Million Dollar Baby (2004)

A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Paul Haggis (screenplay), F.X. Toole (stories)

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman

Top 250 #175 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 57 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Frankie Dunn
Hilary Swank	...	Maggie Fitzgerald
Morgan Freeman	...	Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris
Jay Baruchel	...	Danger Barch
Mike Colter	...	Big Willie Little
Lucia Rijker	...	Billie 'The Blue Bear'
Brían F. O'Byrne	...	Father Horvak (as Brían O'Byrne)
Anthony Mackie	...	Shawrelle Berry
Margo Martindale	...	Earline Fitzgerald
Riki Lindhome	...	Mardell Fitzgerald
Michael Peña	...	Omar
Benito Martinez	...	Billie's Manager
Bruce MacVittie	...	Mickey Mack
David Powledge	...	Counterman at Diner
Joe D'Angerio	...	Cut Man (as Joe d'Angerio)

Storyline

Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend, Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym, knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has been seeking, for the past 25 years, the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him. Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym...

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Plot Keywords:

boxer | boxing | boxing trainer | waitress | father daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling. Beyond hope, there is a memory. Beyond their journey, there is a love.

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language

Details

Official Sites:

Filmax [es] Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Irish

Release Date:

28 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rope Burns

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Athletic Club - 6525 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$200,475 (Sweden) (8 April 2005)

Gross:

$100,422,786 (USA) (3 June 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Lakeshore Entertainment, Malpaso Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hilary Swank underwent a serious training schedule to prepare for this film. She gained nearly 20 pounds of muscle due to the workouts.

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Goofs

When Frankie is training Willy in the ring, Maggie walks in to begin training. She is carrying a new, expensive Ogio gym bag even though she's supposed to be so poor she has to scrape change together to buy a speed bag.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris: [Narrating] Only ever met one man I wouldn't wanna fight. When I met him he was already the best cut man in the business. Started training and managing in the sixties, but never lost his gift.

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Brothers logo is the classic shield version, shown in a color palette (mainly black and white, with a dark green tint) matching the "feel" of the movie, and is static instead of the modern 3D animated sequence.

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Connections

Referenced in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Hundred Dollar Baby (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Solferino"
Written by Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens and David Potaux-Razel

User Reviews

It's a knockout ...

Flawlessly written, acted and directed, MILLION DOLLAR BABY is being hymned and wreathed by the critics as the best film of 2004. They're absolutely right. "An old master's new masterpiece," the NEW YORK TIMES said in a review that was more of an open love letter to Eastwood than anything remotely resembling a critical analysis of the film itself. For once such honey-tongued critical adulation is fully merited. Dark, edgy, subtle and at times emotionally devastating, MILLION DOLLAR BABY represents the apotheosis of Eastwood's art - the most lucid and intelligently limned expression of his philosophy of the outsider, the noble loners whose personal codes of honour set them both above and apart from the compromised, corrupt societies they inhabit. The Boxing Ring As Metaphor For Life is a hoary trope almost as old as Hollywood itself, employed to varying effect in films as diverse as THE CHAMP, GOLDEN BOY, REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, THE GREAT WHITE HOPE, FAT CITY, ROCKY and RAGING BULL. In MILLION DOLLAR BABY, though, Eastwood the director brings a fresh eye and an entirely fresh approach to both the setting and characterisations, virtually re-inventing this venerable sub-genre rather than simply recycling its conventions. Eastwood the actor is in fine form - a commanding if increasingly weather-beaten presence - as gym owner Frankie Dunn. A case study in loneliness, Dunn's creased face is a map of places you'd rather not go to and disappointment has clearly been a life-long companion. Co-stars Hilary Swank and the magnificent Morgan Freeman, playing Frankie's unlikely protegee Maggie Fitzgerald and friend "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, give what are without question the best performances of their respective careers: deftly underplayed, their roles provide emotionally overwhelming impacts more powerful than anything glimpsed in the film's riotous fight sequences. Forming an iron triangle forged from mutual dependence, Dunn and Dupris school the impulsive but untutored Maggie in both the techniques of boxing and the tradecraft of survival in a world pre-disposed to pulverise individualism. The canvas-floored square ring becomes the arena in which all three characters confront their various demons, battling for both victory and personal redemption. Paul Haggis' screenplay is itself a masterwork, improving on its source material without betraying the concise but compelling situations and superbly drawn characters found in F.X. Toole's short stories. And, finally, Eastwood the composer's elegiac but unobtrusive score is a minor classic of its kind, a requiem to both lost souls and lost causes. MILLION DOLLAR BABY is not only the best film released in 2004 it is also the most fully realised and richly textured major studio movie of the decade.