Wayne K
Stacy Keach is a consistently slept on actor, a man who demonstrates incredible charisma and brings real gravitas to the roles he plays. I watched the film Roadgames from 1981, and he did a fantastic job in the leading role. Almost a decade earlier, he did the same in John Huston's Fat City. The story of an over-the-hill boxer who, unsurprisingly, tries to get back into the game, only to find it's much more arduous than it once was. It's a steadily placed, contemplative film that doesn't grandstand or speechify. Our lead faces challenge both personal and professional, and he deals with them in his own way, which isn't always the best way, and there's a palpable sense that he's really suffered because of his choices. A baby-faced Jeff Bridges plays the man that Keach once was, and seeing that reflection of himself is what ultimately sets him on a doomed path. There's a lot going on, and you're given time to process it, rather than just being heralded from one scene to the next. It's a movie I never hear getting mentioned, but at the time of release it was a hit. I just hope more people get round to discovering it, and it gets the recognition it deserves.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
04/02/24
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Todd C
Some don't consider this a sports movie, but I do. A really well-done character study of two different armature/professional boxers. It was also fun seeing "Coach (from Cheers) as the manager.
It really is a sad and depressing look at the boxing life for those on the fringes.
A great movie by one of the greats: John Huston. The movie felt realistic, not that I know what it is like to be a boxer. While it is depressing, it is also kind of sweet. A story about folks just trying to get through life as best they can. It is also about our need to have someone in life and being alone is hard. Fight scenes were pretty good. There was a lot of silence in the movie and in that silence a lot was said.
The music by Kris Kristofferson was great and it really was beautiful to watch.
I can say that I genuinely cared about all the characters. There really isn't a "bad-guy" in the fil. It is a slice of life.
The ending was great....and abrupt.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
11/13/23
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KEVIN C
John Huston directed this early seventies film about people in the fight game in California. Stacy Keach plays a boxer on the tail end of his career looking to make ends meet while trying not to get lost in a bottle. Jeff Bridges plays a young fighter who's got plenty of potential and time. This is a really good character study of the two different guys on opposite paths Interesting film with very good performances from Keach as well as Susan Tyrell as a local barfly.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Stu B
There are no winners here, only losers. Billy Tully is a 30--year-old, alcoholic, out-of- shape boxer on his way down; Ernie Munger is a 20-something novice in the fight game on his way up. Their paths intersect one day at the local Y, where Tully, seeing something in the kid, suggests that he go to a nearby gym and introduce himself to his former manager, Ruben. Soon, the old vet has added Munger to his stable of amateurs and the kid is lining up fights. The story is bleak--the film is set in a low-rent part of Stockton, California some 50 years ago--the settings, largely seedy gyms, dive bars, dumpy diners and cheap apartments, are even bleaker, the in-ring action is believably brutal, and the performances by Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges (in an early role), Susan Tyrell, and Candy Clark are terrific. Keep an eye on Tyrell in particular; as a hangdog barfly who would rather drink than eat (or anything else), she seizes every scene she's in by the throat and never lets go. The movie's drab look and often improvisational vibe don't hurt, either. Directed by John Huston and written by Leonard Gardner, who adapted his own novel. If "Fat City" lacks the poetry and lyricism of Garnder's prose, blame it on the shortcomings of the medium. But then again, maybe Huston's cinematic retelling of Gardner's skid row classic boats a power and poetry all its own.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/03/22
Full Review
jon c
When you say you want to go to Fat City, it means you want the good life
Washed-up boxer Tully (Stacy Keach) is inspired to restart his career after seeing potential in a teenager, Ernie (Jeff Bridges), whom he spars with at a gym
While Tully battles his past demons, including issues with alcohol, Ernie faces his own challenges
Pressured into marriage and sudden fatherhood by his girlfriend (Candy Clark), Ernie can shrug off his personal problems when he enters the ring
As both fighters continue with their bouts, Tully's star falls while Ernie's is on the rise
There's almost no clear winner in the end
The film is very bleak for the life of a boxer making it to the top only to fall back to the bottom
I found this viewing to be very underwhelming and quite overrated
Maybe this wasn't my thing
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
William L
Huston set out to create a relatable character, so he decided to depict someone out of shape who never lived up to their potential that constantly talks about going back to the gym to get fit. You didn't have to call me out like that, John.
Ostensibly a sports film, with a classic introduction in which a talented young prospect is discovered by a grizzled veteran in a near-abandoned gym, Fat City ends up a rather dark exploration of ambition and disillusionment. Keach's Tully has become a prisoner of his past, using his former promise as fuel to drive him forward only to find that reality frequently begins to poke holes in his dream-addled perception of the world with every pulled muscle and glance at his barfly companion, Oma. He ends up in a near-inescapable self-destructive spiral as a result of expectations that he can't hope to live up to, so that even when he does actually return to training and wins a relatively well-promoted fight, the result is not enough to keep him going. Bleak stuff, lingering in the mire a bit too long for my tastes but effective regardless. Keach feels eerily well suited to the role, but that may be because he is often standing next to a young and relatively inexperienced Jeff Bridges. One of the unexpected films surrounding a late-career resurgence for acclaimed director John Huston, Fat City gives off a simple potency thanks to its ability to depict human weakness and tragedy in a way that causes the viewer to recognize some of themself in the characters.
Damn, Susan Tyrrell's screeching is annoying in this film, it hits the ear wrong. I know that's the point and she delivers exactly what the film asks of her (and was rewarded with a Best Supporting Actress nod as a result), but her character is positively grating. (3.5/5)
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/06/21
Full Review
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