Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

28 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

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.

Plot:

A hardened trainer/manager works with a determined woman in her attempt to establish herself as a boxer.

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Boxing | Waitress | Boxing Trainer | New House

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 45 wins & 29 nominations

Cast

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'
Brian F. O'Byrne	...	Father Horvak (as Brian 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

Also Known As:

Rope Burns (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:14 | Spain:13 | Portugal:M/16 | India:UA | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:16 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:15 (video rating) | Brazil:12

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Ashley Judd was also considered for the part of Maggie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Eddie is reading a magazine, while on his bed, Frankie enters the Gym with a hamburger. Eddie throws the magazine on the bed to see who has entered. The magazine is seen on the pillow, wide open. The magazine is next seen closed and almost out of sight.

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.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Shoe (#3.5)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Boxing Baby

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.