The Great White Hope

Watch: The Great White Hope

PG-13

10/11/19701h 43m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ He could beat any white man in the world. He just couldn't beat all of them. ~

Overview:

A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.

Director:

Martin Ritt

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

sports
based on play or musical
boxing

Cast

James Earl Jones

~ as ~

Jack Jefferson

Jane Alexander

~ as ~

Eleanor

Lou Gilbert

~ as ~

Goldie

Joel Fluellen

~ as ~

Tick

Chester Morris

~ as ~

Pop Weaver

Robert Webber

~ as ~

Dixon

Marlene Warfield

~ as ~

Clara

Hal Holbrook

~ as ~

Cameron

Beah Richards

~ as ~

Mama Tiny

Moses Gunn

~ as ~

Scipio

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 7 hour(s) ago
7
Well you can’t fault James Earl Jones for tackling just about every issue on the books in this drama about a heavyweight boxer. “Jefferson” is the champion of the world and is making short shrift of his opponents. Needless to say, this is narking many of his (mainly white) brethren so when he and his fiancée “Eleanor” (Jane Alexander) fall foul of rules banning mixed couples from inter-state travel they capitalise on this and have him arrested. Thanks to an outrageously pink shirt and a bit of legerdemain, he manages to escape to Europe where he finds things only marginally better. That’s not so much because of his colour, although that is a factor, it’s more because those vested interests in the UK and France don’t want to see their own champions pummelled into the canvas. Finally, a bit like the real Jack Johnson, he ends up in Cuba with a fight that could change everything, but by this point he and his gal are on different paths and even some amongst his own community are turning against him. JEJ is on lively and entertaining form throughout this critique on bigotry and boxing and his performance is well complemented by an Alexander whose characterisation of a woman increasingly struggling with his excesses is quite potent and plausibly delivered. The boxing action is not nearly so convincing, though. The use of long-shot photography shows up some of the basic editing and there isn’t really that much actual action throughout this drama which can leave it perilously close to soap at times. Still, it’s another film that illustrates just how hard people were prepared to work to escape an economic grind that offered working African American men very little by way of opportunity.