I am not a boxing fan, although I do remember getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning with my father to watch the Cassius Clay vs Joe Frazier fight of the century. Was it 1971? But I went with my wife to “Million Dollar Baby“ because it is much more than a movie about boxing. So we went on this Friday late afternoon, to the Angelika movie theater, not far from my favorite Apple store in SoHo (the Angelika is actually in NoHo - North of Houston street).
I have been a fan of Clint since I saw him first as Rowdy Yates in the Rawhide series. I found him really good in the spaghetti westerns from Sergio Leone and some of the Dirty Harry movies. But he was outstanding in “The Bridges of Madison County“ along with one of my favorite actresses Meryl Streep, where he also wrote the theme music and more recently with ”Mystic River“ where he was ”just“ the producer and the director.
In ”Million Dollar Baby“ Clint not only acts, he is the director, producer and the composer of the theme song. The movie is violent, not because of the boxing, but because it confronts people with people and with what they can and cannot (morally) do in life. The tragic ending of this movie obviously impacted the normally lighthearted American audience who typically get up from their seats, as the credits at the end of the movie emerge. Not this time. You could almost hear a hush over the audience and few got up. The absence of a Hollywood ending – Clint is past that now – got the audience in their gut. What greater compliment for Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman could they get? They all gave a stellar performance.
Afterwards, my wife and I walked over to Zoë, a nice restaurant on Prince street and we dissected the movie over a Pinot noir, fried Calimari, Rottiserie Chicken, Steak and a chocolate desert. Suffice to say, we had a great evening. It was cold, it was the night before the snow storm and so, even though the night was still young and Zoë was coming to life around 10 PM, we decided to return to the comfort of our home in Brooklyn.
