0:00:02 > 0:00:06THIS PROGRAMME CONTAINS SOME STRONG LANGUAGE
0:00:06 > 0:00:09I'm dancing. Follow me. No, I'm not there. I'm here.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13CHEERING
0:00:13 > 0:00:15"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl,"
0:00:15 > 0:00:16said director Jean-Luc Godard.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19But I'd suggest an alternative. A boxing match.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23- Hit him! Hit him, Charlie! - Adrian!
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Because when one fighter sends another to the canvas,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28it is a moment of elemental drama.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32I'd like to see him cut to ribbons.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38But for all its familiarity, in the 120 years that film
0:00:38 > 0:00:42and boxing have been entwined, the boxing movie has never stood still.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45She's younger, she's stronger and she's more experienced.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Now, what are you going to do about it?
0:00:48 > 0:00:51I'm going to explore how each generation's fight films
0:00:51 > 0:00:54have reflected their times and ask why,
0:00:54 > 0:00:59again and again, filmmakers have returned to tales of the ring.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02And why we keep returning to watch them.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06This is the place where great themes can be addressed. Redemption.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12When I saw the mural of Christ on the wall, I said, "Terrific."
0:01:12 > 0:01:16If people make the association, it couldn't hurt.
0:01:16 > 0:01:23- Race.- He had style, glamour and it angered the white establishment.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Corruption.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28If you explore anybody's life story in boxing,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33if they were any good at all, they were asked to take a dive at some point.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35What it is to be a man.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37There are only two options available to men -
0:01:37 > 0:01:41there's rage and there's desire.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Sexual desire and the desire to beat other people up.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48It's like a distillation of a lot of things, the boxing ring.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50BELL RINGS
0:01:50 > 0:01:56It's the way you earn your living, you test your courage, you risk
0:01:56 > 0:02:02losing your dignity and all of life comes together in a boxing ring.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Too much speed, boy. Too fast.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08I could've been a contender. I could have been somebody.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11That's entertainment.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15The ring is where you stand alone to be tested, but not just physically,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19because the greatest boxing movies are never just about boxing.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23# Oh, yeah... #
0:02:38 > 0:02:41I discovered boxing at the same time I discovered movies,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44as a boy at the turn of the '80s.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47I'd watch the fights on TV with my grandfather
0:02:47 > 0:02:50with the lights in the front room ceremonially switched off.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54There was a mix of grace and bravery
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I found mesmerising there in the dark,
0:02:57 > 0:02:58the same dark in which
0:02:58 > 0:03:01I was starting to appreciate the magic of film.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06And the boxing movie was where the two would come together.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10But in 1980, at eight years old, I was too young to know that
0:03:10 > 0:03:13one of the greatest ever had just been made.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19As a devotee of movie history,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Martin Scorsese made sure he knew the tradition of the boxing film
0:03:22 > 0:03:26inside out before he began his own biopic of
0:03:26 > 0:03:29a half-forgotten '40s middleweight called Jake LaMotta.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34In an extraordinary performance,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Robert De Niro would bring alive LaMotta's savage story
0:03:37 > 0:03:43from which Scorsese said he learned that the ring is everywhere.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50The crisis in Raging Bull is one of the most interesting
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and one of the most ambiguous aspects of the film.
0:03:53 > 0:03:54It still lends itself to debate.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58People are still arguing about what exactly it is that happens to
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Jake LaMotta and what exactly we're meant to make of it.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's certainly some kind of crisis about masculinity.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07It's very consistently portrayed in the film.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09What's the matter with you, ha?
0:04:09 > 0:04:10What's with this kissing on the mouth?
0:04:10 > 0:04:12I just said hello. Can't I kiss my sister-in-law?
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Ain't the cheek good enough for you?
0:04:14 > 0:04:16It's rendered through his paranoia
0:04:16 > 0:04:19and his jealousy, his obsessive possessive
0:04:19 > 0:04:21jealousy about his wife,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24his increasing fantasies that every single man that he knows,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26including his brother, is sleeping with his wife.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29That's not what I heard, Joe.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32- What you mean that's not what you heard?- It's not what I heard.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- What did you hear? - I heard some things.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38- You heard about me and Salvi. - I heard things, Joey.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40I think it's the longest scene in the script, it was seven pages.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And the paranoia was worked out very carefully.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46It was the escalation of his distrust
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and paranoia of his brother, the escalation is what I was getting at.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55- Did Salvi fuck Vicky?- What?
0:04:55 > 0:04:56Did Salvi fuck Vicky?
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Hey, Jack, don't start your shit. No, really, don't start.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on her?
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And I did keep an eye on her. Yes, I did.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- Then how come you give him a beating?- I told you that.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12No two ways around it. He was heading towards full destruction.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14That's the scene. It's the centre of the movie.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20On some level, there is clearly a question here about what
0:05:20 > 0:05:23it means to be a man. In the most basic sense.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28What kind of manhood is available to Jake LaMotta?
0:05:28 > 0:05:31SHE SCREAMS
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Why'd you do it? Why'd you do it, ha? Why'd you do it?
0:05:34 > 0:05:37- I didn't do anything. - Why'd you do it? Why'd you do it? Why'd you do it?
0:05:37 > 0:05:38Why did you fuck them?
0:05:38 > 0:05:42In Raging Bull, it suggests there are only two options available to men,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44two emotions that are available to men.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46There's rage, the Raging Bull,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and there's desire. For Jake LaMotta's character,
0:05:49 > 0:05:50it becomes distilled down
0:05:50 > 0:05:55into just sexual desire and the desire to beat other people up.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57INDISTINCT
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- What's the matter with you?- You fucked my wife. You fucked my wife.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03An interesting thing about a fighter,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05his job is to go in the ring and hit people and be hit.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07That's his drive, that's what he does.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10When he comes out of the ring,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13he's expected to act like a courtly gentleman?
0:06:13 > 0:06:14I don't know.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18How did you and Scorsese manage to make
0:06:18 > 0:06:23a character like Jake LaMotta, who would seem so unlikeable, relatable?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26De Niro originally had a very profound sense that he could
0:06:26 > 0:06:31do something with this extraordinary character, who does appear,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34on the surface, to be a monster
0:06:34 > 0:06:37but he knew there was more to him than that.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Vicky, this is my brother, Jake. He's going to be the next champ.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44How you doing?
0:06:46 > 0:06:47Nice to meet you.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52I think that De Niro, at first and of course Scorsese,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56sensed that they could find something very beautiful in this character
0:06:56 > 0:06:58and make the audience care for him.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Do you know how beautiful you are? Did anybody ever tell you...
0:07:05 > 0:07:08In the publicity surrounding Raging Bull, of course, there is an
0:07:08 > 0:07:12enormous amount of discussion about De Niro's transformation of his body.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17He starts out incredibly fit and then and undoes it all, instantly,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and becomes very overweight in order to age
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and in order to show the deterioration of the body.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28It's over. Boxing is over for me. I'm through.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30I'm tired of worrying about weight all the time.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33That's all I used to think about was weight, weight, weight.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35The film is really making explicit
0:07:35 > 0:07:39and dramatising something that is implicit in almost all boxing films,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43which is the fact that the strength of the body is
0:07:43 > 0:07:46also about the vulnerability of the body, it's about the fact that
0:07:46 > 0:07:49death is always waiting, that destruction is always waiting,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52that as you throw that swing, there's another one coming at you.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56That's what they're going to do, they're going to do. What can I do?
0:07:56 > 0:08:01It's like everything he does is down, down, down.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07At the end, you saw him with the tiniest little uptick.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08A lot of people out there?
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Yeah, it's crowded.
0:08:10 > 0:08:11DOOR CLOSES
0:08:11 > 0:08:15I think that's the thing that when I work with Scorsese
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and just watching all the Scorsese movies,
0:08:17 > 0:08:23is that you tend to take a character and he plummets
0:08:23 > 0:08:28and at the very last moment, he sort of saves himself.
0:08:29 > 0:08:36In saving himself, there just might be the slightest getting of wisdom.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39And though I'm no Olivier if he fought Sugar Ray
0:08:39 > 0:08:42He would say that the thing ain't the ring, it's the play
0:08:42 > 0:08:45So give me a stage where this bull here can rage
0:08:45 > 0:08:48And though I can fight I'd much rather recite.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50That's entertainment.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56From the earliest days of the motion picture back in the 1890s,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59cinema and boxing were bound up together.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Boxing would be crucial in developing this new medium.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The first true blockbuster would be a boxing film
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and the first movie stars were prizefighters.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11I'm in New Jersey to visit what you might call
0:09:11 > 0:09:13the cradle of the movie business.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18This is Thomas Edison's factory
0:09:18 > 0:09:21and laboratory at 211 Main Street, West Orange.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Famously, among his many inventions, were the phonograph and the light bulb.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30But none of that is what I am here for.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33I am here to see what Edison called his kinetographic theatre.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41This is an ageing reconstruction of Edison's Black Mariah,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44the world's first film production studio.
0:09:44 > 0:09:50It was here that the first ever filmed boxing match took place in 1894.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55The first films Edison shot here featured an employee sneezing,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59a Wild West circus show, scantily-clad women, of course, and cats boxing,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01which probably also makes him
0:10:01 > 0:10:03the great-grandfather of the viral video.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10But the real thing arrived in 1894 when Edison shot the first ever
0:10:10 > 0:10:14boxing match to be filmed here. To quote his own catalogue...
0:10:16 > 0:10:19"An actual six-round contest between Mike Leonard,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"commonly called the Beau Brummel of pugilism, and Jack Cushing.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27"Full of hard fighting, clever hits, punches, leads, dodges,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29"body blows and some slugging.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32"Sold by rounds, each round contains 150 feet.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"Price per round, 22.50."
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Clearly, there was money to be made in the fight-film game.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43There's been more than 500 movies about boxing,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45more than any other sport.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50There's a good reason for that because it is very easy to film
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and Thomas Edison understood that.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56It wasn't that Edison was a particular fan of boxing, but he just
0:10:56 > 0:11:01knew that there was movement and action and drama, all in one space.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Others were quick to pick up on its potential.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10In 1897, director Enoch J Rector filmed
0:11:10 > 0:11:13a heavyweight contest between James J Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Running for 1 hour 40 minutes,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20it's considered the first real feature film.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24It was also the first box-office blockbuster, going on to take
0:11:24 > 0:11:30a then astonishing 750,000 or 20 million in today's money.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38A decade later, cinema would find
0:11:38 > 0:11:41its first hugely controversial star -
0:11:41 > 0:11:45a boxer AND an African-American.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Jack Johnson is a pivotal character in the history of boxing
0:11:48 > 0:11:53and the way it has been represented, sold as sports entertainment.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59He was basically the first major black heavyweight.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Nobody could beat him. You could watch him
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and it seemed like he was almost playing with his opponent.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11He was irreverent when blacks at that time were not meant to be
0:12:11 > 0:12:14outspoken about anything.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18He caused a lot of attention and a lot of hatred.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21People hated him because of who he was.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28Johnson laughed at the establishment, he loved going out with white women.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36He had style, glamour, and it angered the white establishment,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41who were determined to drive him out.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44The search for the great white hope was all based on that.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48That search for a great white hope to challenge Johnson
0:12:48 > 0:12:51began as soon as he won the world heavyweight title in 1908,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58At that fight, such was the anxiety over a black boxer being seen
0:12:58 > 0:13:00to conquer a white man,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04that all cameras were turned off before the bout was stopped.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Back in the US, the press called for a white fighter to reclaim
0:13:09 > 0:13:12the title and, as many saw it,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16put both Johnson and his race in their place.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Their favourite was ex-champion Jim Jeffries. He would not succeed.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27On 4th July 1910, Johnson floored Jefferies in the 15th round
0:13:27 > 0:13:30of the so-called "battle of the century".
0:13:33 > 0:13:37That night, riots erupted in cities across America.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39Estimates put deaths at 24.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Instantly, there were demands for all films
0:13:44 > 0:13:46of Johnson's triumph to be banned.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Later, with the establishment concerned that future prizefight movies
0:13:50 > 0:13:52would show more black fighters beating white opponents,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Congress passed a bill, the Sims Act,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59to stop boxing films being transported across state lines.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Race would always be an awkward subject for the boxing film,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08but even in a new era, the fight game would remain the star.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12It was inevitable ambitious filmmakers would be drawn to
0:14:12 > 0:14:13the sport.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15By the '20s, Charlie Chaplin would recognise
0:14:15 > 0:14:17its potential for physical comedy.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20While a young Alfred Hitchcock saw how boxing could set
0:14:20 > 0:14:23the stage for a gripping slice of human drama.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30As a thrilling new era in boxing dawned
0:14:30 > 0:14:33in the '30s, Hollywood increasingly drew
0:14:33 > 0:14:36inspiration from what was happening in the real fight game.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42It's an obscure footnote in New York history now that this stretch
0:14:42 > 0:14:44of sidewalk on West 49th Street between Eighth Avenue
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and Broadway was once the centre of the boxing universe.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51This legendary patch was known as Jacob's Beach
0:14:51 > 0:14:53and here is a photo of it in its prime.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56What you can't see here are the shady fight fixers who began
0:14:56 > 0:14:58to infiltrate boxing in the '30s,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01men like Blinky Palermo and Frankie Carbo.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03But you can see the name Jacobs.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05The Jacobs in question was Mike Jacobs,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07a tickets scalper turned boxing promoter.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10For a time, the fight game was his.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12He set the fight cards over at the nearby Madison Square Garden
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and he managed the one boxer who excited the public
0:15:15 > 0:15:18more than any other, Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22MUSIC: "The Boss" by James Brown
0:15:22 > 0:15:23With Uncle Mike Jacobs at his side,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Louis would become world heavyweight champion.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Through the depression years,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31he also became an inspiration for Americans
0:15:31 > 0:15:34as an honest young fighter from rural Alabama,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36who had triumphed over adversity.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42But in the 1930s, no Hollywood studio would dare cast
0:15:42 > 0:15:46a black American in the lead, even though they wanted to dramatise the ideas
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Louis embodied of success against the odds and ethnic assimilation.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Instead, they chose a safer option,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58the figure of the boxing manager and an Italian-American at that.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Mmm, magnifico!
0:16:01 > 0:16:05THEY SPEAK ITALIAN
0:16:06 > 0:16:08I think in Kid Galahad,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12when we see Edward G Robinson embodying the boxing manager Donati,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17he becomes a figure that people can relate to as an immigrant American
0:16:17 > 0:16:20who is striving, trying to get to the top.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21Slow down! Slow down!
0:16:22 > 0:16:24When he wakes up, tell him he's through.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26- You don't mean that. - I mean it plenty.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31When he finds the unlikely figure of a guy from the Midwest,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36a farmhand, big but hopelessly naive character,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38he becomes interested because he sees
0:16:38 > 0:16:41he's another possibility, that he can make some money out of him.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43How would you like to be a fighter?
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Why, I never thought much about.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Let me do the thinking.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50A champion of those times was Joe Louis,
0:16:50 > 0:16:55but filmmakers didn't feel comfortable perhaps because of
0:16:55 > 0:16:59commercial considerations trying to sell a black hero on film,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02even though in reality, the champ WAS a black man.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I'm going to make you heavyweight champion of the world!
0:17:05 > 0:17:07Come on, beat it!
0:17:07 > 0:17:12There was no thirst, no hunger at all for black heroes in boxing movies.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Galahad. That's it, Galahad! From now on we call him Galahad.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Donati is walking that line between the respectability
0:17:20 > 0:17:22and the underworld.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25The boxing ring dreads that boundary.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Donati is backing it. Yeah.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Cue the boxing movie staple of the mob fight fixer,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35here making his formal entrance.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38- He better win.- He will.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40If he don't, you won't be around to talk about it.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43Thanks for the tip.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It's also got an extraordinary performance by Humphrey Bogart.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Before Bogart started playing good guys,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54here he plays a truly sinister mobster who controls the fight game.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57The temperature drops in the room every time he enters.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08In 1934, Hollywood increased the intensity of its censorship code
0:18:08 > 0:18:12so no longer could the gangster be front and centre,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14but the boxing film offered an important avenue in which
0:18:14 > 0:18:18violence could be represented on screen where the boxer was
0:18:18 > 0:18:22the chief figure and the gangster was only on the margins.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Kid Galahad is released only a few weeks before Joe Louis fights
0:18:25 > 0:18:29and wins the heavyweight title in 1937.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Warner Brothers was quite specific about packaging Kid Galahad to try
0:18:33 > 0:18:36to take advantage of this fight that was on the horizon.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40In fact, there are various references to Joe Louis in the film itself.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45At one point, Donati talks about a fighter not being a violin player.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48There isn't any room for feelings in this game.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50A fighter is a machine, not a violin player.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Joe Louis was associated with violin playing
0:18:53 > 0:18:56because when he first took up boxing, his mother gave him tuition
0:18:56 > 0:19:01for his violin lessons, but he went to the boxing gym instead.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Joe Louis and violin were also the inspiration for Golden Boy,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09starring the clearly Caucasian William Holden.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11As eager young prospect Joe Bonaparte,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14he is torn between the spiritual nourishment of music
0:19:14 > 0:19:17and the seductive rewards of boxing.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Joe Bonaparte!
0:19:19 > 0:19:21CHEERING
0:19:21 > 0:19:23I'd like to see him cut to ribbons.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28His father, a symbol of the Italian community he's leaving behind,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33is appalled at Joe abandoning his art to chase fame and success.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Money, money.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41We got hearts! We got souls! We got to take care of them, no?
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Joe, listen to me. Do what is in your heart, not in your head.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49In there is a muse.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58If the boxing films of the '30s had a caustic streak,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00it became a pitch black bloom of cynicism
0:20:00 > 0:20:02in the years after World War II.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09That cynicism had its roots in the soldiers who were returning home,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12often wounded physically and psychologically,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17and who found it tough to readjust to civilian life.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19On-screen, it was the age of film noir.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21The cocktail of noir's cruel fatalism
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and the raw emotion of the fight film
0:20:24 > 0:20:26made this the golden age of the boxing movie.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Kill him, Charlie. Kill him!
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Kill him, Charlie, kill him!
0:20:36 > 0:20:40And one of the very finest was the powerful, politically radical
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Body And Soul, starring John Garfield as fighter Charley Davis,
0:20:44 > 0:20:49who turns his back on friends and family to make a Faustian pact
0:20:49 > 0:20:52with a crooked fight promoter and finds the more he wins in the ring,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54the more he loses out of it.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Charley Davis goes into the ring
0:20:58 > 0:21:05assuming that his success fighting can bring security for his family,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07only discovering that over the course of time
0:21:07 > 0:21:10he becomes corrupted in the ring itself.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Kings of the world, Shorty.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15- Aren't you going to join us?- No. - Why not?
0:21:15 > 0:21:16What's the matter?
0:21:17 > 0:21:19You didn't win the title, Charlie.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Ben was double-crossed, I promised him an easy go.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Where do you get that stuff? Who promised who?
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Ben was sick, he had a blood clot. They all knew.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33- You didn't know that, Charlie, did you?- It's the old alibi, champ.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36You get used to it. Let's sit down and celebrate.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Finally of course at the end he has to make a decision
0:21:39 > 0:21:43whether he's going to throw this final fight and secure his wealth
0:21:43 > 0:21:46for the future, or turn his back on that corruption,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49which of course he finally decides to do.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Congratulations, champ.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Get yourself a new boy. I retire.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23- What makes you think you can get away with this?- What are you going to do?
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Kill me? Everybody dies.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33If Body And Soul portrayed the spiritual perils of winning titles,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38another film from the same era would spotlight the scuffed shabby lives
0:22:38 > 0:22:40of boxing's lower orders.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44In 1949's The Set-Up, the pug at the centre of the story
0:22:44 > 0:22:47is, like Charley Davis, a worn-out 35-year-old
0:22:47 > 0:22:49trapped in a sport riddled with fixes.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Stoker Thompson, the boxer that's played by Robert Ryan,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04is having a crisis with his wife, Julie.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07She can't stand seeing him beaten up
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and taking physical abuse in the ring because he's at the end
0:23:10 > 0:23:12of his career, and in fact he's just used largely
0:23:12 > 0:23:15as a punching bag for up-and-coming fighters.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24Oh, Bill. It ain't I want to hurt you, but what kind of a life is this?
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Springfield, Middletown, Unionville, Paradise City.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31How many more beatings do you have to take?
0:23:31 > 0:23:36Julie has decided that she's going to leave Stoker
0:23:36 > 0:23:37if he doesn't retire from the ring,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40but Stoker is a boxer and so he fights.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43BELL RINGS
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Although his manager has already come to an agreement
0:23:50 > 0:23:53with the gangster gambler that his fighter's going to lose,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55his manager hasn't told the fighter.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00- You ain't got much time, so listen. You've got to lay down.- Lay down?
0:24:00 > 0:24:03It's supposed to be in the bag. There's 20 bucks extra for you.
0:24:03 > 0:24:04Maybe 30.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08If you explore anybody's life story in boxing,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10if they were any good at all
0:24:10 > 0:24:13they were asked to take a dive at some point.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Look, this is Little Boy's fix, Little Boy's. He's paying us.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20- You know Little Boy if you cross him! - You've got to go down, Stoker.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24There were tons of dives, and that's a staple of the boxing movie too.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Go down on the first good punch, stay down and take a count
0:24:27 > 0:24:28and let's get out of here.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Stoker of course resists that dive and ends up winning the fight.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41In an ironic way, the gangster's thugs beat him up
0:24:41 > 0:24:42after the fight is over.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46You'll never hit anybody with that hand again.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Stoker also manages to pull victory from defeat
0:24:54 > 0:24:57because when the thugs beat him up,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00they break his hands, which means that he can no longer fight,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04but at the end of the film, he's joined by his wife
0:25:04 > 0:25:09and she sees their marriage can be revived so the film, however grim,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12ends on this positive note of the reunification of the lovers
0:25:12 > 0:25:15over the ashes, you might say,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17of Stoker's career and his declining body.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Julie. I won tonight.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- I won!- Yes, you won tonight, Bill.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38We both won tonight. We both won tonight!
0:25:40 > 0:25:42At the beginning of The Set-Up,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46a hunched figure in a fedora rings the bell to start the fight.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Not many watching would realise this was the man
0:25:51 > 0:25:54whose stark, unforgiving street photography
0:25:54 > 0:25:56had helped shape film noir.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02The his name was Arthur Fellig, but he was better known as Weegee.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Someone who would have recognised him
0:26:05 > 0:26:08was a gifted teenage photographer from the Bronx.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10His name was Stanley Kubrick.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Kubrick grew up on the other side of the Bronx
0:26:13 > 0:26:16from Jake LaMotta's place on Pelham Parkway.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19He became a lifelong boxing fan as well as a dedicated photographer.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22The two passions would eventually come together.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25In 1950, he shot some astonishingly intimate photographs
0:26:25 > 0:26:28of heavyweight champion Rocky Graziano,
0:26:28 > 0:26:29but it was a spread for Look Magazine
0:26:29 > 0:26:32on an up and coming contender called Walter Cartier
0:26:32 > 0:26:34that gave him an idea.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Could he make a film about this photogenic middleweight?
0:26:42 > 0:26:46This is the story of a fight and of a fighter. Walter Cartier.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Today is the fight.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53It's a documentary but in terms of what fight films were
0:26:53 > 0:26:59in that post-war era, like the first 10-15 years after World War II,
0:26:59 > 0:27:04it captured all the classic intersections between noir and boxing.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11It's a long way until night.
0:27:11 > 0:27:17It had that notion of boxing just being the ultimate matador sport,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22where it's just you. You can't rely on anybody.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24A few moments are left.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28He can almost hear the commissioner coming down the hall to call him.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Once in the Kubrick movie
0:27:32 > 0:27:36when it started describing how he's morphing into someone else.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Walter is slowly becoming another man.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43This is the man who cannot lose, who must not lose.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45You can see this guy's a murder machine.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57The documentary was just the catalyst
0:27:57 > 0:27:59the ambitious Kubrick needed
0:27:59 > 0:28:04to launch his career as a serious movie maker.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Kubrick's first feature film was an art house war flick
0:28:07 > 0:28:11called Fear And Desire. It failed and he tried to bury it.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14He needed something more commercial. A genre picture maybe.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19Something noirish that married murder and boxing might get him noticed.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21The result was Killer's Kiss.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Even before writing the script, Kubrick methodically put together
0:28:26 > 0:28:29a checklist of what he thought would sell the flick.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33A boxing match, a damsel seduction,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35a rooftop chase.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40The story that would materialise was one long flashback
0:28:40 > 0:28:44bookended by a boxer anxiously waiting for his lover
0:28:44 > 0:28:46so they can both flee New York City.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49I think that's the way it began for me.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54Just before my fight with Rodriguez. Three days ago.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56As the picture dissolves into the past,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00the plot which emerges is one where the boxer and a dime-a-dance girl
0:29:00 > 0:29:04are drawn together as she tries to shake off the attentions
0:29:04 > 0:29:06of a sleazy dance hall manager.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10You foolish girl, I'm mad about you.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13I want to get you out of here. I'll set you up right.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Nothing! You couldn't do anything for me.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Don't forgive me, just tolerate me.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20In the process of telling that tale,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Kubrick also creates his own intriguing take on film noir.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Killer's Kiss was one of the most gorgeous films I've ever seen.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32It was an anonymous actor playing an anonymous boxer
0:29:32 > 0:29:36living out of a suitcase all alone in the world.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39It's about the isolation.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42The same thing as a private eye, you're all alone.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46You have a shabby office with a bottle of Scotch
0:29:46 > 0:29:50in a bottom drawer and your life amounts to nothing.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52You're living in a fleabag hotel.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55The boxer's a variation on that.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Kubrick shot the film himself,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02as these wonderful on-location photographs
0:30:02 > 0:30:06taken by his assistant director Alexander Singer suggests,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Kubrick was fastidious in capturing the people and the Manhattan
0:30:10 > 0:30:15he already knew intimately from his time as a documentary photographer.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Given the movie's noirish flavour,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22the finale should have found the boxer jilted by his lover
0:30:22 > 0:30:25but this was to be Kubrick's calling card to the Hollywood studios,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27who would expect a happy ending.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31His plan worked.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Kubrick sold the film to United Artists
0:30:33 > 0:30:37and persuaded the studio to bankroll another two features.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40He was now a Hollywood contender.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44In every fighter's life, there comes a time
0:30:44 > 0:30:48when they have to take off the gloves and walk away from the ring.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It is the moment where the now ex-boxer will rake over
0:30:51 > 0:30:54the what-ifs and the might-have-beens.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56One film, one scene, captures that mood
0:30:56 > 0:30:59of regret and reckoning unforgettably.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05While ostensibly dealing with corruption in New York's docks,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08On The Waterfront has at its emotional centre
0:31:08 > 0:31:11an ex-boxer played by Marlon Brando
0:31:11 > 0:31:17still haunted by the fight in which the mob forced him to take a dive.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19You remember that night in the Garden you came down
0:31:19 > 0:31:22to my dressing-room and said, "Kid, this ain't your night.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26"We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that?
0:31:27 > 0:31:32"This ain't your night!" My night! I could have taken Wilson apart.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39Life after a fighter stops earning a living in the ring
0:31:39 > 0:31:44is vastly unexplored territory in the main.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46It doesn't have the dramatic narrative
0:31:46 > 0:31:49that film-makers are drawn to.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54Maybe it's a story too that fighters themselves don't really want to know about.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57It's not a pretty story.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02Quite a few have never learned anything else.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05That is the real tragedy of it.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06So what happens?
0:32:06 > 0:32:09He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark and what do I get?
0:32:09 > 0:32:11A one-way ticket to Palookaville.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13You was my brother, Charlie.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16You should have looked out for me a little bit.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20On The Waterfront touches on that in that memorable scene
0:32:20 > 0:32:24of Terry Malloy in the back of a car with his brother.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27The "I could have been a contender" speech,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30it's just the most incredible reduction of that whole theme.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33I had some bets down for you, you saw some money.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36You don't understand, I could have had class!
0:32:36 > 0:32:38I could have been a contender!
0:32:38 > 0:32:41I could have been somebody!
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Instead of a bum.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47For fighters both on and off the screen, life after the ring
0:32:47 > 0:32:50could be cruel, as even a champion as celebrated
0:32:50 > 0:32:51as Joe Louis discovered.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Joe Louis sold his title to the International Boxing Club
0:32:56 > 0:33:01which was run by Frankie Carbo, Blinky Palermo, Truman Gibson
0:33:01 > 0:33:06and various other underworld characters.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08Then they recycled it.
0:33:08 > 0:33:13His last fight was dramatic in its own way,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16knocked out by Rocky Marciano at Madison Square Garden.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Knocked through the ropes, laying on his back.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23What happened thereafter, because he'd had mental problems,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27he lost nearly all his money to the Inland Revenue.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30He wrestled for a living for a little while
0:33:30 > 0:33:34and thereafter things got worse for him.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38He ended up as a greeter at a casino in Las Vegas, Caesars Palace.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43I saw him there and it was the most shocking thing.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46I could hardly believe that was Joe Louis.
0:33:46 > 0:33:53This was the most famous athlete on the planet in the '30s and '40s,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56and here he was reduced to shaking hands for a living.
0:33:56 > 0:34:02It encapsulated that journey from the top of the mountain to the bottom.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Pretty much as starkly as anything I've ever seen.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16By the mid '50s, the boxing movie itself would become a has-been.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19America was entering a more affluent confident era
0:34:19 > 0:34:23complete with strutting new heroes like James Dean,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28but the Hollywood studios were in crisis
0:34:28 > 0:34:30haemorrhaging audiences to TV.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35In 1946, there were 7,000 television sets in the US.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Six years later, there were 22 million.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42And by 1955, competition for the boxing movie
0:34:42 > 0:34:46arrived in the form of weekly live bouts from Madison Square Garden
0:34:46 > 0:34:49that drew huge television audiences.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Yes, the spectacle, the colour, the excitement,
0:34:53 > 0:34:58the human drama of Ben-Hur has swept the world.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02The studios fought back by pouring their money into widescreen epics
0:35:02 > 0:35:06which now focused on a different kind of gladiator.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15It seemed the boxing movie was on the ropes,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17an unwanted relic of the bad old days.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22For 20 years, cinema turned its back on the fight film.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48My name is Muhammad Ali and you will announce it right there
0:35:48 > 0:35:51in the centre of the ring after the fight if you don't do it now.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57America did have a controversial new champion rising to fame
0:35:57 > 0:36:00in the '60s, but it wouldn't be until the next decade
0:36:00 > 0:36:03that Muhammad Ali became a boxing immortal.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08What you going to call me?
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Having been stripped of his title and suspended from the ring
0:36:12 > 0:36:15after refusing to fight in Vietnam,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Ali regained his boxing licence in 1970.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23By early the next year, an eager world was growing feverish
0:36:23 > 0:36:27with anticipation over what was dubbed the fight of the century.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Ali bidding to regain his crown against new champion Joe Frazier.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35After 15 visceral grounds, Ali was defeated but for the studios,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39it was a timely reminder of the passions boxing could arouse.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Between an economic crisis and the war in South East Asia,
0:36:43 > 0:36:48the America of the early '70s desperately wanted to feel good about itself.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Fighting to reclaim his status as champion
0:36:50 > 0:36:52but getting older every day,
0:36:52 > 0:36:57the public were gathering in Ali's corner, but the man responsible
0:36:57 > 0:37:02for the boxing movie's comeback was an unknown actor with a script
0:37:02 > 0:37:04written in three days.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08The inspiration for his story set here in Philadelphia
0:37:08 > 0:37:11was an obscure slugger called Chuck Wepner
0:37:11 > 0:37:14who survived 15 rounds with Ali.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19It turned out to be the best loved boxing movie of them all.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23The no-hoper who became a phenomenon. Cue the music.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27MUSIC: "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" by Bill Conti
0:37:38 > 0:37:43The writer and star-in-waiting of Rocky was called Sylvester Stallone
0:37:43 > 0:37:47and his was a story of redemption.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50When I walked into that Resurrection Hall,
0:37:50 > 0:37:56and saw that mural of Christ on the wall, I said, "Terrific."
0:37:56 > 0:37:59We'll start on that and tilt down and find our hero
0:37:59 > 0:38:03and if people make the association, couldn't hurt.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18You believe that America is the land of opportunity?
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Apollo Creed does.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24He's going to prove it to the whole world by giving an unknown
0:38:24 > 0:38:27a shot at the title. That unknown is you.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30It's the chance of a lifetime.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32You can't pass it by.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34His name is Rocky.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38His whole life was a million-to-one shot.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43I thought of Rocky as a character study and a love story.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45The boxing was the background
0:38:45 > 0:38:49like the Civil War is the background in Gone With The Wind.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52His desire to go the distance
0:38:52 > 0:38:58and not be just another bum from the neighbourhood
0:38:58 > 0:39:02is something very appealing to everybody
0:39:02 > 0:39:07because we all have that feeling in one way or another.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14If I can go that distance,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18seeing that bell ring and I'm still standing...
0:39:22 > 0:39:26..I'm going to know for the first time in my life, you see?
0:39:28 > 0:39:31That I weren't just another bum from the neighbourhood.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35There was something about the process of unrealised dreams.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37I was always brought back to the subject
0:39:37 > 0:39:41because I think it's one of the most enduring subjects
0:39:41 > 0:39:45and one of the most difficult passages for people to accept,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48that they never were realised in their own lifetime.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51That they just didn't get that shot.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56He's in a boat! Riding in a boat, is he supposed to be George Washington?
0:39:56 > 0:39:59The Apollo Creed character is...
0:39:59 > 0:40:04an unabashed mirror of Muhammad Ali.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10- Is he talking to me?- He's talking to you.- Is he talking to me?
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Let him talk.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14I want the Stallion!
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Muhammad Ali was the biggest name in boxing,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and known around the world, so he took on that persona
0:40:23 > 0:40:25and Sylvester wrote the character like that.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30Filled with downbeat charm and a heady rush of sentiment,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33the film struck a nerve in America and beyond,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37making millions and winning an Oscar for best picture.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39You went the 15 rounds, how do you feel?
0:40:39 > 0:40:43- What were you thinking about when that buzzer...- Adrian!
0:40:43 > 0:40:44Adrian!
0:40:44 > 0:40:46And for all Rocky's innocence,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Stallone had proved himself a canny operator.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55Sylvester Stallone said, you know, "I star or you don't get the script."
0:40:58 > 0:40:59Rocky!
0:40:59 > 0:41:03United Artists had never heard of this guy.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08So, the producers sent them Lords of Flatbush to look at.
0:41:08 > 0:41:15So they looked at that and they said, "OK, he's good. We approve."
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Now they start looking at dailies.
0:41:20 > 0:41:21Adrian!
0:41:21 > 0:41:25And they look at the first few days, and, "Where's Stallone?"
0:41:25 > 0:41:28"He's there." "No, no, Stallone is blond."
0:41:28 > 0:41:30When they saw Lords of Flatbush,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33they thought that Perry King was Stallone.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36So they said yes to Perry King.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40- I love you.- I love you.- I love you.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42On the back of his million-to-one shot,
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Stallone went on to build a franchise of six Rocky films
0:41:46 > 0:41:50and a movie career now spanning nearly 40 years.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58But the real-life people's champ was also making his comeback
0:41:58 > 0:42:01and would find himself on the big screen.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06The rise and fall and rise again of Muhammad Ali is an unusual
0:42:06 > 0:42:07kind of boxing story.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12In fight movies the hero rarely gets to enjoy a triumphant third act.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15But then Ali was never the usual kind of boxer.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18One bout more than any other sealed his legend.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And among the crowd was a documentary maker,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23there to capture every chaotic, mythic moment
0:42:23 > 0:42:27of the fight they called the Rumble in the Jungle.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29# Do it to death... #
0:42:33 > 0:42:35I had heard about this project,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39two of the things I loved most, music and boxing.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46A music festival would wrap around the fight.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50The bout would see heavyweight champion George Foreman face
0:42:50 > 0:42:52the charismatic challenger Ali.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58The man behind it was flamboyant promoter Don King who had
0:42:58 > 0:43:03struck a deal with President Mobutu of Zaire to bankroll the fight.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06The whole world was focused on that fight.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11It wasn't in America, it was the Rumble in the Jungle in Africa.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Even watching the movie, When We Were Kings,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16brings you into a foreign place.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Don King hired director Leon Gast to film the musical acts
0:43:23 > 0:43:25that would be the support for the main event.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32The fight was supposed to happen the end of September,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35George Foreman was injured, it was delayed 30 days,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38and the whole concept of the film changed.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43The delay meant Leon Gast suddenly found himself with
0:43:43 > 0:43:47time on his hands and, crucially, unique, close-up access
0:43:47 > 0:43:51to the most electric fighter in boxing history.
0:43:52 > 0:43:59There was something about Ali that just his presence,
0:43:59 > 0:44:06and how he was conscious of the camera,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10but in a way different than anybody I had ever worked with.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16Sucker, you ain't nothing.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21He'd look at the cameraman, he'd do things like, "You a good cameraman?
0:44:21 > 0:44:23"You think you can follow me?
0:44:23 > 0:44:26"No, I'm here, no, I'm not there, I'm here."
0:44:26 > 0:44:30I'm dancing, follow me. No, I'm not there, I'm here.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38Nixon had resigned, and it became part of his poetry.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned...
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Wait till I kick Foreman's behind.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47It happened, like, from one day to the next day.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49Hospitalise a brick.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55I'm so mean, I make medicine sick. Bad. Fast. Fast.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Fast! Last night I cut the light off my bedroom, hit the switch,
0:44:58 > 0:45:00was in the bed before the room was dark.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04Before, prize fighters never gave you more than,
0:45:04 > 0:45:09I want to say hello to my mum and all the people back in Allentown Pennsylvania.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14I'm going to eat him up. Too much speed for him. Too fast.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18He's the king, and he's never been to Africa before.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Everybody's coming from all the villages to see him,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24to run with him. To call out his name.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28And to see this great man, they just want to see him and touch him.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30There he is. Bomaye.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34- ALL:- Ali, bomaye. Ali, bomaye.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38This chant that he heard at the airport,
0:45:38 > 0:45:43that he picked up immediately on. He said, "What does that mean?"
0:45:43 > 0:45:46And the kid said, "Ali, kill him."
0:45:46 > 0:45:47Ali, bomaye.
0:45:47 > 0:45:55He made it so I think George felt like he was the outsider.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03Eventually the fight went ahead on October 30th, 1974
0:46:03 > 0:46:08in a stadium in the capital Kinshasa before a crowd of 60,000.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Ali's strategy was to exhaust the lumbering Foreman.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16By the eighth round, he was able to deliver the knockout blow
0:46:16 > 0:46:18and reclaim his crown.
0:46:26 > 0:46:33Three, four, five, six, seven, eight...
0:46:34 > 0:46:35But disaster struck for Gast
0:46:35 > 0:46:39when his footage became ensnared in a legal dispute.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42It would be more than 20 years before he could show the finished
0:46:42 > 0:46:46documentary which now had a significant historical perspective.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53We brought it to Sundance,
0:46:53 > 0:46:58and there were parts in the film where people applauded.
0:46:58 > 0:47:06It was just a perfect audience, and then the film won an Academy Award.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09It was incredible.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Then, in 2001, Will Smith
0:47:14 > 0:47:17had the unenviable task of impersonating Ali.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21There's been an accidental injury to George Foreman in training.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26The truth is, George knocked himself out. That's right.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30He did three rounds, realised he was going to lose to Muhammad Ali,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32and knocked himself out.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35That's right, I'm a bad man.
0:47:35 > 0:47:41It turned out certain characters were just too big for any actor.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44All of you, I know you got him. I know you got him picked.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48But the man's in trouble, I'm going to show you how great I am.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53But a shadow falls over every fighter,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Muhammad Ali's Parkinson's disease would later be accelerated
0:47:57 > 0:47:59by the hard knocks of the ring.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Boxers must always get acquainted with brutality.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10For all its craft and artistry, boxing is violence.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12There is a darkness to the sport.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16Even the most realistic of filmmakers shy away from it.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23It would be documentary makers, and one notorious
0:48:23 > 0:48:27slugger in particular, who would take us ringside and force us
0:48:27 > 0:48:30to confront some of the fight game's more unpalatable truths.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36Director James Toback realised the garish, grisly life of former
0:48:36 > 0:48:41heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was a story waiting to be told
0:48:41 > 0:48:43and that a documentary about him
0:48:43 > 0:48:46would make compelling, if uneasy viewing.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50There was a sense, with Tyson which you did not have with anybody else,
0:48:50 > 0:48:55that he was out to kill his opponent, not to knock him out.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Not to hurt him, not to humiliate him, to kill him.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03- TYSON:- One, two, three punches. I'm throwing punches.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05He goes down, he's out.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Literally, I'm going to run across the ring
0:49:07 > 0:49:12and come as close to killing you as I can with my gloves on.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17- COMMENTATOR:- Everything Tyson does is intimidating.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22The most vivid one was Michael Spinks who stood there in the ring
0:49:22 > 0:49:26looking as if he wanted to make a deal right there.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30I'll lose in the first round, I'll get knocked out in the first round
0:49:30 > 0:49:33if you promise me I won't be in the hospital for three weeks.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37He looked like a guy who literally was walking to a slaughterhouse.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40It's like he wants to get his knuckles closer to the leather
0:49:40 > 0:49:45so he can get them on somebody's face. Namely Mike Spinks.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48As he says in the movie, he took his own fear and imposed it on them.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50He transplanted it into their brain.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53While I'm in the dressing room, five minutes before I come out,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56my gloves are laced up. I'm breaking my gloves down,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59and pushing the leather in the back of my gloves.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02I'm breaking the middle of the gloves so my knuckle can pierce through.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06It's very interesting to me the way that's worked up in the film
0:50:06 > 0:50:09where he talks about as he's walking into the ring it's culminating.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12All during my training, I've been afraid of this man.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14I thought this man might be capable of beating me.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16But the closer I get to the ring, I'm more confident.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Once I'm in the ring, I'm a god. No-one can beat me.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23By the time he gets in the ring, that's it, it's over.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27I now know I'm going to terrify you, and I'm going to destroy you.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31I keep my eyes on him, I keep my eyes on him, I keep my eyes on him.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Then once I see a chink in his armour, boom.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36If one of his eyes make a move, then I know I have him.
0:50:36 > 0:50:43Me and Tyson was, you could say, on that journey to meet each other.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48Didn't know when, but we knew we were going to meet each other.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50At one time, I didn't think we were going to fight
0:50:50 > 0:50:53because he spent three years in incarceration.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58He came out, and he was supposed to fight me straightaway,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01but he decided on fighting Evander Holyfield.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05- TYSON:- 1997, rematch, Evander Holyfield.
0:51:05 > 0:51:06First round began.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10All of a sudden, he bit Holyfield's ear.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13I bit him. He got mad, he turned around.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I was thinking, "Wow, that's shocking.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18"We're gladiators, who bites in the ring?"
0:51:18 > 0:51:21- TYSON:- When I lost my composure, the worst thing a warrior,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24a soldier can ever do is lose their discipline.
0:51:24 > 0:51:25And people were saying,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28"Oh, no. They're never going to let him fight again."
0:51:28 > 0:51:32So we didn't think that fight was going to come off with me and him.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34And then all of a sudden the fight was on.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Poetically enough, the two fights are joined together,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40not at the hip, but at the teeth of Mike Tyson who ended the first
0:51:40 > 0:51:43one by biting Evander Holyfield in the ring,
0:51:43 > 0:51:47and almost ended this one by biting Lennox Lewis at a news conference.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49- TYSON:- I was just walking up towards him,
0:51:49 > 0:51:53and I walked up kind of brazen and hard. I guess that intimidated him.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55I was on the bottom, Tyson was on the bottom
0:51:55 > 0:51:57and then I felt a pain in my leg.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00I was like looking down where the pain is.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04And Tyson was looking up at me like that, and he bit my leg.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07And I knew that was a part of his intimidation structure.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10It wasn't working. With me, I've been there and done that.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16You draw the first blood, you bit me on the leg,
0:52:16 > 0:52:17now I'm going to win the war.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22COMMENTATOR: He's doing a good job. You can't take that from him.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30# I can feel it coming in the air tonight... #
0:52:32 > 0:52:34Long after Tyson's boxing career was over,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Hollywood was still happy to trade on his violent reputation.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41Even persuading him to play it for laughs.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43ALL: Oh, Lord.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Oh, Jesus.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Why did you do that?
0:52:50 > 0:52:55One of the ironies, I suppose, about Hollywood's love affair with boxing,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57boxing is Hollywood's dirty secret.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00It is sort of addicted to boxing.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02It's always drawn back to the subject,
0:53:02 > 0:53:08and yet you have to ask yourself how honest it is about that subject
0:53:08 > 0:53:13because it glamorises violence in a way that works as drama.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18For all the fight game's ambiguous morality,
0:53:18 > 0:53:21the film business always returns to the boxing movie,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24tweaking the formula to keep audiences interested.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Million Dollar Baby tells the story of a young,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32working-class woman played by Hilary Swank
0:53:32 > 0:53:35who, under the paternal eye of her trainer Clint Eastwood,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38looks to build a better life through boxing.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41At first glance, it seemed women might at last
0:53:41 > 0:53:42be accepted in the ring.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48Hold it. Hold it.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52- I'll show you a few things, and then we'll get you a trainer.- No, sorry.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55- You're in a position to negotiate? - Yes, sir.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Because I know if you train me right, I'm going to be a champ.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00I think Million Dollar Baby
0:54:00 > 0:54:02wants to be a film about female empowerment,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04but in important kinds of ways it really isn't.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08On the one hand it's celebrating the evolution of Hilary Swank,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and it's celebrating her grit, her determination, her heart,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14which is how the film talks about it.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17She's a better fighter than you are. That's why.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20She's younger, she's stronger, and she's more experienced.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Now, what are you going to do about it?
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Ultimately, really a film about Clint Eastwood.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31It's about his character's development,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34his character's anxieties, his character's need for redemption.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36I've made a lot of mistakes in my life,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40- I'm just trying to keep you from doing the same.- I know, boss.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44- I'm not going to live for ever. - What is it?
0:54:44 > 0:54:47It's a tape on that girl in England you're going to fight.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49If you're going to go for the title, we've got some...
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Hey, get the hell down. How old I am...
0:54:52 > 0:54:55She's actually quite a static character.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58She knows exactly what she wants, and that's all she wants.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00And he's the one who changes,
0:55:00 > 0:55:04he's the one we're encouraged to sympathise with, to identify with.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07It's suggesting that women really don't belong in the boxing ring.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10The most important way in which it suggests that is that she ends up
0:55:10 > 0:55:12a quadriplegic and she dies.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15I'm going to disconnect your air machine.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17And you're going to go to sleep.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26And I'll give you a shot and you'll stay asleep.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31So to say that this is a celebration of women breaking new ground
0:55:31 > 0:55:34or showing they can do things they have never done before,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37well, not if they actually die in the end.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41We're supposed to admire her, and then put her away when she dies,
0:55:41 > 0:55:45and then feel very sorry for his tragic loss rather than hers.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Nonetheless, for her role in Million Dollar Baby,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53Hilary Swank went on to win one of the film's four Academy Awards.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59And in 2010, Hollywood once more raided real life
0:55:59 > 0:56:02for its source material with The Fighter.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05This time redemption beckons for contender Micky Ward
0:56:05 > 0:56:07played by Mark Wahlberg
0:56:07 > 0:56:11and his crack addicted stepbrother played by Christian Bale
0:56:11 > 0:56:14in another Oscar-winning performance.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18I don't need to be Columbo to see where this fight is headed.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23A right-hand puts Micky Ward down.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26These people are making a movie on me and my comeback and my brother
0:56:26 > 0:56:31is going to be in Atlantic City next week.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35The pride of Lowell is back.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39After 120 years of boxing movies, the passion of filmmakers
0:56:39 > 0:56:42for the fight game shows no sign of waning.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48The fighter who summed it up best for me,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53and did it in a really simple way, was Frank Bruno.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55He called it show business with blood.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59It's a show, it's a business, there's blood. It's all a package.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04It has run in tandem with film from day one.
0:57:04 > 0:57:09They have been so linked, like a marriage.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13They've had their fallings out, they get back together again.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17And there will always be boxing, and there will always be movies
0:57:17 > 0:57:19and there will always be boxing movies.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22I think there's a real future in the boxing movie
0:57:22 > 0:57:25because unfortunately we're heading back into the same problems
0:57:25 > 0:57:27that the Great Depression was dealing with.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32So, I think, if anything, it's going to become very topical once again.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35It's going to seem like an obvious way to symbolise
0:57:35 > 0:57:38the individual battling against society.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58The secret of the boxing movie is that we are the boxer.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05We are Rocky Balboa, setting out alone into the Philadelphia dawn.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Stoker Thompson craving the big-time.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13Sometimes even Jake LaMotta, lost in his own fury.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17We all have moments where life feels like a gruelling struggle
0:58:17 > 0:58:19against a ruthless opponent.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21If boxing gives that struggle order,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24divides it into three-minute rounds with judges to keep score,
0:58:24 > 0:58:29then the boxing film roots it in a story and invests it with meaning.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37Because what echoes through the boxing movie is the idea
0:58:37 > 0:58:41that the real test isn't how you throw a punch, but how you take one.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44When the fixers say, "Tonight is your night, kid."
0:58:44 > 0:58:47Do you go down? When the other fighter has his arm raised
0:58:47 > 0:58:52and the count is at seven, eight, nine, do you get back up?
0:58:52 > 0:58:54Even when the final bell has faded,
0:58:54 > 0:58:58like Martin Scorsese said, the ring is everywhere.
0:59:12 > 0:59:16Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd