to great films involving the sport.
The series of screenings, created by The Church and in collaboration with the Sag Harbor Cinema and its artistic director, Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, gives at least an indication of boxing’s cinematic superiority. It scores in the early rounds when screening at the cinema on Sunday, June 25, a motion picture that makes many critics’ list of Top 20 or even Top 10 films: “Raging Bull.” The Martin Scorsese movie is as much a homage to Greek tragedy as it is to boxing because of its blood-soaked theatricality. The intensity of the acting by Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty is matched by the ruthlessness of the cinematography as the battered middleweight champion Jake LaMotta discovers that eventually even a boxing ring does not offer redemption. The beauty and brutality of “Raging Bull” have intoxicated and appalled viewers since it was released 43 years ago.
By the way, for those into Oscar-bashing, the film and Scorsese did not win Academy Awards in 1980 for Best Picture and Best Director. Those honors went to “Ordinary People” and Robert Redford. DeNiro, at least, won Best Actor.
“Raging Bull” is at the top of a very large heap. To further emphasize boxing’s punching power on screen, let’s look at what did not make the cut in The Church/Sag Harbor Cinema’s lineup. There is, of course, the “Rocky” franchise. Sylvester Stallone’s creation made its debut in 1976 and is still in there punching thanks to its successful reinvention as the “Creed” series. Much of “On the Waterfront” is about Terry Malloy missing his chance to be a contender. Remember that “The Quiet Man” is about the John Wayne character coming to Ireland after quitting boxing to find a wife and a new life. And it’s not just men in shorts: Hilary Swank earned her second Oscar as a hardscrabble pugilist in Clint Eastwood’s jawbreaking and heartbreaking “Million Dollar Baby.”
While Charlie Chaplin made use of boxing in his films, most notably in “City Lights,” no one can beat Buster Keaton for sheer physicality. This will be on display at Sag Harbor Cinema on Thursday and Friday, June 22 and 23, in “Battling Butler” from 1926. Keaton directs and plays both title roles of two men vying for the same girl who end up duking it out at Madison Square Garden. Also in The Church’s series are documentaries by Fred Wiseman and Stanley Kubrick, the feature “Rocco and His Brothers” by Luchino Visconti, the 1949 noir “The Set-Up,” directed by Robert Wise, and possibly “Million Dollar Baby.”
To dwell on “The Set-Up” for a moment because it vividly demonstrates what boxing on screen does best — provide fodder for terrific B movies. They are often dark-shadowed mini-epics about possibly doomed individuals — in this case, the punchy, betrayed fighter is played by Robert Ryan — battling the system and his own demons. In a boxing movie, if the fight or life does not turn out well, you can’t blame the shortstop or the quarterback or the caddy. In both realms, the fighter is in the ring alone, wounded, exhausted, desperately trying to climb back up off the canvas because other people are counting on him or he just won’t abide being counted out.
The boxing aficionado Theodore Roosevelt sort of set the template for many a boxing movie plot in his “Man In the Arena” speech in 1910: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
With this sentiment in mind, boxing B movies to recommend and their scarred protagonists include “City for Conquest” with James Cagney, “Champion” with Kirk Douglas,” “Fat City” with Stacy Keach (and Jeff Bridges), “Requiem for a Heavyweight” with Anthony Quinn, and especially poignant is the 1956 feature “The Harder They Fall,” with the ethics-weary boxing writer portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in his final role.
A personal favorite among favorites in this category is a film which came out two years before “The Set-Up”— “Body and Soul.” This is a visceral cinematic punch in the gut directed by Robert Rossen and starring John Garfield as the ring-and world-weary champion who should hang up his gloves but because of a life that collected a lot of regrets he badly needs one more payday. One can clearly see this film’s influence on Scorsese, especially the innovative cinematography by James Wong Howe, who shot the rib-cage-crushing fight scenes while in the ring on roller skates with a hand-held camera. This innovative technique presented great challenges to the movie’s editors, Francis Lyon and Robert Parrish, who won an Academy Award for their efforts. If the latter name sounds familiar to some readers, the kind and personable Bob Parrish and his wife, Kathy, were longtime residents of North Haven.
One more point about what makes boxing such good fodder for filmmakers: They seem to more readily lend themselves to a bigger picture. “Rocky” is really about a loser whose mean streets of Philadelphia suddenly are lit by a ray of hope and he will go for it all. “Raging Bull” is how the violence in the ring can easily spill over into relationships and life becomes one long losing bout. “Million Dollar Baby” is about an unlikely father-daughter relationship and how a crusty old trainer finally finds in a young woman the boxer with the biggest heart.
In the best boxing movies, a few of which are being screened at the Sag Harbor Cinema in collaboration with The Church, while your eyes will be feasting on the fisticuffs, the rest of your body and soul will see that the ring of life can be filled with a lot of left hooks — get back up or be counted out.
For a full schedule and lineup of the boxing films being screened during the series, visit sagharborcinema.org. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor.
Tom Clavin on Jun 21, 2023