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Felix, who early on yells during a training session gone bad, “I’m trying to teach him not to use his fists,” in by far the films most powerful moment. At that exact second, Jackie is clinging to Luther while spouting some nonsense about how she doesn’t want nasty words and violence around her boxer. Intended to show her maternal side, this scene just makes Jackie look foolish and flakey.
On the plus side, Shaw is not relegated to the status of angry black man. There are a few bumps in the beginning, but Luther has his head on straight and doesn’t engage in self-sabotage.
Against The Ropes is the story of two people who made each other: Jackie couldn’t have gotten to be a world-class manager if Luther wasn’t a world-class talent and vice-a-versa. The central conflict of the second half of the film is that Jackie doesn’t seem to realize that. Luther has to remind her that everything she’s done for him, he’s done for her. It’s not an issue you can see either way; Jackie’s just wrong, which she more or less realizes.
Upsettingly though, it seems the filmmakers don’t. Before the end credits roll we are only told about what Jackie went on to do (manage six more champion boxer) with nary a word about Luther’s future. It’s pretty typical of this film’s general haplessness that one of the few things it got right, the portrayal of the deep interdependence of Luther and Jackie, is ignored.
The DVD contains two extra shorts, one a bio of the real Kallen, “Queen of the Ring: Jackie Kallen Then & Now,” and the other about the making of the film, “A Ringside Seat.” The chance to observe the real Kallen is both satisfying and informative. She does wear some crazy clothes. She also has an accent, though not quite like Ryan’s. You learn she’s really from Detroit though they chose to set the film in Cleveland (which may explain why Ryan’s accent doesn’t seem tied to a place). There’s also a discussion of Kallen’s remarkable maternal instinct, which explains why the script tried to imbue Ryan’s character with that quality, even though it failed. Interestingly, the real Kallen is married with children and was working as a sport journalist when she began managing. The Kallen of the movie started from a much lonelier and less successful place, one imagines in order to add to the “drama.” “A Ringside Seat” is interminably long; there shouldn’t be this much to say about a mediocre film, and the obsequious commentary of the film’s producer is so ridiculously praiseworthy as to be insufferable.
Movie Grade: C+
DVD Grade: B-
Overall Grade: C+
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