A convict takes up boxing in prison and this brings a new meaning to his life. Once out, his trainer motivates him to become a professional boxer. He cares about only two other things, his uncomfortably close mother and absent father.
Director: Jud Taylor.
Stars: Luca Bercovici, Tom Berenger, John Cassavetes, Anthony Charnota, Pat Corley, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Kristin Griffith, Stack Pierce, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Rader, Bert Remsen, Mitchell Ryan, Dolph Sweet, Denzel Washington.
Amazing. Have wanted to see this for some time. The boxing arena scenes were filmed where I live. Thank you for sharing, this is my introduction to your site. Can’t wait to browse. Cheers! Fwiw: http://www.micro-film-magazine.com/cublog/?p=9643
Thanks so much for making this available. The final boxing scene was filmed in my home town, at the University of Illinois. My Mom was an extra and I’m pretty sure I found her, I was able to take a screen shot. She brought home a press pass prop, I can see her taking photos of the Round 2 ring girl at ring side. I’d never seen this before, it’s great to finally see it. Unfortunately she died in 2012.
I remember when this aired on television and how incredibly adult for routine broadcasting the content seemed. The media went ballistic over it and condemned all involved. After a second viewing, after all these decades (!) it is remains a well done effort with little diminishment in its overall impact. Pleshette and Berenger are near perfect and the Zsigmond cinematography accurately records that ’70s urban ‘grunge’. It deserves a full restoration and an outing on digital disc. Thanks so much for providing a chance to see it again.
My girl friend at the time and I worked as production assistants on the film. Just for the arena fight scenes, shot at the Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois. One night during the filming, we both wound up in an upper floor of the Century 21 Building (the tallest structure in Champaign-Urbana in 1979 and after) sitting in a circle with some other assistants and film students and . . . actor/director John Cassevetes who wanted to try out a script he was writing. The script was passed around with each individual reading a half page or more before passing it on. Seems more odd in retrospect than when we actually read with Cassettes. My girl friend’s boss at the time–Edwin Jahiel, head of the Unit for Cinema Studies and a local film critic–played one of the ringside reporters.