On G List of Movie Reviews

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The Great White Hope (1970)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 6/25

6/25: I thought I would see spectacular acting from James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope, but it never happened.

Instead, I'm treated to a very boring, talky staged play about some black dude by the name of Jack Jefferson that's mostly focused on why it's a sin he has a white wife. That's all. Oh, yeah...boxing occurs about 5% of the time. When it's shown, there's not much...just the audience surrounding the ring.

Oscar nominations were given out to James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander? I didn't see anything special. All they did was talk, argue, and kiss. It's very theatrical, having run on Broadway for 546 performances from October 3, 1968, to January 31, 1970. Because of the play, it brought stardom to James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander for the first time.

The movie is about Jack Johnson, the first black boxer to win the heavyweight world title? Hardly that. Otherwise, I would see a lot of beatings and infidelities. His wife killed herself with a gun, not throwing herself into the well. The movie captures at most a couple of years in Jack Johnson's life; it might as well use fictional people and be more broad in coverage like The Hurricane.

All in all, The Great White Hope belongs in the theater.

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