Price of Glory

the plot is ooollllddddd!!! A father tries to relive his old boxing glory days through his sons. Wow. How original. The plot has been done hundreds of times before and, except for the ethnicity of the cast, this movie adds nothing to it. Every single plot point is predictable and there's a lousy performance by Jimmy Smits. Thankfully the three young men who play his sons give strong performances and single-handedly keep the movie afloat. Also the Latino women are hardly in the movie, but when they're on screen, they're great! (For the record, I'm white). Let's get more Latino movies out there...just give them more original plots!

The plot of this film is a bit different from others on the same subject. It is about a frustrated boxer, who looks for fame training his three sons, most of them with capacities, but not to win a world championship. The ex- boxer is so selfish, so ambitious as to become the dictator of his sons. One of them is killed, the youngest one, while another is defeated severely in the ring. The remaining one already married tried to revenge the death of his brother and the defeat of the other with the same fighter, and finally wins backed by his father once again as his second. Maffia people around professional boxing business are seen once again in this film.

Arturo Orteha (Jimmy Smits) is a frustrated retired boxer, cheated by his manager in a important point of his career. His three sons are also boxers, and Arturo is their couch since they were children. He is very tough and has many troubles with their sons, but in the end, the story is very predictable. I myself am not fan of boxing, but I recognize that this movie is not bad. The cast, leaded by Jimmy Smits, has a great performance. The choreography of the fights is great. One problem is that the character of Jimmy Smits is selfish and not charismatic. The story has many clichés, but I believe that fans of boxing will like it. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): `O Round Final' (`The Final Round')

PRICE OF GLORY (2000) **1/2 Jimmy Smits, Jon Seda, Clifton Collins, Jr., Maria Del Mar, Sal Lopez, Louis Mandylor, Danielle Camastra, Ernesto Hernandez, Paul Rodriguez, Ron Perlman.

Familiar yet well acted boxing oriented family affair drama with Smits as a patriarch to a brood of budding boxers who lives his failed dreams vicariously through his tough yet tender hearted loving sons who each must face their own destinies while pledging allegiance to their well-meaning but demanding father. The storyline, although predictable, cuts to the bone how one man's failure can be resurrected by his family and realizing before it's too late that sometimes a dream may only be just that. (Dir: Carlos Avila)

`Price of Glory' has the advantage of opening up for the audience a milieu with which most of us are probably unfamiliar – the world of amateur boxing viewed within the context of a Mexican/American family and neighborhood. Yet, having introduced us to this novel realm, the film then ends up stranding us in a welter of sports movie stereotypes and clichés.

Jimmy Smits (who ages barely a skosh during the film's 23-year time span) plays the ultimate stereotype – the machismo-driven ex-fighter who is attempting to rectify his own failed boxing career by living his life through his three sons, driving them to extremes both in the ring and out. Often confusing fatherhood with promotion and management, Arturo Ortega inspires his children to alternately idolize and fear him, frequently pushing them away from him in the process. The film trods well-worn territory in its exploration of how excessive parental pressure often results in the loss of filial loyalty.

Although the overall story is pat and predictable, traveling the customary arc common to virtually every sports movie ever made, the plot lines are often obscure and confusing for the uninitiated. We frequently can't grasp the esoteric ins and outs of boxing promotion that the film takes for granted we understand. As a result, we often don't identify very fully with many of the arguments Arturo always seems to be having with his sons.

And, of course, the film lacks the courage of its convictions at the end. Having spent close to two hours warning us against trying to fulfill our dreams through the lives of our children, the film settles for a conventional finish that advocates just that very cause. Thus, for all its uniqueness of setting (Mariposa, Arizona) and milieu, `Price of Glory' brings nothing much new to its genre.