Play It to the Bone (1999)

Two best friends and former middleweight contenders travel to Las Vegas to fight each other for the first time.

Director:

Ron Shelton

Writer:

Ron Shelton

Stars:

Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Antonio Banderas	...	Cesar Dominguez
Woody Harrelson	...	Vince Boudreau
Lolita Davidovich	...	Grace Pasic
Marie Park	...	Waitress in Cafe
Tom Sizemore	...	Joe Domino
Lucy Liu	...	Lia
Robert Wagner	...	Hank Goody
Richard Masur	...	Artie
Willie Garson	...	Cappie Caplan
Cylk Cozart	...	Rudy
Jack Carter	...	Dante Solomon
Aida Turturro	...	Mad Greek Waitress
Louie Leonardo	...	Freddy Green
Slade Barnett	...	Vegas Cop
Cameron Milzer	...	Vegas Paramedic

Storyline

Two aging fighters in LA, friends, get a call from a Vegas promoter because his undercard fighters for a Mike Tyson bout that night are suddenly unavailable. He wants them to box each other. They agree as long as the winner gets a shot at the middleweight title. They enlist Grace, Cesar's current and Vinnie's ex girlfriend, to drive them to Vegas. On the trip, we see flashbacks to their previous title shots, their competitive friendship, and Grace's motivational wiles. (She has her own entrepreneurial dreams.) The fight itself is historic: ten rounds of savagery and courage. Who will win, who'll get the title shot, who gets Grace, and where will she find venture capital?

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Plot Keywords:

bare chested male | friendship | highway travel | boxing movie | road movie | 

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Taglines:

No one hits as hard as your best friend.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brutal ring violence, strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, pervasive language and some drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Play It

Filming Locations:

Baker, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,366, 26 December 1999

Gross USA:

$8,434,146

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,678,812

Company Credits

Production Co:

Play It Inc., Shanghai'd Films, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: in the flashback, Vince Boudreau (Woody Harrelson) has a tattoo that says Grace on his back. Later during the fight, it says Peace. However, you can clearly see that he had Grace changed to read Peace. Most likely due to the fact he's not with Grace anymore.

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Goofs

During the drive when Vince is telling the story of how he was robbed they show him in a fight where the tattoo on his back says Grace. Later, when he and Cesar are fighting the tattoo on his back says Peace.

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Quotes

Grace Pasic: [Working on the engine of her Oldsmobile Cutlass] Who would have thought that the Oldsmobile would come up with a muscle car?
Grace Pasic: [revs the engine] Listen to this.
Cesar Dominguez: That's beautiful!
Grace Pasic: I don't trust a quiet car.

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Alternate Versions

Italian and German theatrical release are approx. 15 minutes shorter than the original US version, removing one sex scene and some dialogue.

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Connections

Referenced in Granada Reports: 8 August 2018: Evening Bulletin (2018)

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Soundtracks

Machete
Written & Performed by Moby

User Reviews

It was funny and entertaining

"Play It To The Bone" is about two guys who are good friends and washed up boxers who are taking a road trip to fight each other in the ring for some money and the audience learn some stuff about there background as they reach there destination. The girl that gets between the two fighters played by Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson is Lolita Davidovich who is basically a skank but tries to act like she is not, a very irritating character that is portrayed as like being the hot girl that every guy falls for, also a temptress who use men for what she wants, but she is pretty fugly looking and can't imagine any guy falling for her in the way it's portrayed in the movie, when a lot of the movie time is taken up by the two rivals fighting amongst each other for a girl, at least make her attractive or at least somewhat likable. The characters are also not developed very well although the dialogue is very funny sometimes. Banderas and Harrelsn did a good job with what they had, but a lot of what happens between them was sort of predictable. Despite the flaws, this film had some good comedic moments that I enjoyed watching although a lot of it was bickering. And when the final fight starts you sort of care about it since the audience gets to know a bit about there background and it's also entertaining to watch even though the character development isn't strong as it should be, the fight however was well choreographed. There seems to be a lot of critics that are really bashing on this film, but I liked it. It was entertaining despite the flaws, it was entertaining and funny.

7.5/10