Even after all the hype, I wasn't prepared for this to be as good a movie as it was.  I loaded the DVD in the player cold, i.e. no prep, no reading of other reviews and not even checking Academy Award nominations.  Add to that my antipathetic feelings toward prize fighting, a Neanderthal sport at best, and my assessment is even more surprising.

            However, in its own way, this is not so much a fight story as it is a love story: love of a sport, love of the training process and most of all, love between people of dissimilar race and age. 

            Clint Eastwood directed this film, his 26^th since doing Play Misty for Me (1971).  And he stars in it as the aging fight trainer and dedicated curmudgeon, Frankie Dunn.  Morgan Freeman plays opposite Frankie as Scrap, the manager of his Hit Pit Gym.  Eastwood at age 75 and Freeman at age 68 represent 90 combined years of film related expertise.  But what comes through in this film is their comfort with themselves, their roles and their audience.  And they also give us another example of successful male duo banter between good friends that makes this story both funny and poignant. 

            The film has the basic traditional plot points from beginning to climax and resolution, so it engages our attention.  It mixes in at least three hero's journeys with a dramatic ending.  And it is technically well wrought.  Half light, shadows, dark scenes and an aging gymnasium are all used to deliver the film's environs, the seedy side of the fight game.  The camera work puts you in the ring with the fighter.  And finally music is used sparingly, a single plaintive guitar in the background for some scenes, so that the characters are emphasized.

            But above all else, I loved the character development.  The screenplay uses some wonderful dialogue to do this.  Like Sherlock's Dr. Watson, Scrap narrates the scenes, the stories and the emotional content so that we see the action and simultaneously understand Scrap's point of view.  Meanwhile, Frankie picks a fight with everyone and everything in sight, including the Catholic Church.  The Rice Krispie scene is priceless.  Watch for it.

            Hillary Swank plays "the baby," Maggie Fitzgerald, a poor girl, Theodosia trash from Missouri, who wants to be a prizefighter.  Swank played Teena in Boys Don't Cry (1999) another phenomenal film.  In Baby, she becomes a prizefighter.  After the first glance, when you notice that she doesn't have the muscle structure or buildup of a prizefighter, her intensity in the role carries you into belief.

            The theme for this film seems to be loyalty, but, as I mentioned previously, it's also about love.  The other side of loyalty and love is betrayal and loss, all of which are in this storyline. 

            Reviewed July 31, 2005                            Copyright 2005 Charles T. Markee

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