Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director:
Ron Howard
Cast :
Russell Crowe……….Jim Braddock
Renee Zellweger……….Mae Braddock
Connor Price……….Jay Braddock
Paul Giamatti……….Joe Gould
Craig Bierko………..Max Baer
Fulvio Cecere……….Referee Johnny McAvoy
Nick Alachiotis……….Max Baer’s Cornerman
Darrin Brown……….Boxing Promoter
The Movie
In a summer that saw a pair of sub-par movies like Fantastic Four and The Dukes of Hazzard hit $80 million plus in domestic revenues, it’s unnerving to see how a great movie with a great director, a bankable lead actor, and one of the best actresses of the past decade meshed with one of the best stories of the year could be forgotten in the rush to see Jessica Simpson and Jessica Alba due the one thing they can do on screen: fill a bikini. But following a year in which more people saw White Chicks than the film that won that year’s Academy Award (Million Dollar Baby), the fact that Cinderella Man was ignored by the masses is easy to understand.
Cinderella Man, the true to life story of James Braddock, follows his rise from the depths of the Depression to his fight with Max Baer (Craig Bierko) for boxing’s World Heavyweight Championship. It’s a real life version of Rocky, the story that inspired so many other countless underdog tales of the last 30 years.
But this isn’t a boxing movie per se; much like Million Dollar Baby, it’s more about a boxer than it is about boxing. But the darkness that prevails over the Clint Eastwood directed movie is the opposite of the light that shines from Ron Howard’s latest opus.
And what a magnificent movie Cinderella Man is. Howard has a lot working against him with the underdog formula but he manages to take it and make it one of the movie’s strengths. He manages to take a rather restricting formula and craft a remarkable story with it. Braddock is an underdog, for sure, but even with the world against him we never feel sorry for him. There’s a fine line between feeling bad for someone and feeling sorry for them; the former can make you get behind someone and the latter generally leaves you bored. Braddock is given a sense of purpose, likeability and nobility that is easily identifiable.
Braddock isn’t a loser given another chance because people feel sorry for him; he’s a guy who does the right things time and time again. It feels like his reward for being a good person and for living a good life as opposed to just a mere handout. But it takes more than quality direction to showcase a hero. It takes a quality hero. And Russell Crowe is that hero, as his performance as Braddock is sensational. Given Howard’s story-telling it would seem almost easy for anyone to step into Braddock’s shoes and do a good enough job. Crowe steps into his skin and breathes the air in. Braddock is a noble man who wants to provide for his family; he’s a man who has never given up and still tries to provide for his family in every way possible.
For every good hero there is a sidekick and a great woman. Paul Giamatti’s Joe Gould and Renee Zellwegger (as Braddock’s wife Mae) are as good as they come. As Braddock’s biggest supporters, Giamatti and Zellweger turn in Oscar-caliber performances. Gould has a sort of muted strength that is hard to replicate. He has to be a man down on his luck and yet too proud to display it. He is the movie’s comic relief as well, providing some well-timed zingers when appropriate. Mae compliments James much like Adrian complimented Rocky. Zellweger manages to be the softer side of the relationship while bringing her own sort of strength to the equation. Her chemistry with Crowe is unforced and natural; the emotions she displays are genuine. Mae cares about the well-being of her husband and not just their bank account.
Besides the quality story and great acting, Cinderella Man is an absolutely beautiful-looking film. Ron Howard is able to take Depression-era New Jersey and duplicate it in both look and feel. The scenery and the movie’s look have a certain gloom to it that is absorbing. On one hand it is wholly depressing to see the landscape in its state, but at the same time Howard photographs it so well that it is enveloping.
In an era where underdog stories have reached the point of almost self-parody, Howard and Crowe have combined to make a movie that is filled with heart, soul and a bit of the sort of magic that all great movies share. Cinderella Man is a masterpiece, pure and simple.
Score : 10 / 10
The Video
Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the film sounds superb. The subtle nuances and powerful drama intoned by Howard’s use of scoring in the film comes through impressively as the sound is clear and separated well.
The Audio
Presented in a widescreen format, Cinderella Man has a terrific transfer from the big screen to the smaller one. Capturing the time and detail that was put into the film, the colors are dark and yet come through clear. The period was captured well in terms of costuming, et al, and it comes through impressively on the DVD.
The Extras
Deleted Scenes come with commentary by Director Ron Howard that can be turned on and off. With roughly 35 minutes worth of spare material, there’s a lot of really great stuff that was left on the cutting room floor by Howard. With several extended scenes and several poignant moments left out of an already powerful movie, it’s interesting to see what got taken out.
The Fight Card: Casting Cinderella Man is a featurette on how the cast was put together. Initially Crowe and Howard had both wanted to make the film, and when Howard was able to put it together Crowe naturally came on board. From this point forward, in the 23 minutes this featurette runs, we get to see a real in-depth look at how all the principles of the cast were chosen and the motivations behind how they developed their characters. It’s also fascinating to hear Howard talk about directing all the talent assembled, as he speaks about how it’s easy to assemble talent but hard to try and blend a lot of really talented people into a great cast.
The Man, The Movie, The Legend: A Filmmaking Journey follows the beginning of the film, with Crowe and Howard deciding on it as their project after A Beautiful Mind, through the entire production process. It’s rather interesting to see how they scouted locations and found that Toronto, Canada, was a suitable stand in for 1930s New York/New Jersey. There’s a recurring theme throughout, as both Crowe and Howard want to give Braddock his due while capturing the sort of imagination required for this sort of story.
For the Record: A History in Boxing is a six minute feature on the boxing coordinator, Angelo Dundee, and his influence on the film. Peppered with some great anecdotes from filming from Giamatti and Howard about their experiences, it’s a short piece about how they were able to make the boxing look as real as it did while keeping the drama to it.
Ringside Seats is a commentary on the actual fight between Baer and Braddock with novelist Norman Mailer, Howard, and two of the producers of the film. It’s a clinic on the actual fight lasting nine minutes and helps explain the psychology of it. It’s easy to see how Howard got the actual moments of Braddock vs. Baer right; Mailer and Howard discuss the reasons behind a lot of the moments of the fight and Mailer gives it a historical perspective to match.
Jim Braddock: The Friends & Family behind the Legend is an 11 minutes perspective about the film and its star from the perspective of the family. Howard Braddock, the lone surviving child, as well as cast member Rosemarie Dewitt (Braddock’s granddaughter) team up with other members of the family to talk about the kind of person Braddock was as well as talking about his rather unique story.
Russell Crowe’s Personal Journey: Becoming Jim Braddock is a 28 minute feature on the training process Crowe went through in order to physically portray the role of Braddock. Following from the start of his workouts, through the shoulder injury that delayed shooting, it’s an honest and candid look by one of Hollywood’s best actors at how he trained for one of the more physical roles of his career. This isn’t fluff material, this is lots of hard-training meshed with some deep thoughts from Crowe as he discusses how he trained and expresses a lot of his personal thoughts about the training, as well trying to emulate Braddock’s style in the ring.
Pre-Fight Preparations are four separate featurettes running a combined 25 minutes about the film. The first one, running eight minutes, focuses on the script and how it came to be as well as how the near 10 year process it took to get the film from idea to actuality. Having attracted Crowe’s attention, the script then went to Howard and they decided to make it their next film after A Beautiful Mind. Determined to make the film and in love with the story, Crowe, Howard, and others talk about the mythos of Braddock and his story in order to excavate the story of the man and bring him to life. The next featurette focuses on how they created Depression-era New Jersey/New York as well as the sets of the film, coming in at seven minutes. With Production Designer Wynn Thomas on hand to narrate and guide through the sets, it’s a fascinating look at how they took elements from that era and were able to recreate them. The third, which runs around five minutes, focuses on how Crowe transformed his body to be a scale version of Braddock. With Braddock having almost four inches on Crowe, he speaks briefly about how he was able to get down to about 175 lbs after Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World; he was close to his normal weight of 215lbs. for that film. They also talk about they were able to adapt his facial features to Braddock, from his hairline to little facial lines. The last featurette focuses on the inflatable extras used to recreate the crowd and runs four minutes or so. With about 30,000 dolls used as stand-ins for actual people, it’s a brief and interesting look at just how they recreated the crowds for the big fight scenes.
Lights, Camera, Action: The Fight from Every Angle is a 21 minute featurette on how Howard and crew developed the fight cinematography. Beginning from videotaping footage from their stuntmen on hand-held cameras as well as archival footage, it is a rather interesting piece on how they decided to film the five fights in the film as well as the sort of work they put in to it meshed with their motivations behind it all. They also bring in Braddock’s cinematic opponents as well to help explain how and why they did certain things in the fights and how they choreographed key moments in them.
The Sound of the Bell is a featurette featuring Howard and composer Thomas Newman discussing how they developed the film’s score and sound. Running around six minutes, it follows how Newman & Howard felt about certain scenes and how they wanted to give the film a true score (as opposed to just loading it up with music from the time period).
Human Face of the Depression is another six minute featurette that touches upon Howard’s wanting to do a feature length film about the subject. Coming from his days in high school, Howard’s first film (a documentary he did in high school) focused on the Depression and he has this giddy feel to it as he explains why he wanted to do a film about the period. It’s always fascinating to hear people talking about how and why they do the things they do, and it’s a short and fascinating look at one of Hollywood’s top directors talking about a subject he obviously has a fondness for.
Braddock vs. Baer Fight Footage is footage of the actual Braddock-Baer fight. It’s amazing to see the actual fight as well as the filmed one and see just how eerily similar they are. It’s a credit to Howard that the film captures the fight both dramatically and in actuality. It’s fascinating to see how much Crowe and Bierko resemble their real-life counterparts and how the film’s fight closely resembles the actual fight.
Photo Montage is a three minute photo gallery set to music and scenes from the film and its shooting.
Cinderella Music Man Featurette is a two minute with Newman talking about how he was able to try and motivate certain scenes and his general motivation behind the score.
Feature Commentary with Director Ron Howard; Feature Commentary with Writer Akiva Goldsman; Feature Commentary with Writer Cliff Hollingsworth
Score : 10 / 10
