Fat City (1972)

Directed by John Huston. Starring Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Nicholas Colasanto, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Curtis Cokes, Sixto Rodriguez, Art Aragon. [PG]

Unsentimental story of a past-his-prime boxer (Keach) and a youthful pugilist pushover (Bridges) without even a longshot for glory. Always fond of down-and-out underdogs, John Huston was practically an underdog himself by the time he tackled this project, having been lost in the filmmaking weeds for years, but he merges personality with subject matter fantastically here, and is treated to a solid bit of writing from Leonard Gardner (adapting his own novel) and several strong performances, including supporting players Tyrrell (as a bellicose barfly) and Colasanto (as a boxing manager/trainer who has a few more working brain cells than his famous coaching role on “Cheers”). Huston demonstrates a fondness for working the corners, populating the sports and relationship dramas at the center with a wealth of mise-en-scène details, walk-on character performances, and interesting locations, which jump off the screen largely because of Conrad Hall’s exceptional lighting and framing, with striking splashes of color here and there like homecoming surprises—it’s a downbeat movie, but dammit, it’s alive. Huston was an unsuccessful boxer in his youth, and stuck a few fighters he knew from back in the day into the picture.

81/100