The Great White Hope (1970)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

Howard Sackler (play)
Howard Sackler (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

He could beat any white man in the world. He just couldn't beat all of them.

Plot:

A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Boxing | Love | Champion | Racism

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

James Earl Jones	...	Jack Jefferson
Jane Alexander	...	Eleanor Backman
Lou Gilbert	...	Goldie
Joel Fluellen	...	Tick
Chester Morris	...	Pop Weaver
Robert Webber	...	Dixon
Marlene Warfield	...	Clara
R.G. Armstrong	...	Cap'n Dan
Hal Holbrook	...	Al Cameron
Beah Richards	...	Mama Tiny
Moses Gunn	...	Scipio
Lloyd Gough	...	Smith aka Smitty, Evening Mirror Reporter
George Ebeling	...	Fred
Larry Pennell	...	Frank Brady, Boxer
Roy Glenn	...	Pastor (as Roy E. Glenn Sr.)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, and for language including racist dialogue.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hungarian | German | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1997)

Filming Locations:

Cedar Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Jane Alexander's first movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene in which we see Jefferson practicing, the sweat on his shirt changes from shot to shot in a way that wouldn't be predicted by evaporation.

Quotes:

Jack Jefferson: I'm big, but I ain't dumb, hear?

Movie Connections:

Edited into Afro Promo (1997)

Soundtrack:

Let Me Hold You In My Arms Tonight

Sackler versus Burns

When I was a wee lad of 14 I saw this film and it blew me away. James earl Jones was by and large unknown and he was picked to do the role over Brock Peters who had done the role on Broadway. This was a film (and play) that was vastly ahead of its time as it dealt with an athlete of color (there may have been a film about Jackie Robinson but it didn't have much an impact because I don't remember it and I loved Burt Lancaster as the Native American Jim Thorpe but that rang no more true than Jeff Chandler playing Native Americans) and it dealt with the issue of miscegenation and inter-racial sexual and romantic relationships. Its clear the characters in the film (and play) are composites except for Jack Johnson because Ken Burns' 'Unofrgivable Blackness" of which I have only seen the first installment as of this writing goes into great detail on the dramatic personae of Johnson's stories including the real boxers Johnson fought and the real women he loved.