The Best Sports Movies You've Never Seen

Girlfight (2000)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Michelle Rodriguez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderon
Independent, 110 minutes







Recently, in prepping for an edition of ESPN Classic’s “Ringside” series, I stopped by my local library in search of various boxing movies. Two, in particular: Ali and Girlfight. A rare double-bill combination with one important common denominator, at least to me: Michael Bentt. The one-time WBO heavyweight champion turned thespian appears in both films, and was set to appear on “Ringside” to discuss the dark arts of both Hollywood and boxing.

In “Ali,” Bentt played Sonny Liston. His blink and you miss it cameo in “Girlfight” takes a couple of viewings to spot. But those viewings are not wasted time. “Ali” gave Will Smith his first Academy Award nomination, flopped at the box office and left fight fans with a topic for endless debate – my take for the record: a long winded sermon that came nowhere near the irresistible rhythm of the Ali story. But let’s face it; the GOAT’s story will always defy the constraints of the silver screen, inevitably leading to disappointment for both movie and boxing fans. Far from disappointing, “Girlfight,” is authentic, compelling and well worth spending 110 minutes in front of your plasma screen.

Now, Girlfight is no Raging Bull, not even Somebody Up There Likes Me, but in the recent age of Against The Ropes, Cinderella Man, and the aforementioned Ali, this is one boxing movie of the new century that’s worth a look and yes, a second look.

It is the story of Diana Guzman (superbly played in her feature debut by Michelle Rodriguez), a Brooklyn high school senior enraged by the suicide of her mother, and in desperate need of an outlet from her father, her environment, and her bleak-looking future. She finds it in the ring. More specifically, in a Gleason’s Gym-like boxing emporium run by Hector (Jaime Tirelli), a Panamanian New York transplant, who reluctantly agrees to train Diana as long as she pays her $10 per hour fees. Needless to say, the speed bag, footwork and male chauvinism all prove problematic. But producing a pair of Lincoln’s on a weekly basis sparks the real drama.

Yes, Diana Guzman is no million dollar baby. But don’t dismiss “Girlfight” as the poor man’s (a.k.a. independent cinema) version of Clint Eastwood’s celluloid interpretation of F.X. Toole’s "Rope Burns." Of course, that Million Dollar Baby won 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, and topped $100 million at the box office. (And continues to leave me with two unanswered questions: How can Maggie Fitzgerald not be declared the champion on a DQ after being slugged after the bell? How can Frankie Dunn unplug Maggie’s life-support system and calmly walk out of the hospital unchallenged?) But like Eastwood, if four years earlier, “Girlfight” director Karyn Kusama provides an unvarnished take on female fighters, boxing and romance. There had to be a love interest, and here “Girlfight” wobbles like Evander Holyfield taking a Riddick Bowe uppercut. But at least the object of Diane’s desire is her age, rather than a generation or two apart on the timeline continuum like Maggie and Frankie. Although this movie is set in the amateur ranks, Diana’s boyfriend Adrian (Santiago Douglas) takes a decidedly professional approach to sexual intercourse – he conserves his strength for the ring. For the most part, that’s where “Girlfight” finds its strength as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Young (a.k.a. Baggiesboy - and if you want to get to the bottom of that one, you speak to the man himself) is a veteran writer and producer in sports television who has covered the last four Olympics with NBC, the last two World Cups, and written for two essential No Masian programs, "Ringside" and "Reel Classics" on ESPN Classic. Recently, he wrote the Spike Lee-narrated "Brooklyn Love Story" that ran during the Final Four pre-game festivities, a very classy piece of work. Let me conclude by telling you that there few men alive who know more about soccer than Mark Young, and even fewer who know less about judo. If there is higher praise than this on earth, people, I have not yet heard it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This post is part of our ongoing partnership with The Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival which runs from April 25 to May 26 right here in NYC.