Regarding Sports Movies - Why Boxing?

[klunderbunker]

Think about this for a minute: when you think of great sports movies, no sport comes close to having as many as boxing.

You have two that won Best Picture (Rocky, Million Dollar Baby) and one that is considered one of the best of all time which somehow didn't win (Raging Bull) and I'm probably forgetting some. You get the occasional baseball movie like Field of Dreams or a basketball one like Hoosiers, but boxing films tend to dominate the list with Rocky and Raging Bull being listed among the best films ever period.

What is it about boxing that makes for great movies? Why are there more boxing movies among the best ever than other sports?

 

[SD619]

The reason that there are such good boxing movies is because of the simplistic nature and global appeal of the sport. Boxing is something that everyone, irrespective of nationality, comprehends. Most of the other sports have a certain set of rules, which often become the focal point of movies. Without knowing the rules, it is hard to enjoy the movie.

As for the other sports, most of them have a limited audience. A movie made on baseball may be huge in USA but outside of it, the movie may not be popular because of the limited viewership of the sport.

 

[Davi323]

Couple reasons. As far as sports movies go, its a hell of a lot simpler to choreograph two guys than it is an entire team. The venue is smaller so less extras are needed as well. Studios like boxing movies because its faster and cheaper to stage a boxing match than it is to simulate other sports.

Secondly, boxing is a one on one sport. You don't have to use up time trying set up backstories for multiple characters. You can focus more on the story. Using Rocky as an example, one underdog against the flashy champion, how many real characters were actually in the movie besides Rocky, Apollo, Adrian, Mickey and Pauly? Five roles, and they pretty much are the movie. Now, how many Mighty Ducks can you name? Bad News Bears? Boxing movies are simple. You have main character, then you have a couple of characters the main character interacts with. The audience doesn't have to have their attention split between multiple protagonists. Since they can focus on one character, they become more invested in that one character. Boxing movies work because its ONE underdog rising above. From a storytelling perspective, its a popular theme with viewers.

Thirdly, camera angles. You can put a camera guy right in the ring, get the close up shots of guys getting hit, show bloody spit being ejected when they get hit particularly hard, it's just more personal. Closer shots of each actor, more violence equals more "actiony" feeling.

summary: for studio, cheaper to do. For viewers, means more character development. For the actual filming, you can get better camera shots.

 

[Slyfox696]

Think about this for a minute: when you think of great sports movies, no sport comes close to having as many as boxing.

You have two that won Best Picture (Rocky, Million Dollar Baby) and one that is considered one of the best of all time which somehow didn't win (Raging Bull) and I'm probably forgetting some. You get the occasional baseball movie like Field of Dreams or a basketball one like Hoosiers, but boxing films tend to dominate the list with Rocky and Raging Bull being listed among the best films ever period.

What is it about boxing that makes for great movies? Why are there more boxing movies among the best ever than other sports?

To answer your question, I would argue there are probably just as many good baseball movies as there are boxing movies.

Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, The Rookie, A League of their Own, The Natural are all considered high quality movies. Major League is one of the funniest movies ever. Bull Durham is a cult classic.

However, Americans love fighting and so I think the reason we consider there to be so many good boxing movies is because the fighting action is something we enjoy, and are willing to pay to watch. I just don't know if I would say there are more great boxing movies than baseball movies.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I think as others have said, the simplistic nature and appeal to wider audiences are big factors. I'd even venture to say that it is perhaps due to the success of Rocky that has paved the way for boxing movies to be as recurring successes as they are, as Rocky is generally considered a feel-good film about someone getting beaten up but not giving up. At the heart of a lot of boxing movies, this is still the central theme; The Fighter, Raging Bull, hell I may as well throw Warrior in here too. While this theme may also apply to other sporting movies, it is perhaps more blatant within the boxing genre.

Sadly, I think people's perceptions about other sports they don't "get" or "understand" like the baseball movies Sly mentioned or american football movies or soccer movies does perhaps play a part in some films not resonating with a larger audience. I don't agree with the perception that you need to totally understand the ins and outs of a sport to enjoy the movie as essentially it serves as context for the characters to tell the story in. To use the example of an american football movie, Friday Night Lights was centred on a high school football team in Texas, but the heart of the story was about the pressure on the, essentially, kids to deliver glory to their town and all the expectation placed upon them. Aside from the climactic game, the story evolved through the off-field stories and development. As great as this film is, it did poorly in the international box office, pulling in only 1.1% of its total gross: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fridaynightlights.htm

Davi323 raised an excellent point too about the smaller number of characters in boxing films too compared to team sports with multiple characters. Less characters means more investment in them when they appear, whereas larger casts need a very good script and direction to install the audiences investment in all of them in relatively equal measure. It's an intimidating task, so allowing a director to focus on a few central characters to drive the story forwards means they can do more with them.

 

[Big Sexy]

To answer your question, I would argue there are probably just as many good baseball movies as there are boxing movies.

Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, The Rookie, A League of their Own, The Natural are all considered high quality movies. Major League is one of the funniest movies ever. Bull Durham is a cult classic.

However, Americans love fighting and so I think the reason we consider there to be so many good boxing movies is because the fighting action is something we enjoy, and are willing to pay to watch. I just don't know if I would say there are more great boxing movies than baseball movies.

Basically this. And it's not just baseball that has movies comparable to the boxing ones, it's basketball and football too. With football you have Brian's Song, Rudy, Friday Night Lights, Jerry McGuire, We Are Marshall, Remember the Titans, and The Longest Yard (both original and remake). With basketball you have Hoop Dreams, Hoosiers, Coach Carter, He Got Game, White Men Can't Jump (very underrated).

Boxing has an advantage being that it is a one on one sport so it's easy to center on one character and the action scenes are more intimate with it being a one on one fight, but I wouldn't say they have more great or classic movies on the whole compared to other sports.