Clint Eastwood

Hilary Swank

Morgan Freeman

Jay Baruchel

Mike Colter

Lucia Rijker

Brían F. O'Byrne

Anthony Mackie

Margo Martindale

Riki Lindhome

Michael Peña

Benito Martinez

Bruce MacVittie

David Powledge

Joe D'Angerio

Marcus Chait

Tom McCleister

Erica Grant

Naveen

Morgan Eastwood

Jamison Yang

Dean Familton

Louis Moret

Vincent Foster

Jon D. Schorle II

Marty Sammon

Steven M. Porter

Ray Corona

Ming Lo

Miguel Pérez

Jim Cantafio

Ted Grossman

Ned Eisenberg

Marco Rodríguez

Roy Nugent

Don Familton

Mark Thomason

Brian T. Finney

Spice Williams-Crosby

Kim Strauss

Rob Maron

Kirsten Berman

Susan Krebs

Sunshine Chantal Parkman

Kim Dannenberg

Eddie Bates

Jimmy Alioto

Jason Williams

Nina Avetisova

Michael Bentt

Bruce Gerard Brown Jr.

McKay Stewart

Jude Ciccolella

Kimberly Estrada

Sean LoGrasso

Sean O'Kane

Rosine 'Ace' Hatem

Bridgett Riley

Boni Yanagisawa

Christina Cox

Mimi Lesseos

Tom Rosenberg

David Potaux-Razel

Albert S. Ruddy

Jack G. Taylor Jr.

Phyllis Huffman

Tom Stern

Deborah Hopper

Paul Haggis

Joel Cox

Henry Bumstead

Bub Asman

Robert Lorenz

Gary Lucchesi

Bobby Moresco

Erin Carufel

Darin McCormick-Millett

Gary D. Roach

Stephen S. Campanelli

Richard C. Goddard

Nancy Hancock

Steve Riley

Tim Moore

Bill Coe

Deena Adair

Kurt Smith

Buddy Van Horn

Michael Cipriano

F.X. Toole

James D. Tittle

Mable Lawson-McCrary

Liz Radley

Terry Kramer

Dillin Craig

Robert Aaron Brown

Judith M. Brown

Walt Martin

John Schacht

Merie Weismiller Wallace

Brian Bilson

Michael Muscarella

Gary A. Lee

Sean Higgins

T. Daniel Scaringi

Kyle Eastwood

James R. Lord

Keith Dillin

David Grimaldi

Juno J. Ellis

Robert Silcock

Michael Sexton

Jonathan Fuh

Charles Ramirez

Karen Shaw

Carol A. O'Connell

Scooter Perrotta

Donald Harris

Pam Cartmel

Lynda Foote

Ann Culotta

Nancy G. James

Charles Saldaña III

Paulina Quaranta

Jason S. Gondek

William Cawley

Lennie Niehaus

Christopher Boyes

Lucy Coldsnow-Smith

James D. Wickman

Don Dinkins

Donald Murphy

William A. Barry III

Ante Dugandzic

Tony Hobbs

Lucy Ramirez-Ewart

Trevor Carroll-Coe

Ross Dunkerley

Christine Fegley

Nicholas Korda

Katie Carroll

James Ashwill

Rose Mesa

Ryan Craig

Geoffrey Miclat

Doug Wall

Mo Henry

Scott M. Anderson

Thomas J. O'Connell

Matthew A. Del Ruth

Drama

Million Dollar Baby

Lakeshore Entertainment

Malpaso Productions

Epsilon Motion Pictures

ASR Productions

Warner Bros. Pictures

Switzerland

United States of America

***Female “Rocky” with a downbeat and contradictory close***

Released in 2004 and directed by Clint Eastwood, “Million Dollar Baby” stars Eastwood as a cantankerous boxing trainer who owns a working class gym in Los Angeles, which is maintained by one of his former boxers, the narrator of the story (Morgan Freeman). A waitress from the sticks of Missouri (Hilary Swank) shows up and asks that Frankie (Eastwood) train her, which he refuses to do because she’s too old at 32 and he “doesn’t train girls,” probably because he had an unexplained falling out with his daughter years earlier. Eventually he begrudgingly agrees.

The bulk of the film is basically a female version of “Rocky” (1976), except that I prefer the potent drama in this one. The three main characters are well fleshed-out with an all-around reverent tone, not to mention an occasional bit of mild amusement. Frankie and Maggie (Swank) slowly develop a father/daughter-type relationship and it’s touching.

The third act, however, takes a left turn that is seriously downbeat. It departs from sports movie formula with a message that contradicts everything the first two acts pushed, which is inexplicable. Sure, I ‘get’ the point: A certain person basically sacrifices everything to do what’s (supposedly) best for the situation and honor the will of a dearly loved soul. Nevertheless, it’s a dark turn that leaves a sour taste because it refutes the positive message of the first two-thirds of the story.

The film runs 2 hours, 12 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-/C+

Unreal! I didn't expect <em>'Million Dollar Baby'</em> to be so astonishingly brilliant.

I've said it many a time before but for full context, I do not read up about films before watching them - aside from making sure the film isn't part of a franchise, checking the run time and seeing the genre - so I was expecting this to be a cliché-filled, but still great, sports flick. It's so much more than that.

It's way more deeper and has an everlasting impact that I hadn't anticipated. Even across the opening chunk I was predicating the obvious cliché ending, but as the film progresses and, especially, as the final portion rolls around it just absorbed my total attention - I was fully engrossed... hook, line, and sinker. Some film!

The cast are simply stunning. Clint Eastwood gives an absolutely fantastic performance, Hilary Swank is truly sensational - especially at the end, damn - and Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman; what an actor and what a voice, using him as narrator was a great move. Elsewhere, and though less dramatically, Jay Baruchel, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale and Michael Peña also feature interestingly.

It's quite the journey the film takes you on, which I just found utterly enthralling to watch unfold. Perfect pacing, perfect acting. I loved watching every second of it and will undoubtedly be revisiting it.

I noted days ago that I was rather surprised to learn that Eastwood's <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/unforgiven/" rel="nofollow">Unforgiven</a>'</em> had been so heavily acclaimed, on this occasion with this 2004 film I am the complete opposite. I don't care much for awards et al., but I am delighted to see all involved receive their props for this. Chapeau!

Marvellous, just marvellous.

The Movie Mob

**Million Dollar Baby is an extremely well-done film that takes an abrupt turn to deal with incredibly sobering subjects that are definitely not what I thought I signed up for.**

I know it’s supposedly a masterpiece, and I will lose some cred for saying this, but Million Dollar Baby was a dreadful movie. I spent the first half of the film falling in love with the hopeful, talented, and inspiring Maggie Fitzgerald and her redeeming of the cranky and lonely trainer, Frankie Dunn. But when the second half takes its giant turn, the story shifts from an endearing sports narrative about overcoming opposition and redemption to hopelessness and agony. Clint Eastwood directed a powerful story with impressive mastery, but the subject matter robbed the film of any enjoyment. For many, Million Dollar Baby deserved Best Picture at the Oscars. For me, I wish The Incredibles had claimed that victory.

CinemaSerf

The curmudgeonly “Frankie” (Clint Eastwood) runs a boxing gym with his stalwart “Eddie” (Morgan Freeman) that’s full of testosterone-charged no-hopers like “Berry” (Anthony Mackie) all going through the motions. The only exception is the young “Barch” (Jay Baruchel) who fancies himself as the best welterweight in the world, but who clearly couldn’t pull a pint let alone a punch. One afternoon, they notice a girl. Yep, a girl in their gym. “Frankie” tells “Maggie” (Hilary Swank) that he doesn’t train girls, and that her being tough isn’t enough. She’s persistent, though, and targets the less grumpy “Eddie” before gradually proving that she might have what it takes to make the big time. What now ensues sees her relationship with "Frankie" develop and for her to become something akin to the daughter we know he has become estranged from over the years. He’s not the only one with rocky family foundations. She comes from pretty poor, working class, stock and her mother (Margo Martindale) has little interest in the aspirations of her daughter, especially if it impacts on her benefits. “Maggie” proves to be resilient in the ring, makes some decent money and even manages to help her family but when tragedy stops her in her tracks, some hard truths and choices are going to have to be made, and true colours shown. Swank is superb here. Aside from the fact that she’s obviously trained hard to convince us visually, her characterisation oozes a strength, a dedication and an integrity that really comes off well. Eastwood is, as ever, sparing with his dialogue and he is by now a past-master at the less-is-more style of presentation as his burgeoning affection for “Maggie” grows in a suitably subdued, tough-love, fashion. Freeman, who narrates occasionally too, serves to anchor the film effectively and the effort from the enthusiastic Baruchel brings home that there is more to this sport than winning. The fight scenes are realistic and the production is designed to deliver a plausible look to a film that, as is so often true of those about boxing, shows us just how much of a lifeline - both psychological and physical, this can be. I felt the conclusion to be provocatively brave. It asks us questions well beyond the purview of a drama and takes us into the realms of ethics for which there is no obviously clear or agreeable solution. It's perhaps those final elements that turn this into something just a little more significant.

English

Gaeilge

Million Dollar Baby (2004) Official Trailer - Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood Movie HD

Million Dollar Baby Trailer

Million Dollar Baby

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