betty dalton
Jeff Bridges is young and charming in this movie about an upcoming boxer who meets another boxer (Stacey Keach) who is going down the drain. First I expected it to be a standard boxer movie portraying a young man who was going to make it big. But soon I discovered this movie was about losing. About drunks and has beens. Depressing. But not so depressing that it isnt great to watch Stacey Keach perform a drunk so well. Another actress got nominated for an oscar, but it should have been Stacey Keach who really deserved an oscar. Never seen an actor perform a drunk so well. Almost couldnt believe that Keach was actually acting sometimes, because he looks so wasted and completely lost.John Huston directed Fat City in a documentary kind of style. The photography resembles a real life look in the run down bars and boxing halls. Real life bums and poor people are being used as extras. It is depressing. Boring sometimes. But still fascinating because of its bleakness and so real life portrayals of everyday people.My only criticism of this movie is that there is a romantic subplot with a woman that kinda slows down the movie in the middle. There is definitely a lack of action in the middle. But hey, that is the life this drunk is leading. Nothing happens except for another night with booze. And another... And if you can stumach a movie about losers who are going nowhere than you can appreciate this movie as much as I did. Because the photography and the acting are way up there, really excellent. And the characters portrayed are loveable because of their vulnerabilities.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I knew this film was one listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't know anything else about the film besides this, this was good enough reason for me to try it, directed by John Huston (The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King). Basically at a gym in Stockton, California, past his prime boxer Billy Tully (Stacy Keach) meets eighteen-year-old Ernie Munger (Jeff Bridges), they getting into shape and spar with each other. Tully sees potential in young Ernie, he suggests he looks up his former manager and trainer Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto), he tells about how impressed he is with the kid to aggressive barfly Oma Lee Greer (Oscar nominated Susan Tyrrell) and her easygoing boyfriend Earl (Curtis Cokes), Tully is newly inspired and keen to get back in the ring himself. Ever since his wife left him Tully's life has been a mess, he drinks too much and cannot hold down a job, he picks fruit and vegetables to make ends meet, he still blames Ruben for mishandling his last fight. Earl is sent to prison for a few months, this allows Tully to try moving in with Ola, but the relationship between them is rocky. Munger loses his first fight and gets his nose broken, he is knocked out in his second fight as well, Munger gets forced into marrying Faye (Candy Clark) when she becomes pregnant, he starts picking fruit himself to make some money. In his first fight back in the ring, Tully fights against tough Mexican boxer Lucero (Sixto Rodriguez), he is much older and in considerable pain, they knock each other out before Tully is declared the winner, but his celebration is brief as he is only paid $100. Tully ends his business partnership with Ruben, he then returns to Oma's apartment, Earl is there and still paying the rent, Earl assures him that alcoholic Oma wants nothing to do with Tully anymore. One night, Munger is returning home from a fight, he finds Tully drunk in the street, he tries to ignore him, but he reluctantly agrees to go for a coffee with Tully. The two men sit and drink, Tully has sees strange things while looking at all the people around him, he almost breaks down with how his career is failing while Munger's is progressing, Munger tells him he should leave, but Tully wants to stay and talk some more, they continue to sit and drink coffee in silence. Also starring Art Aragon as Babe, Sixto Rodriguez as Lucero, Billy Walker as Wes, Wayne Mahan as Buford and Ruben Navarro as Fuentes. Keach (whose part was originally offered to Marlon Brando) is good as the prize-fighter going down in the dumps, and Bridges does well as the young contender on the rise, their rocky relationship certainly creates some tension, most boxing movies have more fights, full of blood, sweat and tears, this film focuses more on the hardships on the career side of it, it is slow at times, but overall an interesting enough sports drama. Good!
Writer_Mario_Biondi
This is a magnificent movie. Simply magnificent. With a very simple, minimalistic plot John Huston succeeds in creating a story which you can not abandon and on the contrary await avidly to see scene after scene. And, let alone the extraordinary direction (and photography: only a shadowy hint of Edward Hopper, where one risked to have tons of it), the magic is done by the actors. All, all, all of them, but particularly (and obviously) Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges and Susan Tyrrell. This last one is simply fantastic in her portrayal of the desperate, solipsist boozing woman. Bridgse is my favorite actor after Dustin Hoffman, but I had never seen him so young and yet a perfectly accomplished actor. And Keach… well, tell me I am dumb, but I didn't even know him. When I look at a DVD I like to stop near the middle and begin again from that point the day after. So, with this movie I spent two splendid evenings. Depressing movie, I read somewhere. No, no way. I will look at it again
FilmCriticLalitRao
In the past, some studios in Hollywood considered themselves to be in a privileged position as they were producing a highly disparate genre of films about boxing and boxers.These films were made by a separate team who would write scripts,choose actors and direct films about success stories being crafted in boxing rings.One such 'boxing film' was briefly described in Coen brothers' "Barton Fink" starring actor John Turturro who is being asked by a studio executive to write a 'boxing picture'."Fat City" is also a boxing picture but it does not have anything in common with boxing pictures of the past.Director John Huston did not want to portray boxers as 'super heroes'.He aimed to present an honest account of boxers as ordinary human beings with their own share of joys as well as sorrows. Each person in this film is plagued with numerous personal problems. Superb acting performances by Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges convince viewers to believe that poverty is a serious curse which leaves many strongmen broken hearted. Director John Huston was brutal to the core to show that even tough guys such as boxers are affected by poverty and are forced to do menial jobs in order to survive in a difficult world.
