Fat City (1972)

“Just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of,
well time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister,
but boring stories of …

Glory days – well they’ll pass you by
Glory days – in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days, glory days” Bruce Springsteen

John Huston is one of those directors who made enough great pictures that he doesn’t need apologies. He will never be in that limbo that some current “great” directors will find themselves in (S,S, & T et al) having prematurely been hailed as “great.“

Huston made a least a dozen phenomenal films that push the envelope yet still offer good entertainment for your dollar today. Despite a long dry spell during the 60s with some rather forgettable films, Huston bounced back with his 1972 offering Fat City, a lingering peak at the underbelly of life, a story of the amateur boxing circuit…

Stacey Keach is a professional boxer; already old at 29 he maintains his dream fueled by equal parts of alcohol and self delusion. And that’s what this film is about; every character in Huston’s well painted world is as full of self delusion as they can be. It’s a story of the underclass, a world of not has-beens, but never-will-bes each congratulating and drinking toasts to mostly imaginary victories that grow greater with each retelling of the saga.

Now such a story could easily grow maudlin or unintentionally comic without the firm hand of a fine director in charge, but Huston avoids these ditches by steering a middle course, not editorializing, but allowing his camera to film the action without comment, relying on the fine performances of his actors to tell the story.

And tell it they do, with Keach in an Oscar caliber performance as a guy with little self knowledge and destined to make bad choices. A young Jeff Bridges (The Last Picture Show, Arlington Road) provides a look at what Keach must have been a decade before. Susan Tyrrell represents Keach’s fate, an alcoholic hell teetering on the edge of psychosis. Her role is actually the most compelling, but also hard to watch.

Set in Stockton, California - apparently a metaphor for Hell - Huston shows his characters playing out an endless circuit of self delusion, guilt, feeble attempts at work, and descent into the comforting domain of alcoholism. The boxing is only a vehicle to get the story where it’s going, although there are a couple of fights, with a notable one towards the end. Fat City is where they want to be, like hitting the lottery in current terms, they are all wishing for that big payoff.

Nick Colasanto plays the aging promoter - manager who unintentionally exploits the marginally talented boxers in feeble attempts to realize his own doomed dream - to have a champion.

Fat City is a slow moving film, perhaps too slow moving for some, but one that rewards the diligent viewer with a grand slice of life of people in a hopeless situation that nonetheless have hope.

The Columbia DVD runs 97 minutes, in color, and has both 1.85:1 theatrical format and full screen format available on the menu. Watch it in theatrical format to get the full benefit of Conrad Hall’s excellent cinematography. Subtitles and a trio of previews are the sole extras.

Boxing fans will also want to see The Harder They Fall, a hard-hitting drama starring Humphrey Bogart and Rod Steiger.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV