Film – Cinderella Man Explicatory Essay
Introduction, elements of the film that bring out its authenticity.
Director Ron Howard and Producers Brian Grazer, Penny Marshall had all the ingredients of a clichéd film.
First, they selected an award winning actor to play the lead role in ‘Cinderella Man’. Then they chose to focus on a storyline that others have done countless times in Hollywood; a boxing championship.
Furthermore, the events in the film occurred in the depression era, which was a favorite for many predecessors before them. Regardless of these obvious choices, the film feels nothing like a cliché. The combination of characters, themes, and narration work perfectly to make the story authentic.
The film is about a 1930s boxing legend known as James Braddock. Others nicknamed him Cinderella man because, just like the fairytale Cinderella, he arose from underdog to championship status despite tremendous odds. Braddock was a budding boxer before the depression.
However, after the stock market crash, he lost his job and struggled to provide for his family. It was at this point when he got a second chance from his manager –Joe Gould.
Braddock unexpectedly wins the match and succeeds in several other matches. Eventually, he wins the national championship against one of the most feared competitors in boxing history- Max Baer (Howard, 2005).
It is possible to categorize this movie into three predominant genres; however, the director’s approach to each of these genres was eccentric thus rendering credibility to the film. The first and most obvious genre is the autobiographical film category.
The movie is a depiction of the life of James Braddock. In fact, its director tried to stay as true to the real Braddock as possible. The boxing mannerisms of the lead characters were typical of the real individuals that experienced those events.
However, instead of blandly relieving the events of this sportsman’s professional life, the producers merged it with James’ personal experiences. They also took liberties with some of the characters like Braddock’s key competitor Max Baer.
Historians affirm that the latter individual was less brutal than depicted in the film. It was necessary to take these liberties in order to make the movie interesting. Therefore, the director’s interpretation of an autobiographical movie was a welcome break from the norm.
Alternatively, one may classify this motion picture as a sports film. Boxing as a competitive sport is one of the most entertaining to watch. Nonetheless, several directors have fallen into the trap of making it too action-packed.
90’s films like ‘Rocky’ lacked substance because their focus was on winning matches rather than the journey towards the prize. ‘Cinderella man’ avoids this blunder by dedicating a substantial portion of the movie to James’ life outside the ring.
Additionally, even the action sequences are quite believable. Therefore, Cinderella man is an impressive improvement of a sports film.
‘Cinderella man’ is a historical movie since it relives the horrors of an important historical occurrence in the US. Depression-era films come in many shapes and sizes.
What makes this film unique is its perfect blend of personal stories, action-packed boxing matches and the economic atmosphere after the stock-market crash. It would have been boring for the plot to focus on the stock market crash and its general effect on people.
However, by selecting one man’s story, the film expanded its audience from intellectuals and historians to typical American audiences. All individuals have the capacity to resonate with others once they hear their stories.
Furthermore, the director captured the tone and atmosphere of the 30s perfectly. Its lead characters talk just like working- class Americans of that time talked. Furthermore, their costume and locations were emblematic of the 30s.
Ron Howard recreated a New York Street in the 1930s by reorganizing a large portion of Toronto. Everything from the stop lights to the store fronts was typical of that era.
Therefore, the production team used their storyline, location, character selection, and costume to portray the historical side of the film; this was quite commendable (Landay, 2013).
The film extols the virtues of honest, hard work. The depression minimized people’s options in the country. However, a few resolute individuals like James stuck to their principles and continued to provide for their families through honest means.
When Braddock asks for a last chance in boxing, he does not do it for sentimental reasons as this would have made the film too sentimental. His reasons are noble and literal to the typical American audience, so they add authenticity to the film.
Cinderella man also has the theme of optimism. The first part of the movie seems dark and depressing as Braddock’s family takes many blows. At one, point, his wife must ask a gas technician to refrain from disconnecting their heat.
In another scenario, he had to borrow change from a colleague. It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but James did not do it. He swallowed his pride and asked for an opportunity. When he got it, Braddock went after the prize with all his resolve.
James’ fight against Baer seemed like a case of David versus Goliath. He did not give up on the match regardless of the threats and intimidation of other parties. Because of his commitment to his goal, Braddock garnered support from the masses.
Many of them found inspiration from someone like them. At the time, the country needed a hero, so Braddock was more than welcome to take the role.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the movie seems so authentic is the input that the lead actor –Russell Crowe made to the motion picture. The latter individual seems perfectly suited for the role. Braddock was a laid-back and dignified man who reserved his aggressiveness for the boxing ring.
When Braddock was about to lose everything, he decided to beg for one last opportunity in boxing. Russell Crowe pulls off that scene with so much grace. He is steady but spirited at the same time. This is clearly something that only talented actors can accomplish (Landay, 2013).
A substantial part of the movie converts the boxing matches that Braddock engaged in before his championship title. This marks the greatest accomplishment of the production team. Boxing as a sport attracts large crowds due to its showmanship as well as its technical credentials.
Crowe captured both aspects very clearly. The production team made the action long enough to be enjoyed, but short enough to create apprehension. Braddock’s punches are deliberate, which explains why he beats a man who had killed two people in the ring.
It took a lot of skill to represent this triumph of brains over brawn, so the character casting was ideal for the lead role. The production team did not fix these matches into the story sequence simply to fulfill sporting expectations. The matches were in the movie to enrich the narrative.
Overall, Crowe is more than persuasive as a sweaty, determined and sluggish fighter in this film. He does not use antics to garner support; instead he relies on his wits and fists.
Braddock’s wife, as played by Renee Zellweger, was an ideal representation of a working class mother. She worried about her husband’s safety in boxing. This explains why she tried to talk him out of it and even avoided listening to the match commentaries when Braddock met Baer.
Zellweger delivers an impressive performance of a mother who only wants the best for her family. She is homely and ideal for her part. Similarly, Braddock’s manager also did a good job in the film. Joe is ideal for injecting a dose of humor into the narrative.
The production team selected Paul Giamatti for this role. At one, point, he talks crudely about seeing the opponent’s blood on the floor.
In another scene, he puts his own property at stake because he wanted to get money for Braddock’s training. His blend of humor, honesty and loyalty to Braddock are both endearing and just right for him
The production team’s choice of theme, characters and genre were perfect for creating an authentic and credible film. The director’s interpretation of the sports, autobiographic and historical film genres made the piece unique because he focused on a personal narrative.
Most of the action sequences served the plot rather than the reverse. The choice of character augmented the film’s credentials because Russell Crowe, Paul Giamatti, and Renee Zellweger were ideal for the roles.
Finally, the film’s themes were conventional, but the production team’s depiction of them was what made them sensible.
Howard, R. (Executive Producer). (2005). Cinderella man [DVD]. Los Angeles: Universal.
Landay, L. (2013). Film Analysis . Web.
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Home — Essay Samples — History — Great Depression — Social Issues in Cinderella Man
Social Issues in Cinderella Man
- Categories: Great Depression
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Published: Mar 20, 2024
Words: 758 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read
Table of contents
Unemployment and poverty, class inequality and social stigma, resilience and the human spirit.
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There is a moment early in "Cinderella Man" when we see Russell Crowe in the boxing ring, filled with cocky self-confidence, and I thought I knew what direction the story would take. I could not have been more mistaken. I walked in knowing nothing about Jim Braddock, "The Bulldog of Bergen," whose riches-to-rags-to-riches career inspired the movie. My friend Bill Nack of Sports Illustrated , who just won the A.J. Liebling Award, the highest honor a boxing writer can attain, could have told me all about Braddock, but I am just as happy to have gone in cold, so that I could be astonished by Crowe's performance.
I think of Crowe as a tough customer, known to get in the occasional brawl. Yes, he plays men who are inward and complex, as in " The Insider " and " A Beautiful Mind ," or men who are tempered and wise, as in "Master and Commander." But neither he nor anyone else in a long time has played such a nice man as the boxer Jim Braddock. You'd have to go back to actors like James Stewart and Spencer Tracy to find such goodness and gentleness. Tom Hanks could handle the assignment, but do you see any one of them as a prizefighter? Tracy, maybe.
As the film opens, Braddock is riding high with a series of victories that buy a comfortable, but not opulent, lifestyle for his wife Mae ( Renee Zellweger ) and their children Jay, Rosemarie and Howard. Also doing OK is Braddock's loyal manager Joe Gould ( Paul Giamatti , in a third home run after " American Splendor " and " Sideways "). Then Braddock breaks his right hand, loses some matches so badly his license is taken away, and descends with his family to grim poverty in the early days of the Depression.
What is remarkable during both the highs and the lows is that Braddock, as Crowe plays him, remains level-headed, sweet-tempered and concerned about his family above all. Perhaps it takes a tough guy like Crowe to make Braddock's goodness believable. Mae is just the wife he deserves, filled with love and loyalty, and so terrified he will be hurt that she refuses to attend his fights and won't even listen on the radio.
Their poverty takes them from a nice family house to a cramped little apartment where there is no heat and hardly anything to eat. Braddock gets a job on the docks in Hoboken, slinging sacks of grain and coal, using his left arm because of his injured right hand, and although that job is a low point, it is also the secret to the left hook that will eventually get him named "Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon.
The movie teams Crowe once again with director Ron Howard ; they made "A Beautiful Mind" together, and the screenwriter of that film, Akiva Goldsman , co-wrote this one with Cliff Hollingsworth . They find human ways to mirror the descent into despair; the Braddock family's poverty, for example, seems to weigh most heavily on the oldest son, Jay ( Connor Price ), who fears above all being sent away to live with "rich" relatives -- rich here meaning those with something to eat. He steals a sausage from a butcher shop, is caught, and then, in a scene typical of Braddock's gentle wisdom, is not punished by his father, but talked to, softly and earnestly, because his father instinctively knows why his son stole the sausage, and that the kid's daring was almost noble.
Up to this point, there would not be a comeback, and no occasion for Damon Runyon nicknames. Braddock gets one more chance at a fight, as Gould edges him past the doubts of promoter Jimmy Johnston ( Bruce McGill ). Without much time to train, he takes on a leading contender, and to everyone's amazement, wins the fight. One victory leads to another, and finally Gould is able to broker a title fight with the heavyweight champion Max Baer ( Craig Bierko ), who has killed two of his opponents and seems likely to kill the outweighed and outclassed Braddock.
What happens in the fight you will see. Ron Howard, Russell Crowe, Craig Bierko, the cinematographer Salvatore Totino and the editors Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill step into a ring already populated by the ghosts of countless movie fights, most memorably those in " Raging Bull ," " Million Dollar Baby " and the " Rocky " movies. They don't try to outfight those movies, but to outmaneuver them emotionally. The closest connection is with "Million Dollar Baby," also a film about a fighter whose deepest motivation is the fear of poverty (at a press conference, Braddock says he fights in order to be able to buy milk for his family). The visual strategy of the big fight is direct and brutal, but depends not so much on the technical depiction of boxing as on the development of the emotional duel going on in the ring. When an underdog fights from "heart" after his strength and skill are not enough, the result is almost always unconvincing -- but not always.
"Cinderella Man" is a terrific boxing picture, but there's no great need for another one. The need it fills is for a full-length portrait of a good man. Most serious movies live in a world of cynicism and irony, and most good-hearted movie characters live in bad movies. Here is a movie where a good man prevails in a world where every day is an invitation to despair, where resentment would seem fully justified, where doing the right thing seems almost gratuitous, because nobody is looking and nobody cares.
Jim Braddock is almost transparent in the simple goodness of his character; that must have made him almost impossible to play. Russell Crowe makes him fascinating, and it takes a moment or two of thought to appreciate how difficult that must have been.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
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Cinderella Man (2005)
Rated PG-13 for intense boxing violence and some language
144 minutes
Russell Crowe as Jim Braddock
Renée Zellweger as Mae Braddock
Connor Price as Jay Braddock
Bruce McGill as Jimmy Johnston
Nick Alachiotis as Baer's Cornerman
Paddy Considine as Mike Wilson
Craig Bierko as Max Baer
Paul Giamatti as Joe Gould
Ron Canada as Joe Jeanette
Directed by
- Cliff Hollingsworth
- Akiva Goldsman
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Cinderella Man
- The true story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer, who returned to the spotlight to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
- During the Great Depression, common-man hero James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe), aka the Cinderella Man, was to become one of the most surprising sports legends in history. By the early 1930s, the impoverished ex-prizefighter was seemingly as broken-down, beaten-up, and out-of-luck as much of the rest of the American populace who had hit rock bottom. His career appeared to be finished, he was unable to pay the bills, his family--the only thing that mattered to him--was in danger, and he was even forced to go on Public Relief. But deep inside, James J. Braddock never relinquished his determination. Driven by love, honor, and an incredible dose of grit, he willed an impossible dream to come true. In a last-chance bid to help his family, Braddock returned to the ring. No one thought he had a shot. However Braddock, fueled by something beyond mere competition, kept winning. Suddenly, the ordinary working man became the mythic athlete. Carrying the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised on his shoulders, Braddock rocketed through the ranks until this underdog chose to do the unthinkable: take on the heavyweight champ of the world, the unstoppable Max Baer (Craig Bierko), renowned for having killed two men in the ring. — Sujit R. Varma
- Fact-based story of depression era boxing champ James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe). This movie opens with Braddock winning a fight in 1928 and becoming a contender for a championship bout. This movie then quickly jumps five years into the future. The Great Depression is on and Braddock has had a series of defeats. Fighting injured, including with a broken hand, made him less of a fighter. Braddock, like many others in that era, lost everything in the stock market and scrimping by on the small fights he can get and on dock work. His wife would prefer he quit boxing, but knows how badly they need the money to get by with their three kids. Watering down milk just to make it do for several more days is a common occurrence. When his trainer manages to get him one more fight on the spur of the moment against the current number two contender, Braddock rises to the occasion and knocks him out. His amazing comeback becomes the source of inspiration of many down-on-his-luck Americans. A series of fights later leads to the championship match against the arrogant champ, Max Baer (Craig Bierko). Baer, who had already killed two men in the ring, urges the older Braddock not to fight him. Of course, Braddock feels like he has nothing more to lose, and very devastating, intense fight ensues. — John Sacksteder <[email protected]>
- During the Great Depression, former successful boxer James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) loses all of his possessions and savings with the crash of the stock market. His beloved wife Mae Braddock (Renée Zellweger) and their three children survive starvation and lack of heating and daily difficulties because they are a loving family. In 1934, when James' coach and manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti) offers him a chance to return to boxing, he becomes the symbol of hope to hopeless people in a ruined nation. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) is a hard-nosed, Irish-American boxer from New Jersey, formerly a light heavyweight contender, who is forced to give up boxing after breaking his hand in the ring. This is both a relief and an upset to his wife, Mae (Renee Zellweger): she cannot bring herself to watch the violence of his chosen profession, yet knows they will have no good income without him boxing. As the United States enters the Great Depression, Braddock does manual labor as a longshoreman to support his family, even after badly breaking his hand. Unfortunately, he cannot get work every day. Thanks to a last-minute cancellation by another boxer, Braddock's longtime manager and friend, Joe Gould, offers him a chance to fill in for just this one night and make a little money. The fight is against the number-two contender in the world, Corn Griffin. Braddock, however, stuns the boxing experts and fans with a third-round knockout of his formidable opponent. He believes that while his right hand was broken, he became more proficient with his left hand, improving his in-ring ability. Against his wife's wishes, Braddock takes up Gould's offer to return to the ring. Mae resents this attempt by Gould to profit from her husband's dangerous livelihood, until she discovers that Gould and his wife also have been devastated by hard times. With a shot at the heavyweight championship held by Max Baer a possibility, Braddock continues to win. Out of a sense of pride, he uses a portion of his prize money to pay back money to the government given to him while unemployed. When his rags to riches story gets out, the sportswriter Damon Runyon dubs him "The Cinderella Man," and before long Braddock comes to represent the hopes and aspirations of the American public struggling with the Depression. A title fight against Baer comes his way. Braddock is a 10-to-1 underdog. Mae is terrified because Baer, the champ, is a vicious man who reportedly has killed at least two men in the ring. He is so destructive that the fight's promoter, James Johnston, forces both Braddock and Gould to watch a film of Baer in action, just so he can maintain later that he warned them what Braddock was up against. Braddock demonstrates no fear. The arrogant Baer attempts to intimidate him, even taunting Mae in public that her man might not survive. When he says this, Mae becomes so angry that she throws a drink at him. She cannot bring herself to attend the fight at the Madison Square Garden Bowl or even to listen to it on the radio. On June 13, 1935, in one of the biggest achievements in boxing history, Braddock defeats the seemingly invincible Baer to become the heavyweight champion of the world. A graphic at the end of the film reveals that Braddock worked on the building of the Verrazano Bridge, and that he later owned and operated heavy machinery on the docks where he worked during the Depression. Also, he and Mae used the winnings to buy a house, in which they spent the rest of their lives.
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Cinderella Man Movie Summary
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