Million Dollar Baby

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Million Dollar Baby
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Produced by Clint Eastwood
Albert S. Ruddy
Tom Rosenberg
Written by F.X. Toole (story)
Paul Haggis (screenplay)
Starring Clint Eastwood
Hilary Swank
Morgan Freeman
Music by Clint Eastwood
Cinematography Tom Stern
Editing by Joel Cox
Distributed by -USA-
Warner Bros.
-non USA-
Lakeshore Entertainment
Release date(s) December 15, 2004
Running time 132 minutes
Language English/Irish
Budget $30 million USD
IMDb profile

Million Dollar Baby is an Academy Award winning 2004 dramatic film directed by Clint Eastwood.

The film stars Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of an under-appreciated boxing trainer, his elusive past and his quest for atonement in helping an underdog amateur female boxer (the film's title character) achieve her fragile dream of becoming a professional. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The screenplay was written by Paul Haggis, based on short stories by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and "cutman" Jerry Boyd. Originally published under the title Rope Burns, the stories have since been republished under the movie's title.

It was released on DVD on July 12, 2005. It was released on HD DVD on April 18, 2006 [1], one of the earliest releases on that media format.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Maggie (Hilary Swank), a young female amateur who aspires to prove her worth by becoming a successful boxer, is taken in by Frank Dunn (Clint Eastwood), a down-and-out boxing trainer who has been cast aside by most of society, including his estranged daughter Katie. Dunn aids Maggie in realizing her goal while developing a stronger-than-blood bond. Initially, Dunn is dispassionate toward Maggie because she is a 31-year-old female. Maggie, however, perseveres in her attempts to gain Dunn's favor by training each day in his gym, even when others discourage her. Frank's friend and employee, ex-boxer Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman), sympathizes with Maggie's efforts and convinces Dunn to coach her short-term (Dupris is also the narrator of the film, who reveals the extent to which Maggie and Dunn's relationship transforms both their lives).

Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby
Enlarge
Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby

Having experienced no intimate relationship with his own daughter, Dunn forms a stronger bond with Maggie, whose family does not care for her well-being, and decidedly coaches and manages her professional career. With his expertise, Maggie fights her way up to the women's welterweight boxing division, eventually placing a match in Las Vegas against the WBA women's welterweight champion (played by real life boxer Lucia Rijker), who is known for her foul play. During the match, an attack after the bell by her opponent sends Maggie crashing to the mat, directly in the path of her corner stool. Dunn frantically tries to move it out of the way, but cannot. As a result, Maggie hits it with neck-shattering force and is severely paralyzed. Dunn, venting his rage at the unjust circumstance, originally blames Dupris for convincing him to bring her in but in the end blames himself for her downfall having trained her against his better judgment.

In the medical rehabilitation facility, Maggie holds out hope for her family in visiting her, whom Dunn makes repeated calls about the tragic news but to no avail. However, the family arrives several days later (in theme park wardrobe) with an attorney in tow to turn over Maggie's fortunes to them. This appalls Dunn who realizes their motives but when her mother insists that Maggie sign the paperwork that would confirm the family as the beneficiary, she sees through the facade and tells her mother off for good. Eventually, Maggie confides to Dunn that she has "seen it all" and asks to be relieved of suffering. Dunn flat out refuses and begins to question the morality of it all, even speaking with a priest who objects. She attempts suicide by biting her tongue multiple times in an attempt to bleed to death. Her attempt fails since her efforts are subdued and causes Dunn to realize that her suffering should last no more. Dunn ultimately commits euthanasia by injecting her with an overdose of adrenaline. As the narrator, Dupris states that Dunn then disappears. The film's narration by Dupris is revealed to be a letter to Dunn's daughter, who has forsaken him all the while, to inform her of her father's true character.


[edit] Featured cast

Actor Role
Jay Baruchel Danger Barch
Clint Eastwood Frankie Dunn
Morgan Freeman Eddie 'Scrap' Dupris
Margo Martindale Maggie's mother
Benito Martinez Billie's Manager
Brían F. O'Byrne Father Horvak
Michael Peña Omar
Lucia Rijker Billie 'The Blue Bear'
Hilary Swank Maggie Fitzgerald

Full cast and credit listing available.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Million Dollar Baby received the Best Picture of 2004 at the 77th Academy Awards. Eastwood was awarded his second Directing Oscar for the film and also received a Best Actor nomination. Swank and Freeman received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor Oscars. The film was also nominated for the Film Editing and Writing Adapted Screenplay awards. The film beat what many thought to be the front-runner, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, which had won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for Best Drama. However, Million Dollar Baby was more popular with critics.

The film was also nominated for and won a number of Golden Globes, SAG Awards and the Directors's Guild Awards.

2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)

2005 Amanda Awards

2005 American Cinema Editors (Eddies)

  • Nominated - Best Edited Feature Film — Joel Cox

2005 American Screenwriters Association

2005 Art Directors Guild

  • Nominated - Feature Film - Contemporary Film — Henery Bumstead, Jack G. Taylor Jr.

2005 Black Reel Awards

2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

2005 Casting Society of America (Artios)

2006 - César Award

2005 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

2005 Directors Guild of America

2005 Director's Guild of Great Britain

  • Nominated - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in International Film — Clint Eastwood

2005 ESPY Awards

  • Nominated - Best Sports Movie

2005 Florida Film Critics Circle

2005 Golden Globe Awards

2006 Grammy Awards

2005 Image Awards

2005 MTV Movie Awards

2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)

  • Nominated - Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features: Sound Effects/Foley — Alar Robert Murray, Bub Asman, David Grimaldi, Jason King

2004 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

  • Special Achievement Award — Clint Eastwood, For producing, directing, acting and composing.

2004 New York Film Critics Circle Awards

2005 PGA Golden Laurel Awards

2004 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards

  • Won - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role — Hilary Swank

2004 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards

2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • Won - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role — Morgan Freeman
  • Won - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role — Hilary Swank

2005 Writers Guild of America Awards

  • Nominated - Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published — Paul Haggis

[edit] Criticism

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Disability rights activists

In January and February 2005, the film became controversial when some disability rights activists protested the ending of the film, in which Frank carries out Maggie's wish to die after she becomes quadriplegic as a result of a spinal cord injury suffered during her last fight. Prominent among these critics was John Hockenberry, long-time NPR and NBC correspondent and paraplegic[1] [2]. [3]

The Weekly Standard also criticized the movie for its ending and for missed opportunities [4].

[edit] The Myth of "Pulling the Plug"

The ending of the film is based on the myth that a patient of sound mind cannot have her life support removed. In reality, if the patient is aware and awake enough to instruct someone to end her treatment, she can simply order the hospital to cease care and the hospital must comply once the necessary legal forms are secured. Attempting to force treatment on a person of sound mind who refuses it is considered assault. A patient may also specify her wishes for treatment ahead of time in the form of a living will. However, if the patient can communicate and is of sound mind after the injury, it is a simple matter of instructing the hospital to cease care. There is absolutely no rule prohibiting a patient from securing a do not resuscitate order after an injury has taken place, as some appear to believe. Nor is there any presumption that a patient who is paralyzed is of unsound mind. Most people with spinal injuries continue to direct their legal affairs, though they may arrange to have power of attorney given to a third party if they become unconscious. Merely being on pain killers or being depressed does not remove a patient's ability to direct his or her legal affairs.

Refusing treatment has never been considered by the judicial system to be a form of suicide, and enforcing a DNR order is not considered assisted suicide. Medical staff refusing to comply with a lawful DNR is unlawful and may result in both civil and criminal consequences.

Hollywood has placed similar "pull the plug" sequences in films for many decades. They serve as a dramatic convention to create conflict between personal loyalty and the obligation to the laws of the state. The fact that there are not and never have been any laws obligating the very ill to accept treatment has not prevented this motif being used.

[edit] Christian Right and social conservatives

Possibly around the same time, the movie was criticized by activists from the Christian Right and social conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved, on the same issue. Medved stated that: "My main objection to Million Dollar Baby always centered on its misleading marketing, and effort by Warner Brothers to sell it as a movie about a female Rocky, with barely a hint of the pitch-dark substance that led Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer to declare that 'no movie in my memory has depressed me more than Million Dollar Baby'" [5].

[edit] Irish language speakers

Some Irish speakers have also criticized the fact that the phrase Mo Chúisle (pronounced Muh Khooshla), a term of endearment meaning My pulse, [2] was misspelled in the movie as Mo Cuishle, as shown on the back of Maggie's robe. In Irish and other Goidelic languages, consonants soften when preceded by a vowel, hence the "c" in "cúisle" turns into a guttural "ch". It is translated in the film as "My darling, my blood". The original phrase is short for A chúisle mo chroí, meaning "O, pulse of my heart" [3]. Nevertheless, it was cited as one of the most influential phrases from a Hollywood film that year. The movie has also been praised for awakening interest in the Irish language in the U.S. [3].

[edit] Sportswriters

On a more topical level, Million Dollar Baby has been criticized by some sportswriters as being greatly inaccurate and confusing from a boxing perspective. The boxing scenes are un-realistic and it is obvious that the boxer who injured Maggie would be disqualified or even taken to court.

[edit] Responses to criticism

Eastwood responded to the criticism by pointing out the movie was about the American dream [6]. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Eastwood distanced himself from the actions of characters in his films, noting, "I've gone around in movies blowing people away with a .44 magnum. But that doesn't mean I think that's a proper thing to do" [7]. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, who named the film his favorite of 2004, believes "a movie is not good or bad because of its content, but because of how it handles its content. Million Dollar Baby is classical in the clean, clear, strong lines of its story and characters, and had an enormous emotional impact" [8].

[edit] Trivia

  • Upon its original release, all editions of the Region 1 DVD, except for the "Deluxe Edition", came with a paperback copy of the book Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Business Wire Warner Home Video to Deliver First HD DVD Titles to The Marketplace. March 16, 2006
  2. ^ IrishGaelicTranslator.com. Million Dollar Baby movie
  3. ^ a b Wes Davis Fighting Words. New York Times. February 26, 2005

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Academy Award for Best Picture: Winners (2001– )

2001: A Beautiful Mind | 2002: Chicago | 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | 2004: Million Dollar Baby | 2005: Crash


Films directed by Clint Eastwood
Play Misty for Me • High Plains Drifter • Breezy • The Eiger Sanction • The Outlaw Josey Wales • The Gauntlet • Bronco Billy • Firefox • Honkytonk Man • Sudden Impact • Pale Rider • Heartbreak Ridge • Bird • White Hunter Black Heart • The Rookie • Unforgiven • A Perfect World • The Bridges of Madison County • Absolute Power • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil • True Crime • Space Cowboys • Blood Work • Mystic River • "The Blues" • Million Dollar Baby • Flags of Our Fathers • Letters from Iwo Jima
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