Main Cast: Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Nicholas Colasanto
Release Year: 1972
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
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, All Movie Guide
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, All Movie Guide
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.
Billy Tully (Keach), a boxer who is alcoholic and way past his prime, is trying to make a comeback with the help of his manager and trainer Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto). He has a brief affair with a drunken barfly, Oma (Tyrrell), and moves in with her, working odd jobs to makes ends meet.
A younger fighter, Ernie Munger (Bridges), takes Tully's advice to join Ruben's gym and make something of himself. He loses his first fight, but perseveres.
Learning the lesson that "winning is not as easy as it sounds," Ernie is determined to get what he can out of boxing and, unlike Tully, not let setbacks get the best of him.
Tully narrowly wins a tough fight against a Mexican boxer, but is discouraged to learn that he gets almost no money for it.
The story ends with Ernie accidentally running into Tully, who is now a panhandling derelict and apparently brain damaged from his fighting days.
Background
Like the novel, the film was set in Stockton, California and shot mostly on location there. Stockton and the surrounding San Joaquin County was once a desirable place to shoot films due to its varied landscapes within considerably short distances of one another.
Another factor was the relatively small production fee that had to be paid to the county by the producers.
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."[2]
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."[3]
