Not mentioned here but should be: The Great White Hype (there’s more insight in this comedy into how boxing actually works than in many ‘realistic’ fight films) I also liked Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), which is the original film remade into a 1978 football movie with Warren Beaty, Heaven Can Wait.
One of the first boxing movies, which I watched was Rocky IV. I saw it on TV together with my father. I was just thinking: How can he ever beat this guy? It's simply impossible. Ivan Drago was something like Vitali Klitschko squared for me. After that, I watched all the other parts and loved them all, especially the first one. I am not the biggest fan of the second sequal. For me it was a bit to predictable after the first sequal. The fight between Rocky and Apollo is also a bit too much wanted drama. Creed leads comfortably on points up to the fifteenth round and looks unnecessarily for an open exchange of blows in the final round. Both knocks each other down... I saw Rocky Balboa in the cinema (great movie) Somebody Up There Likes Me: One of my favourites. I've seen it a couple of times. The quote: "Don't worry ma, just don't worry" reminds me of something. On the Waterfront: Terrific movie with Marlon Brando as a fighter against mobster. Million Dollar Baby: Very good movie, but also sad. Gentleman Jim: A pretty fine movie too. Raging Bull: I don't know why, but Raging Bull didn`t intrigues me so much. I really liked Taxi Driver though. However, I have seen the movie many years ago and I wanna rewatch it soon. Maybe the best boxing movie for a film critic. And I wanna watch Cinderella Man soon.
Not a fan of boxing movies generally, can't stand any of the Rocky films but I really enjoy Cinderella Man and Raging Bull, more biographical movies than fiction. They'd most likely be at the top.
Nothing I've ever seen beats "The Champ" 1931 version starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper. Beery won the Academy Award for best actor. Others have referred to "The Champ" in this thread, but I don't know which version they mean since there was a second version 1979.
Rocky is by far the best but does On the Waterfront count as a boxing movie? If it does that’s my second. That’s where the famous line “I could have been a contender Charlie I could have been a contender” came from
Totally agree. Wallace Beery really looked the part of a washed up pug. My favorite boxing flick. Also, the John Garfield version of Body and Soul is a close second. Third would be Requiem for a heavyweight. Loved their use of ex-boxers in the movie as well as a young Cassius Clay. I remember the bar scene at the beginning where they were watching Clay v Rivera on TV and the camera panned its way across these scar-tissued mugs and I was sitting there as a teenager when I first saw it saying aloud, "That's Gus Lesnevich! That's Paolo Rosi, etc." Good times.
Raging Bull and Cinderella Man were my favorites. I think most boxing movies are pretty bad, even the good ones. They all just fail to capture...it.
The Greatest, among the Rocky films it's Rocky II, especially when Adrian tells Rocky "win" after coming back from her coma. They show that clip before every Eagles game in Philly.
How many of you have seen “ The Price of Glory” starring Jimmy Smits ....it’s about a Latino boxing family ...it’s good
