lasttimeisaw Glancing with a documentary eye, John Huston's FAT CITY opens with Kris Kristofferson's lugubrious HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT to accommodate to a downbeat tonality, and concomitantly fills the screen with montages of the story's locale and denizens, a rundown California town called Stockton in the 50s, and then introduces Billy Tully (a cleft-lipped and hair- receding Keach), a divorced, childless peckerwood and former boxer on the brink of turning 30, doing odd jobs from hand to mouth, he aspires to return to the ring, but both physically and mentally he hasn't been conditioned to reclaim his glory. Meantime, a young stud Ernie Munger (Bridges), recommended by Billy, starts his professional boxing days but is he really the "one in a million" material which Billy sees in him? The script is penned by the author of its source novel, Leonard Gardner, which warrants fidelity to a large extent but also leans more on Billy than Ernie in the narrative. The boxing scenes, to the lights of a pugilism outsider, are less vicarious and impactful than its more famed cinematic cousins and sometimes one can discern they are playacting, both Keach and Bridges are not toned up in a pro's shape, but that might be the case here, Billy is over the hill, and the allusive reason behind his hard-earned victory is more due to his opponent's deteriorating health than his own prowess. As for Ernie, he loses both two matches presented on-screen and has a soft belly which both literally and metaphorically implies that he is a younger version of Billy, getting married out of onus rather than love, the road ahead of him looks glum, and it speaks volumes in the final close- up where the two boxers sitting sipping their coffee in concert but inside they are miles away from each other (Billy is a lush Ernie tries to avoid), without obvious effort of fumbling for words, that silent moment could be the only time they share before parting company for keeps, no matter how similar their trajectories will be, both Keach and Bridges (at a tender age of 23) are extraordinary players of conveying connotations and embodying nuances. A boisterous Susan Tyrell snatches an Oscar nomination for her terrific turn as Oma, a barfly who strikes a romantic relationship with Billy, but she is a damaged goods through and through, married twice before, habitually drenched in the hard stuff, Billy might be merely a fling to her while her current lover is in the jug. The two-handers between them are coruscating with sheer communion (in the seedy bar where they engages themselves from small talk to wearing their affectionate hearts on their sleeves), or blistering intensity (in their equally mangy bedsit where Huston pulls off the most kitchen-sink spat in the American map), she is an attainable lure for a rough diamond like Billy, but she will do him no good, and the vicious circle will never cease to repeat, time and again, because loneliness brings people together but it takes a helluva luck to be able to stick together.In a word, FAT CITY is on the top rung of Huston's corpus, a strangely disconsolate but whole- heartedly candid social critique of the stagnation and cul-de-sac facing by the have-nots, bestowed with a sublimely subdued texture with unobtrusive dexterity, but as a boxing drama, it still looks rough-hewn and conspicuously pulls its punches in terms of veracity.

PimpinAinttEasy To the fans of Charles Bukowski, you guys might want to check out this film. Its about the boxing scene in Stockton, California - described through the lives of two boxers, their lovers and their common trainer. It is a sad film about the ups and downs (mostly downs) in the boxers lives as they grapple with all the bad luck, the women, ennui and sloth. The characters were extremely fatalistic, seemingly unable to conquer the devil inside their minds or conquering it for a short while before it starts working on them again.Sex is an important part of the film. One of the boxers, Billy Tully (Stacy Keach) cannot seem to get over his wife leaving him. A spiritually wounding affair with an alcoholic woman does not allow him to forget his wife whom he loved dearly. Even when he tries to revive his flagging boxing career, it is in the hope that he can win his wife back. The other boxer, Ernie Munger (Jeff Bridges) is deeply insecure about his new wife. Another important aspect of the film is its shabby run down small town vibe. I love American films like these with its gas stations, small town bars, long empty roads, side streets, orchards, barren fields, levees and ugly one room apartments. There is something very idyllic yet bleak about these landscapes.The wiry Stacy Keach excels in a role that was offered to none other than Marlon Brando. Jeff Bridges plays a mildly talented but ultimately bland young man without any real personality. Susan Tyrrell is brilliant as an impulsive and alcoholic woman who befriends Stacy Keach's wounded boxer. Nicholas Colasanto steals the show despite the presence of all the other great actors. His turn as a cynical but persistent trainer added so much to this film. I was thinking about some of the Charles Bukowski novels that I had read while I was watching the film. I recommend the book by Leonard Gardner too. Best Regards, Pimpin.(9/10)

FilmCriticLalitRao In the past, some studios in Hollywood considered themselves to be in a privileged position as they were producing a highly disparate genre of films about boxing and boxers.These films were made by a separate team who would write scripts,choose actors and direct films about success stories being crafted in boxing rings.One such 'boxing film' was briefly described in Coen brothers' "Barton Fink" starring actor John Turturro who is being asked by a studio executive to write a 'boxing picture'."Fat City" is also a boxing picture but it does not have anything in common with boxing pictures of the past.Director John Huston did not want to portray boxers as 'super heroes'.He aimed to present an honest account of boxers as ordinary human beings with their own share of joys as well as sorrows. Each person in this film is plagued with numerous personal problems. Superb acting performances by Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges convince viewers to believe that poverty is a serious curse which leaves many strongmen broken hearted. Director John Huston was brutal to the core to show that even tough guys such as boxers are affected by poverty and are forced to do menial jobs in order to survive in a difficult world.

tieman64 John Huston's "Fat City" stars Stacy Keach as Jimmy Tully, a washed up boxer who befriends Ernie Minger (Jeff Bridges), a young prize fighter whose best years seem ahead of him. The two men share a common trainer, a boxing promoter played by Nicholas Colasanto.Huston's films oft centre on the dregs of society. Here he lingers on seedy bars, desolate urban environments (1950s California), barflies, street urchins and hazy characters who seem to languish in the cracks and crevices of the world. Elsewhere women stay at home and get drunk, men struggle to make a living working in sweltering plantations, couple's are straight-jacketed by pregnancies and the racism (and cold-heartedness) of boxing managers is cloaked in much goodwill."Did I get knocked out?" Jimmy asks after a victory, not knowing that his opponent was sick and on the verge of death before their bout even began. Indeed, everyone in the film seems on the verge of extinction, all awaiting the big knock out. One such character is Oma, brilliantly played by Susan Tyrrell, a raging cauldron of mixed up emotions. She bounces from lover to lover, but finds unhappiness in each relationship."Help Me Make It Through the Night" plays on the film's soundtrack, the song crystallising Huston's point: these characters are all in the ring, all enduring far too many blows. Closing shot: Jimmy and Ernie at a bar, looking at a decaying barkeep, contemplating death, time and the toils of growing old. "Fat City's" not a great film - Huston has set the bar too high, and the film is too one-note and small - but it does capture a profound sense of waste.7.9/10 – See "The Hustler", "Prairie Home Companion" and "In A Lonely Place".