Rocky Marciano

"Rocky Marciano" (1999): Can the true life story of a boxer be full of lessons for us all? Yes. Forget that shmucky stuff like "Rocky", "Rocky II", "III", "IV" Sixteen, Twenty seven, Son of Rocky... ad nauseum. This is the modest, gritty, not-pretty, non-romanticized story of an underdog from Day One, who, by sheer determination and little else, rose to the top, and remains the ONLY undefeated Heavy Weight box in history. To do this, you must be something special, even if you ARE modest, have doubts, get pounded around, conned, taken for granted, and trade off family time to earn a living. It's OUR story, if you look beyond the ring. Jon Favreau stars, along with Penelope Miller, Judd Hirsch, a sleazy character by Tony Lo Bianco, and a wonderful character by George C. Scott. This is not the only boxing movie by far, but it is one of the Top Five. ("Raging Bull", "On the Waterfront", "Ali", and "The Boxer" would have to be the others.)

Charles Winkler gets a very good performance out of Jon Favreau as Rocky Marciano and creates an interesting overall effect. Excitement is built as the movie progresses.

Yet, the story could have been stronger. Some of the characters are written in a two dimensional manner. Penelope Ann Miller seems to be doing her best with the character of Barbara Cousins, as does Judd Hirsch as Al Weill and Tony Lo Bianco with the cartoonish Frankie Carbo. Duane Davis' charm is only allowed to occasionally peek through as Joe Louis.

Rino Romano and George C. Scott shine in smaller roles. Rino Romano quietly steals scenes as Rocky's best friend Allie Colombo and George C. Scott takes the film to a higher level in every time he's in the frame.

Like Babe Ruth, Marciano and his inspiring story provides much opportunity to tell an exciting and moving tale. In both movies about Ruth, Hollywood erred. In this latest attempt about Marciano, the producers likewise failed. The major depictions, of Rocky and his manager, Al Weill, are both inaccurate. For all his well-known frugality, Marciano was not the vicious, money-hungry pug shown here. Jon Favreau physically resembles the Brockton Blockbuster, and his ability to mirror Rocky's crab-like style in the ring are fine. But unfortunately, Favreau is the victim of an extremely poor teleplay, regarding the title character. In the 1979 tv-movie about Marciano, Tony LoBianco was given a more realistic depiction of Rocky, and performed it well. Here, it seems as if someone has a vendetta about The Rock. As powerful and courageous as he was inside the ring, outside he was---as is well-documented---a gracious, very likeable person. A true credit to himself and his sport. Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon wrote of Marciano that he "...was like a rose in a garbage dump." As for Weill's character, he is shown to be a milquetoast in the latest Marciano film. In reality---as demonstrated in Vincent Gardenia's '79 version---Weill was a thoroughly despicable person. The major reason Marciano retired in 1956 was that he absolutely despised Weill. Though fight fans might enjoy the ring action in the latter film, these critical errors completely undermine the effort.

Don't let the 'made for TV' or boxing theme put you off this film. Rent it. Even my wife stayed awake late at night and thoroughly liked this film, much to my surprise. It is well-acted and scripted, and does not really glorify boxing.

For starters, this film was shot in Toronto, Canada. Although none of this film took place in Toronto or anywhere near the Canadian border, it was shot there. I had many problems with this movie. Like its location, the actors they got for the film were wrongly picked. While Jon Favreau did a wonderful job as Marciano, why did they get Penelope Ann Miller as his wife? Yes, she is a very beautiful and talented actress but she was wrong for the role. Why? Have you ever seen what Rocky Marciano's wife looked like? Nothing at all like Penelope. Once you see what she looked like, you will know where I am coming from.

Just like ALI starring Will Smith, this movie is missing something. It does not tell the entire story of the fighter, only a period of the fighters life. While much is left out, there is still a good portion of his life mentioned, and for that I recommend this film to fans only. To those looking to do research, rent the documentary and leave this film on the shelf.