Million Dollar Baby (2004)

A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Paul Haggis (screenplay), F.X. Toole (stories)

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman

Top 250 #175 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 57 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Frankie Dunn
Hilary Swank	...	Maggie Fitzgerald
Morgan Freeman	...	Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris
Jay Baruchel	...	Danger Barch
Mike Colter	...	Big Willie Little
Lucia Rijker	...	Billie 'The Blue Bear'
Brían F. O'Byrne	...	Father Horvak (as Brían O'Byrne)
Anthony Mackie	...	Shawrelle Berry
Margo Martindale	...	Earline Fitzgerald
Riki Lindhome	...	Mardell Fitzgerald
Michael Peña	...	Omar
Benito Martinez	...	Billie's Manager
Bruce MacVittie	...	Mickey Mack
David Powledge	...	Counterman at Diner
Joe D'Angerio	...	Cut Man (as Joe d'Angerio)

Storyline

Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend, Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym, knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has been seeking, for the past 25 years, the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him. Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym...

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Plot Keywords:

boxer | boxing | boxing trainer | waitress | father daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling. Beyond hope, there is a memory. Beyond their journey, there is a love.

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language

Details

Official Sites:

Filmax [es] Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Irish

Release Date:

28 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rope Burns

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Athletic Club - 6525 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$200,475 (Sweden) (8 April 2005)

Gross:

$100,422,786 (USA) (3 June 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Lakeshore Entertainment, Malpaso Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Mo chuisle" literally means "my pulse," but can mean "my love" or "my darling". It's a term of endearment taken from the original phrases "A chuisle mo chroí" or "Pulse of my heart".

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Goofs

When Maggie regains consciousness, she speaks to Frankie. She has a tracheotomy tube attached to a ventilator, which makes speaking by mouth impossible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris: [Narrating] Only ever met one man I wouldn't wanna fight. When I met him he was already the best cut man in the business. Started training and managing in the sixties, but never lost his gift.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title is shown.

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Connections

Spoofed in Robot Chicken: Shoe (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Boxing Baby"
Written by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens

User Reviews

Best boxing film since "Raging Bull"?

Clint Eastwood is a man of faith. He is an artist who is confident and experienced enough to have a deep faith in the audience that he is trying to reach. He is also a master of omission, of the left-out detail/line, trusting in his gut that his audience is willing to participate in his films by exercising their imaginations; that they never want any aspect of the story to be 'dumbed-down' for ready consumption. In fact, his trust in the audience to use their own minds to fill in gaps is like a gift of part ownership in the film. "Million Dollar Baby" is a beautiful gift, and a masterpiece if film-making.

Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, an elder boxing coach, manager, and expert 'cut man' who runs a gym and is learning Gaelic on the side. He's a nice enough guy, but he can't seem to shake the guilt from ghosts in his past (some we're in on, some not quite). His guilt/shame is a constant just beneath the surface and gives him something of a cold exterior, sometimes frozen. Yet, as played by Eastwood, you know Dunn's aware of his own plight, but just doesn't know how to melt the ice. Or more importantly, if he's deserving of such a meltdown.

Enter Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank). She's a thirty-something trailer trash woman from southwest Missouri. An unlikely hero for sure. But for my money, Maggie is this generation's Rocky. That may seem an easy, simplistic, and over-reaching comparison, but the parallels are deep, obvious and myriad. Like many people, Maggie's dream (being a professional boxer) is always just out of reach, yet she cannot give it up. She works as a waitress to make ends meet (or at least the ends are almost touching), but spends all her spare time training. Like Dunn, Maggie has her own ghosts haunting her, and through these ghosts they bond tighter than super glue. The heart and work (incalculably huge amounts) that Swank put into becoming Maggie are unnoticeable. It's a silly phrase but it's as if she was born to play this part. It fits like a glove. The real life parallel of her relationship to Eastwood no doubt played a part in her ability to connect with the character's relationship to Dunn. Yet this in no way diminishes her accomplishment. She is brilliant.

Morgan Freeman plays Dunn's right-hand man (Scrape) at the gym, and reprises a role similar to Red from "Shawshank Redemption". He also voices the omniscient narration to the story, a la Red. Like Dunn and Maggie, he's similarly bruised, but somehow less deeply. He's there when both of them need support and helps to bring them together. I can think of nobody acting in film today who can embody kindness and wisdom through friendship and support better than Freeman. He also serves to bring in another Eastwood trademark – 'Banter'. Even when themes are heavy, Eastwood's sense of humor is never entirely absent and he and Freeman have a good time with each other, as did Bacon and Fishburne in "Mystic River". These three characters together create a beautiful and true, albeit small, family unit Eastwood's lifelong themes and 'blurring of lines' are on full display: good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, the role of violence, redemption, guilt/shame over previous acts, even god and death. Never one for easy answers, his version of the truth lies in the shadows, quite literally. Cinematographer Tom Stern crafts characters in shadow, shifting in and out of light. There is a grey area between the light and the dark where something approaching truth lies waiting, and this is where Eastwood takes us, then leaves us there to ponder. "Million Dollar Baby" is a shadow play. As accomplished as "Unforgiven" and "Mystic River", yet even more personal, this film is a triumph of human storytelling. As Bacon's character says in "Mystic River", "…and the hits just keep on comin'."