The Great White Hope
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Great White Hope (film) | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Martin Ritt |
| Produced by | Lawrence Turman |
| Written by | Howard Sackler (playwright & scriptwriter) |
| Starring | James Earl Jones Jane Alexander |
| Music by | Lionel Newman |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | October 11, 1970 |
| Running time | 103 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$6,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Great White Hope is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning play written by Howard Sackler and first produced by Arena Stage in Washington, DC in 1967 that was the basis for the 1970 film of the same name. Both the play and the film starred James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander.
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[edit] Synopsis and history
Both the play and film versions of The Great White Hope tell the fictionalized -- and perhaps idealized -- life story of boxing champion Jack Johnson, here called Jack Jefferson.[1] Acting as a lens focused on a racist society, The Great White Hope explores how segregation and prejudice created the demand for a "great white hope" who would defeat Johnson and how this, in turn, affected the boxer's life and career.
While the play and the film are often described as being thematically about racism, this is not, it seems, entirely how Sackler viewed his work. Though certainly not denying the racist issues confronted in the play, Sackler once said in an interview, "What interested me was not the topicality but the combination of circumstances, the destiny of a man pitted against society. It's a metaphor of struggle between man and the outside world. Some people spoke of the play as if it were a cliché of white liberalism, but I kept to the line straight through, of showing that it wasn't a case of blacks being good and whites being bad. I was appalled at the first reaction."[2]
In a comment reflecting on both the racist theme dealt with in the play and Sackler's notion that the play is about a man fighting society, Muhammad Ali, greatly impressed with James Earl Jones' performance in the play, apparently commented to the actor, "That's my story. You take out the issue of white women and replace it with the issue of religion. That's my story!" Ali was fighting being drafted into the army at the time on grounds of being a conscientious objector.[1]
The initial production at Arena Stage, paid for, at least in part, by two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, was so well received that the entire original cast, including Jones and Alexander, moved to Broadway with the production in 1968.[3] It was the first time the cast of a regional theater production was brought to Broadway.[1] Using proceeds from his screenwriting contact, Sackler substantially funded the Broadway production for some US$225,000.[2] In 2000, Arena Stage mounted a new production of The Great White Hope in honor of the theater's 50th season.[1]
After opening on Arena Stage in 1967, the play enjoyed a successful run of 546 performances on Broadway (1968), and Sackler wrote a screen adaptation of his work. The resulting film version (1970, directed by Martin Ritt, stars James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn.[4] It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Earl Jones, lost to George C. Scott for Patton) and Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jane Alexander, lost to Glenda Jackson for Women in Love).
[edit] Origin of the title
| The Great White Hope (play) | |
| Written by | Howard Sackler |
|---|---|
| Date of premiere | 3 October 1968 |
| Original language | English |
| IBDB profile | |
The term, "the great white hope," reflects the racism and segregation of the era in which Johnson fought. It could be argued that Johnson, the first African American to hold the World Heavyweight Championship title, was the best fighter of his generation. Yet, white reaction against Johnson's win and his very public relationships with white women was so strong that, in 1912, the United States Congress, concerned that scenes of Johnson pummeling white boxers would cause race riots, passed a law making it illegal to transport prizefight films across state lines.[5] "The great white hope" referred to the white boxer whom whites hoped would finally defeat Johnson.
William Warren Barbour, who won the American and Canadian amateur heavyweight championship in 1910 and 1911, was "Gentleman Jim" Corbett's choice to be "the great white hope," but Barbour declined to take up the mantle. Some thirty years later, it was Barbour who, as U.S. Senator (R) from New Jersey in 1940, worked successfully to repeal the 1912 law prohibiting interstate transportation of boxing film footage.[5]
The first "great white hope" to accept the challenge was Jim Jeffries, who came out of retirement to fight Johnson unsuccessfully in 1910. Johnson's title was eventually lost to Jess Willard, a white boxer, in 1915. There was, apparently, some controversy surrounding Willard's win, with Johnson claiming he threw the fight. In part because of white animosity toward Johnson, it was twenty years before another African American boxer was allowed to contend for the world professional heavyweight title. In 1937, Joe Louis, greatly respected by both blacks and whites, defeated James J. Braddock, "the Cinderella Man," to become the second African American to hold the world heavyweight championship title.[1]
[edit] Related trivia
- In the now-defunct children's program Sitting Ducks, Aldo the alligator becomes the target of trash talk because a brave duck is boxing against him. The episode name, "Great White Hype," is a parody of the movie.
- In 1996, Samuel Jackson starred in The Great White Hype, a film whose title is also a take-off on The Great White Hope.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e WETA (11 January 2005). Ghost in the House: Jack Johnson's Legacy. PBS. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ a b Carol Lawson. "Howard Sackler, 52, Playwright Who Won Pulitzer Prize, Dead", The New York Times, 15 October 1982.
- ^ NEA (02 February 2007). Arena Stage Takes a Risk on The Great White Hope. National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ IMDb
- ^ a b Staff writers. "Boxer's Triumph", Time, 15 July 1940. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
[edit] Further reading
Sackler, Howard (1968). The Great White Hope'. New York, NY: The Dial Press, Inc. OCLC 451597.
[edit] External links
- The Great White Hope at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Great White Hope at the Internet Movie Database
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