One of Huston's later triumphs, a seedy, street-level drama. Highly acclaimed.

Like other movies of its ilk, it tries to pass off character flaws as depth, and wears its no-frills approach to filmmaking on its sleeve. I can watch this stuff and be reasonably engaged, but it just doesn't inspire me that much. Decent-to-good performances by Bridges and Keach... more noteworthy are the characters on the periphery. On the other hand, you've got Oma, a particularly awful performance by Tyrrell. I was pretty ho-hum about the whole experience until the fine, thoughtful ending.

A contrast in up-and-coming and down-and-out. Understated, unsentimental, but a little unremarkable.

A first-rate movie about second-rate boxers down and out in California. Keach and Bridges are both very good, and the film also features an unforgettable performance by a little-known actress, Susan Tyrrell.

Rocky without the glory

Can't help but think I might've liked Fat City more if I'd seen it before The Wrestler. Nevertheless, it's a good, competent film, with a memorable performance by Susan Tyrell.

Huston examines the underbelly of the classic boxing movie with a wary eye in this grimy slice of life picture. Keach is fascinating as a 29-going-on-45 pugilist whose gift for the sweet science means little more to him than a pay day. His is the real portrait of the professional, gifted but jaded by failure, and as a result nearly passionless, clinging to the promises of youth more for security than glory. His is an empty life devoid of any dream other than the one that has already failed him.

Decent enough as an example of 70s realism and as a boxing picture, but not much more. I think it would have benefited from some fleshing out, as the characters, despite strong collective performances, feel more like archetypes than anything, and it relies on well-worn cliches of boxing films. And Ernie's arc, while handled with some admirable subtlety, feels more tangential to Tully's than part of a cohesive whole. Good, but not what I had hoped for.

#426

One of the best boxing movies. Great performances.

# 568

I can't say I get the love. At all. The main characters' arcs have been done to death and this film has little to add. The female characters were either annoying or moronic. The scene lengths were comparable to Cassavetes, but with half the depth and poignancy. The final scene IS masterfully done, and the lead performances are very believable, but overall I found this film bleak, unfulfilling, and not very insightful.

What an awareness, sensibility and solemnity Huston displays here! This is hard-hitting in an "understated" manner, the work of a master...

Not bad.

Such an easy movie to love. Great dialogue and superb performances by Keach, Colasanto and especially Susan Tyrrell (who's the true star of the film).

Along with Wise Blood, one of the two best and least well-known John Huston films. Gritty portrait of down on his luck boxer Stacy Keach. Great supporting cast including Susan Tyrell as philosophizing barfly.

606

This neglected treasure is perhaps the best film ever made about boxing. A classic piece of Americana and one of Huston's greatest achievements.

Huston showcasing those moments where men notice a major turning point of their own lives as they grow older.

571

Convincing in its portrayal of these downtrodden characters and more subtle than most any boxing movies have the skill to pull off. Stacy Keach puts in something of note but it never becomes a true character study, has a breadth to it I wouldn't have expected.

Wow, John Huston had this in him? A spectacular script, directed with sensitivity and finesse and wonderfully acted, Fat City is a boxing movie that hits very hard in the gut. It has New Hollywood's poetic but honest-to-God realism that I love so much, bleak and with very flawed characters but never a shred of cynicism or misanthropy.

A great film that manages to be powerful despite an understated style. The contrasts between Keach and Bridges' characters are very well executed, subtle but clear, and their performances superb.

There's an appealing seediness to Huston's film about the lugs toiling on the lowest part of the undercard. Stacy Keach gives a sensational performance as a washed up old boxer who romances a crumbling barfly while edging towards a comeback. It's a role that could have been tackled effectively with little more than brutish pathos, but Keach aims for something trickier. There's a tender intricacy to his work, a sense of showing the wheels turning even if those wheels are turning a little slowly.