This is How Movies Should Be Made

An Exercise In Nonsense

A Brilliant Conflict

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I knew this film was one listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't know anything else about the film besides this, this was good enough reason for me to try it, directed by John Huston (The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King). Basically at a gym in Stockton, California, past his prime boxer Billy Tully (Stacy Keach) meets eighteen-year-old Ernie Munger (Jeff Bridges), they getting into shape and spar with each other. Tully sees potential in young Ernie, he suggests he looks up his former manager and trainer Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto), he tells about how impressed he is with the kid to aggressive barfly Oma Lee Greer (Oscar nominated Susan Tyrrell) and her easygoing boyfriend Earl (Curtis Cokes), Tully is newly inspired and keen to get back in the ring himself. Ever since his wife left him Tully's life has been a mess, he drinks too much and cannot hold down a job, he picks fruit and vegetables to make ends meet, he still blames Ruben for mishandling his last fight. Earl is sent to prison for a few months, this allows Tully to try moving in with Ola, but the relationship between them is rocky. Munger loses his first fight and gets his nose broken, he is knocked out in his second fight as well, Munger gets forced into marrying Faye (Candy Clark) when she becomes pregnant, he starts picking fruit himself to make some money. In his first fight back in the ring, Tully fights against tough Mexican boxer Lucero (Sixto Rodriguez), he is much older and in considerable pain, they knock each other out before Tully is declared the winner, but his celebration is brief as he is only paid $100. Tully ends his business partnership with Ruben, he then returns to Oma's apartment, Earl is there and still paying the rent, Earl assures him that alcoholic Oma wants nothing to do with Tully anymore. One night, Munger is returning home from a fight, he finds Tully drunk in the street, he tries to ignore him, but he reluctantly agrees to go for a coffee with Tully. The two men sit and drink, Tully has sees strange things while looking at all the people around him, he almost breaks down with how his career is failing while Munger's is progressing, Munger tells him he should leave, but Tully wants to stay and talk some more, they continue to sit and drink coffee in silence. Also starring Art Aragon as Babe, Sixto Rodriguez as Lucero, Billy Walker as Wes, Wayne Mahan as Buford and Ruben Navarro as Fuentes. Keach (whose part was originally offered to Marlon Brando) is good as the prize-fighter going down in the dumps, and Bridges does well as the young contender on the rise, their rocky relationship certainly creates some tension, most boxing movies have more fights, full of blood, sweat and tears, this film focuses more on the hardships on the career side of it, it is slow at times, but overall an interesting enough sports drama. Good!

The Late/Great John Huston delivers a gritty, complex film with 'Fat City'. It's a deeply stirring tale about human emotions & the silences we have within. The Terrific Performances only add to its pluses.'Fat City' Synopsis: Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take opposite momentum.'Fat City' is unapologetically saddening & emotionally charging. Leonard Gardner's Screenplay, which is based upon his own novel, moves from being tragic to realistic. However, the slow-pace is a downer. The film unfolds in sleepy mode, luckily, the drama keeps you moving. Huston's Direction is excellent. He's captured every moment with flourish. Cinematography is top-class. Editing is the only weak link. Performance-Wise: Jeff Bridges is absolutely fantastic, delivering a great early performance. Stacy Keach is outstanding, as well. The Late Susan Tyrrel is slightly over-the-top. On the whole, 'Fat City' isn't entirely perfect, but its a worth watching film anyhow.

I tried to hang in there looking for the great movie everybody was saying it was, but I couldn't sit through it.Every scene is so poorly written, the dialog is forced and give absolutely no sense of realism; sometimes it actually doesn't even make sens at all : trying to stick the most information in the dialog of one scene, ending up with plain ridicule. the scenes structure is all very muddy. really untalented storytelling all over. As for the direction of John Huston, it feels like he just had the camera rolling without even reading the script or paying attention to what the actors were doing. A prolific director, now i see at what price. John Huston is an overrated director who seem to have gotten away with plain bad film making. it is a consensus.this movie has A LOT of boxing scenes. Jeff Bridges looks pathetically ridicule as he pretend to box, he looks like a nerdy and feminine teenager who hasn't even seen a boxing match in his life, and should be studying computer science (well not in 1971 i guess!). he is so badly directed that he ends up being simply annoying. if John Huston doesn't do his job, Jeff Bridges could have at least taken a basic training to prepare for this movie. And once again, John Huston shoot the boxing scenes with absolutely no interest for quality, story, emotion or action.A beautiful story about losers (probably a great book), potential for a great drama, wasted by amateur scriptwriting (a book writer is not necessarily a script writer), a director who obviously doesn't make no effort, and ridiculous boxing scenes as Jeff bridges makes a fool of himself.to like this movie is to be very indulgent toward cinema and be satisfied with amateurish, bad film making.

FAT CITY begins with Tully, slowly getting out of bed in his crusty, dilapidated apartment. Tully (Stacy Keach) is a retired boxer who wants one last shot at the big time... well, as big as you can get in gyms and halls that only house a few hundred fans. In his first workout for a year, he meets the 18-year-old Ernie (Jeff Bridges) and sees him a rising light in the sport. Eventually both of them hook up with a well-meaning - if completely inept - trainer played by "Coach" from CHEERS (Nicholas Colastano).Despite the boxing in the movie, FAT CITY is refreshingly different from RAGING BULL and ROCKY, and substandard clones of those two great movies. While RAGING BULL uses boxing to the tell an epic story of rise and fall, and ROCKY is about someone working to prove himself to the world; FAT CITY is about the basic struggle that people go through just to make a few bucks. The fights are clumsy, and give a good indication of the lack of technique that must feature in the amateur/low professional scene. Fighters still box even if they're pissing blood the night before... because it's the only way they can make a living.Stacy Keach is wonderful in his role. He isn't sporting his usual moustache, and his harelip gives the indication of a guy who been in too many scraps. He shambles around and keeps repeating to himself that he'll get in shape again... that he WILL rise out of his lousy jobs and return to his - largely romanticised - boxing career. But booze keeps pulling him down, leading to some hilarious - and poignant - scenes of him as a drunk. He shacks up with a gal, and she matches him blow for blow, in scenes reminiscent of BARFLY. In fact, I'd put the movie much closer to a BARFLY than any boxing movie.FAT CITY is often very funny. Susan Tyrell - as Tully's shack-job - brilliantly slurs her way through a great, volatile part. Colastano comes out with some belters of lines, and is as humorous and lovable as his Coach role in CHEERS. But within all the humour, there's a real undercurrent that the movie is actually about isolation and loneliness... a theme beautifully reinforced by a memorable final scene. Whereas Ernie manages to find his own escape routes, Tully just keeps finding dead ends.As ever, John Huston knows where to put the camera. It's a relaxed style but he always manages to pop the camera in a great place. FAT CITY is almost up there with the likes of Huston's UNDER THE VOLCANO and WISE BLOOD... a couple of my favourite movies.I'm surprised FAT CITY isn't more renowned - perhaps it got a little lost in a year that also brought people THE GODFATHER and DELIVERANCE. For whatever reason you haven't checked it out before, have a go at checking it out now.