Cinderella Man-James J. Braddock

[sport historian]

The movie about James J. Braddock, Cinderella Man, starts today. I saw a special on the film on A&E last night. This film is being heavily advertised, even called the best film of the year. It looks good to me. It shows how it was during the depression.


The major part of the film is Braddock going from Relief to beating Max Baer for the title in 1935. Braddock's win over light-heavy champion John Henry Lewis prior to the Baer fight is shown.


On the A&E show, they discussed Braddock's loss to Joe Louis in 1937. Braddock had arthritis and couldn't lift his left hand after the first few rounds. Braddock 's manager wanted him to not come out after the 7th round. Braddock said, "A champion loses on the deck," and was stopped in the 8th. Braddock had floored Louis in the 1st round. To his death, Joe Louis said that Braddock was the bravest man he ever fought.

 

[Gary]

Braddock never had it made-poor family-worked the docks-he would come home from work some nights to find out they needed him to fill in on a fight card that very night.Braddock had courage to spare.I rarely go to the movies anymore,but I plan to see this movie about Jim Braddock.

 

[White Shogun]

Thanks for setting the record straight, historian. I much prefer
reading your historical posts to pugnus' hysterical ones.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Just came back from the movie...A+++++++....This was a GREAT movie...Everybody here MUST go see this....It's not just a boxing movie either, my girlfriend loved it and actually cryed midway through the movie.....

 

[Charlie]

The thing that struck me about the A&E special on Braddock was the degree of respect these fighters showed each other.

In contrast the Ali fights being shown on ESPN Classic are an exhibition of everything that went wrong with boxing. What would Max Baer have done to Ali had Ali done that hand-behind-the-neck-push-down? Ali pulled that stunt constantly in all of his fights, a clear foul. Why was he allowed to get away with it?

I would like to see a movie made about Max Baer. Perhaps his son Max Baer, Jr. would be willing to produce it.

 

[dkr77]

Excellent movie! An added bonus was that there were no blacks in the theater I watchedthe filmat. It was a nice peaceful afternoon watching the biography of a brave, honest and hardworking white man. What a great day.

 

[sport historian]

Tonight, ESPN Classic has a one hour program on James J. Braddock. It will be on at 9pm and 12am ET.

 

[Bart]

Well fellas, based on the reviews of the members of this site, I coughed up a few bucks to see 'Cinderella Man'. The last movie I saw was 'Ben-Hur', ha, ha, ha.


The movie was good and reminded me of how different America was and how the depression devastated people. Braddock seemed like a very decent man. My only objection would be the portrayal of Max Baer. From what I read of him in boxing mags as a kid, he was a very pleasant, charismatic man, though somewhat of a playboy. Many have said he may have had one of the best right hands ever.

 

[sport historian]

I finally got to see Cinderella Man today. I heartily recommend it. Yes, Max Baer is portrayed as the "bad guy" of the movie for dramatic purposes, sort of a Mike Tyson type. He was apretty nice guy, with a sense of humor. Still, the actor playing Baer really looked like him.


Max Baer had the best physical equipment (6-3, 210 pounds, 82 inch reach) of any heavyweight of his time. For the most part, he didn't perform up to his potential. The death of Frankie Campbell seemed to make him prefer to clown around in the ring. When serious, as in his 1933 KO win over Max Schmeling, he was a very formidable fighter. Baer literally knocked Schmeling from one end of the ring to the other with an overhand right for a 10th round stoppage.


Three months after losing the title to Braddock, Baer met Joe Louis before a capacity crowd in Yankee stadium. Louis knocked Baer down three times in the 4th round and stopped him. Except for a brief time in Round one, Baer could put up little resistance to Joe Louis.

 

[white lightning]

I just saw the movie.I was really impressed.The story
was really a tear jerker.The love,courage,strength and
dedication this man had was amazing.His heart was as
big as anyone that has ever stepped in the ring.I really
hope that he wins some awards for this movie.She did
a outstanding job too.I highly recomend it to all of you
here that haven't seen it yet.Two big thumbs up!!

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I'll have to go see this one. Maybe this weekend.