Our Sponsors

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Million Dollar Baby


Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of an under-appreciated boxing trainer, his elusive past, and his quest for atonement by helping an underdog amateur female boxer (the film's title character) achieve her dream of becoming a professional. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The screenplay was written by Paul Haggis, based on short stories by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and "cutman" Jerry Boyd. Originally published under the title Rope Burns, the stories have since been republished under the film's title.

Plot

Margaret Fitzgerald, an Irish-American waitress from a Missouri town in the Ozarks, shows up in the Hit Pit, a run-down Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn, a brilliant boxing trainer. Maggie asks Dunn to train her, but he refuses because she is a woman and 31 years old. Maggie, however, perseveres in her attempts to win Dunn over by working out each day in his gym, even when others discourage her. Frank's friend and employee, ex-boxer Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris, encourages her and helps her all he can. He narrates the story in non-dialogue scenes.
Dunn's prize prospect, "Big" Willie Little, reluctantly signs with successful manager Mickey Mack after Dunn turns down an offer for a championship bout. With some prodding from Eddie, Dunn eventually agrees to train Maggie. She fights her way up to the women's welterweightboxing division, winning many of her bouts with first-round knockouts. Estranged from his own daughter, who returns his letters unopened, Dunn comes to establish a strong bond with Maggie. He eventually arranges a meeting for her with Mickey Mack, but she is more loyal than Big Willie.
Her own white trash family cares little for her well-being. When Maggie has saved up enough of her winnings, she buys her mother a house, but instead of being grateful, she berates Maggie for endangering her welfare payments and Medicaid benefits. She also belittles her success in the ring, saying that everyone is laughing at her at home for what she is doing.
Eventually, Dunn secures Maggie a $1 million title match in Las Vegas against the WBAwomen's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear", a German ex-prostitute who has a reputation as a dirty fighter. Overcoming a shaky start, Maggie begins to dominate the fight, but after a round has ended, Billie knocks her out with a sucker punch from behind. Before Dunn can pull a stool out of the way, Maggie lands hard on it, breaking her neck and leaving her aquadriplegic. At first, Dunn refuses to accept the bleak prognosis, but dozens of other medical opinions unanimously confirm there is no hope of recovery. Dunn initially places the responsibility on Scrap for convincing him to train Maggie, but in the end blames himself.
In a medical rehabilitation facility, Maggie looks forward to a visit from her family, though Dunn repeatedly calls them with no success. Eventually, the family arrives - after first visiting Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood - with an attorney in tow to arrange the transfer of Maggie's assets to them. She sees through their transparent scheme and orders them to leave.
As time goes on, Maggie develops bedsores and undergoes an amputation for an infected leg. She asks Dunn to help her die while she can still remember the cheers she got. Dunn refuses, but seeks the advice of his Catholic priest (whom he has tormented for 23 years). Father Horvak warns him that euthanasia is a grave sin, far worse than anything he has ever done. When Maggie bites her tongue repeatedly in an attempt to bleed to death, the medical staff save her life and take measures to prevent further suicide attempts.
Dunn sneaks in one night. Just before administering a fatal injection of adrenaline, Dunn finally tells Maggie the meaning of the nickname he gave her, Mo Chuisle (spelled incorrectly in the film as "mo cuishle"): Irish for "my darling, and my blood" (literally, "my pulse"). Afterwards, Dunn disappears. Scrap's narration is revealed to be a letter to Dunn's daughter, Katy, informing her of her father's true character.

[edit]Cast

[edit]Development and production

The film was stuck in so-called "development hell" for years before it was shot. Several studios rejected the project even when Eastwood signed on as actor and director. Even Warner Bros., Eastwood's longtime home base, wouldn't agree to a USD$30 million budget. Eastwood persuaded Lakeshore Entertainment's Tom Rosenberg to put up half the budget (as well as handle foreign distribution), with Warner Bros. kicking in the rest ($15 million). Eastwood shot the film in 37 days.[1], The term, 'Million Dollar Baby' was nose art on a WWII B24 heavy bomber.

[edit]Box office

Despite an opening weekend of just $12,265,482 in North America, the film became a box-office hit both domestically and internationally. The film grossed $216,763,646 in theaters; $100,492,203 in the United States, and $116,271,443 overseas. The film played in theaters for six and a half months.[2]

[edit]Critical reception

The film received highly positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and stated that "Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby is a masterpiece, pure and simple," listing it as the best film of 2004.[3] Michael Medved stated that: "My main objection to Million Dollar Babyalways centered on its misleading marketing, and effort by Warner Brothers to sell it as a movie about a female Rocky, with barely a hint of the pitch-dark substance that led Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer to declare that 'no movie in my memory has depressed me more than Million Dollar Baby.'"[4]
In January and February 2005, the film sparked controversy when some disability rights activists protested against the ending. Wesley J. Smith in The Weekly Standard also criticized the film for its ending and for missed opportunities; Smith said, "The movie could have ended with Maggie triumphing once again, perhaps having obtained an education and becoming a teacher; or, opening a business managing boxers; or perhaps, receiving a standing ovation as an inspirational speaker."[5]
Eastwood responded to the criticism by saying the film was about the American dream.[6] In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Eastwood distanced himself from the actions of characters in his films, noting, "I've gone around in movies blowing people away with a .44 magnum. But that doesn't mean I think that's a proper thing to do".[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, who named the film his favorite of 2004, believes "a movie is not good or bad because of its content, but because of how it handles its content. Million Dollar Baby is classical in the clean, clear, strong lines of its story and characters, and had an enormous emotional impact".[8]
Some Irish speakers[who?] have also criticized the fact that the phrase Mo Chuisle, a term of endearment meaning My pulse, was misspelled in the film as Mo Cuishle, as shown on the back of Maggie's robe.[9] In Irish and other Goidelic languages, consonants soften when followed by a vowel, hence the "c" in "cuisle" turns into a guttural "ch". It is translated in the film as "My darling, my blood". The original phrase is short for A chuisle mo chroí, meaning "O pulse of my heart".[10] The film has also been praised for stirring interest in the Irish language in the U.S.[10]

[edit]Spoiler debate

When describing the plot of the film, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gave a spoiler warning.[11] He noted in his reviews the difficulty of discussing the film without discussing details of the plot, saying that even warning about spoilers would itself be a spoiler.[12] Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today said the film "packs a surprise plot twist" and said "spoilsports already have begun to leak details about this drama", saying "the urge to divulge the story's secrets will only grow worse when the film finally goes nationwide." Wloszczyna noted that David Thomson of The Independent "offered readers only a hint of the story basics" and said "most reviewers have coddled the sports saga with similar care..." Wloszczyna said Thomson said, "My great wish always, which is difficult to achieve, is to go in knowing nothing about a film."[13]
Jeffrey Overstreet of Christianity Today avoided giving away plot details, stating that while knowing the nature of the third part wouldn't ruin the film, it would alter the experience significantly.[14] Mark Moring of Christianity Today said, "Who wants to watch a movie when you know how it ends? We've actually had to wrestle with that question around here lately..." Moring said, "We wondered if our "moral obligation" to warnChristians about the potentially disturbing subject matter somehow "trumped" our professional commitment to avoid plot spoilers — especially the worst plot spoiler of all: divulging the end. After some discussion, we agreed that the right decision was to not give away the end to Million Dollar Baby."[15]
Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice said the film had a "spoiler-spawning shift in narrative."[16] Ian Grey of Baltimore City Paper said the last act seems to be from another film at first, and said "Naming this misfortune and its consequences, however, would be an unforgivable spoiler."[17]

[edit]Accolades

Million Dollar Baby received the award for Best Picture of 2004 at the 77th Academy Awards. Eastwood was awarded his second DirectingOscar for the film and also received a Best Actor nomination. Swank and Freeman received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor Oscars, respectively. Joel Cox, Eastwood's editor for many years, was nominated for Film Editing, and Haggis was nominated for the Writing Adapted Screenplay award.
The film was also nominated for and won a number of Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and the Directors Guild Award.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | ewa network review