With a screenplay adapted by Leonard Gardner from his own novel, John Huston's drama examines the meager hopes and resigned dreams of small-time boxers. In limbo between retirement and his youthful prime, alcoholic farm laborer Tully (Stacy Keach) shacks up with fellow outcast Oma (Susan Tyrrell) and keeps trying to make a boxing comeback, but his personal demons repeatedly overpower his ambitions. Meanwhile, fellow Stockton, CA resident and budding fighter Ernie (Jeff Bridges) takes Tully's advice to join trainer Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto)'s gym and make something of himself. Learning the tough lesson that winning is not as easy as it sounds, Ernie is still determined to get what he can out of boxing and, unlike Tully, not let disappointments get the best of him. Shot on location in Stockton by Conrad Hall, the film maintains a realistic, slice-of-life view of Tully's and Ernie's struggles, eschewing theatrical boxing victories for psychological and social details. As Huston avowed at the Cannes Film Festival that Fat City's virtue was its "modesty," critics agreed that he had made his best film in two decades; and Tyrrell was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. However, despite the praise and the efforts of producer Ray Stark, Fat City failed at the box office. Even so, its unromanticized depiction of modest wins and personal losses revealed that old Hollywood pro Huston had adapted well to the late '60s-early '70s New Hollywood grit, and the film revived his artistic standing. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
Review
One of the masterpieces of Hollywood's last golden age, John Huston's Fat City is the kind of film studios wouldn't touch these days: a small-scale character study about unlucky men living on the margins. Set in a rundown California border town, the movie follows the trajectory of Tully (Stacy Keach), a farm laborer whose once-promising boxing career was derailed by booze. Tully's dismal wallow in limbo contrasts with the halting rise of Ernie (Jeff Bridges), a fresh-faced rookie trying to make it big in the low-stakes world of small-time boxing. Graceful, dignified and seemingly effortless, Fat City finds Huston at the top of his game. A model of understatement, it's a movie of indelible, unobtrusive details, like the thick layer of smoke hanging over a dingy boxing arena, or the slouched silhouettes at the local tavern on a lazy afternoon. Laced with empathy, these moments all add up to a fully realized portrait of failure. Huston is aided immeasurably by his cinematographer, the great Conrad L. Hall. From the Hopper-esque light on an empty city block to the seedy murkiness of dive bars, Hall achieves a gritty, naturalistic look that, like Huston's direction, never calls attention to itself. With its relentlessly downbeat tone, Fat City at times threatens to verge into self-parody (the recurring Kris Kristofferson song, "Help Me Make It Through the Night," doesn't help). For all the potential for bathos, however, the movie remains impressively dignified and self-possessed, and stands as one of the high points of Huston's illustrious career. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi
Art Aragon - Babe; Curtis Cokes - Earl; Wayne Mahan - Buford; Ruben Navarro - Fuentes; Sixto Rodriguez - Lucero; Bill Walker - Wes
Credit
Fred Roos - Casting, Jennifer Shull - Casting, Dorothy Jeakins - Costume Designer, John Huston - Director, Margaret Booth - Editor, Walter Thompson - Editor, Marvin Hamlisch - Composer (Music Score), Kris Kristofferson - Composer (Music Score), Marvin Hamlisch - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack H. Young - Makeup, Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Conrad L. Hall - Cinematographer, Raymond Stark - Producer, Kris Kristofferson - Singer, Morrie Hoffman - Set Designer, Paul Stewart - Special Effects, Tom Overton - Sound/Sound Designer, Arthur Piantadosi - Sound/Sound Designer, Leonard Gardner - Screenwriter, Leonard Gardner - Book Author
Also,
Fat City. A condition or circumstance marked by considerable prosperity or having a superior advantage. For example, With that new job she'll be in fat city. [Slang; 1960s] Also see easy street.
1.n. a state of wealth and comfort; easy street. She's living in fat city ever since she inherited her fortune. 2.n. fatness (expressed as a place). I've had it with fat city. I'm going on a diet.
Oma says to Tully, "I love you," after their second meeting.
Billy Tully (Keach), a boxer past his prime, goes to a Stockton, California gym to get back into shape and spars with Ernie Munger (Bridges), an eighteen-year-old he meets there. Seeing potential in the youngster, Tully suggests Munger look up his former manager and trainer, Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto). Munger takes his advice. Later, Tully tells combative white barfly Oma (Tyrrell) and her easygoing black boyfriend Earl (Curtis Cokes) how impressed he is with Munger. Inspired, Tully decides to get back into boxing himself.
Tully's life has been a mess ever since his wife left him. He drinks too much, cannot hold down a job, and has to pick crops to make ends meet. He moves in with Oma after Earl is sent to prison for a few months. Their relationship is rocky and Tully eventually breaks it off.
Munger loses his first fight, but perseveres. Unlike Tully, he does not let setbacks get the better of him. The young man gets pressured into marriage by Faye (Candy Clark) and soon has a baby on the way.
In his first bout back, Tully narrowly defeats tough, well-respected Mexican boxer Lucero (Sixto Rodriguez), but gets discouraged when he gets only $100 for it. He breaks up with Ruben (whom he still blames for the loss of a big fight long ago) and goes back to his old ways. He tries to make up with Oma, only to find her back with Earl.
Later, Munger is returning home after a win and sees a drunk Tully. Munger tries to ignore him, but when Tully asks him to have a drink with him, he reluctantly agrees to coffee. After a short while, Munger gets up to leave. Tully asks him to stay awhile longer. Munger agrees, but the two men have nothing to talk about, and the film ends in awkward silence.
Like the novel, the film was set in Stockton, California and shot mostly on location there. All of the original skid row area depicted in the novel was demolished (West End Redevelopment) from 1965-69. Most of the skid row scenes were filmed in the outer fringe of the original skid row area, but would have been torn down a year after Fat City was filmed for the construction of the Crosstown Freeway aka "Ort Lofthus Freeway".
Vincent Canby, film critic for The New York Times, liked the film and John Huston's direction. He wrote, "This is grim material but Fat City is too full of life to be as truly dire as it sounds. Ernie and Tully, along with Oma (Susan Tyrrell), the sherry-drinking barfly Tully shacks up with for a while, the small-time fight managers, the other boxers and assorted countermen, upholsterers, and lettuce pickers whom the film encounters en route, are presented with such stunning and sometimes comic accuracy that Fat City transcends its own apparent gloom."[3]
Roger Ebert made the case for it as one of John Huston's best films. He also appreciated the performances. Ebert wrote, "[Huston] treats [the story] with a level, unsentimental honesty and makes it into one of his best films...[and] the movie's edges are filled with small, perfect character performances."[4]
Film critic Dennis Schwartz also liked the film and wrote, "The downbeat sports drama is a marvelous understated character study of the marginalized leading desperate lives, where they have left themselves no palpable way out. The stunning photography by Conrad Hall keeps things looking realistic."[5]
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