Mickey Rourke’s Amazing Performance Highlights ‘The Wrestler’

April 6, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Movies 

In The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky creates one of the most amazing films in recent memory. That he does so with pro wrestling as a backdrop validates everything that Robert Evans (who produced a couple of little films you may have heard of called The Godfather and Chinatown among many others) says about the necessity of breaking rules to touch magic.

To understand the enormity of Aronofsky’s cinematic achievement, its important to consider the less than glorious history of pro wrestling in American film. Perhaps the best film ever made until now with a significant pro wrestling component was 1962s Requiem for a Heavyweight. Adapted from Rod Serlings Playhouse 90 broadcast of the same name Requiem starred Anthony Quinn as an aging boxer who is at the end of his career and the end of his rope. After a final devastating knockout (to a young Muhammad Ali”still Cassius Clay at this point–who plays himself) he turns to the worked environment of pro wrestling out of necessity. The strange moral code of pro wrestling confounds Quinns character (I fought 111 fights and never took a dive”) and is at the crux of the films dramatic tension.

While Requiem is a praiseworthy film bolstered by solid performances by Quinn and Jackie Gleason and features a number of prizefighting greats including Muhammad Ali, Willie Pep, Jack Dempsey and Barney Ross it is at its core a boxing film. Pro wrestling is portrayed as the lowest, most humiliating avocation for a boxer. While there are certainly those who share this critical assessment of wrestling, it does little to explain its appeal and enduring popularity.

Pro wrestling has been featured in a lot of other movies, almost all with poor results. With the exception of a few movies with a small pro wrestling component (Jim Carrey’s excellent portrayal of comedian Andy Kauffman in ‘Man In The Moon’) and a half dozen or so documentaries, wrestling and movies have never seen eye to eye.

In the starring role of Randy The Ram Robinson, Rourke turns in a performance that critics have compared to Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, Paul Newman in The Hustler, and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. For a wrestling fan, its even more impressive due to his in-ring work. With the exception of a couple of extremely high risk spots, Rourke did all of his own wrestling and took all of the bumps himself. Its unfortunate that the Oscar voters couldnt see past their disdain for the subject matter to give Rourke the Best Actor award he so obviously deserved.

Aronofsky had a high degree of difficulty in creating an honest portrayal of professional wrestling. On one hand, he had to illustrate the raw and gritty reality of life at the lower levels of the profession. On the other hand, he had to convey to the audience the appeal of pro wrestling”why men like The Ram put themselves through hell to stay involved and why hardcore fans care so much. Miss the balance in one direction and the result is a film that misses the ability of pro wrestling to touch magic in its own way that keeps wrestlers in the ring and fans watching them. Err in the other direction and youve got a film that overly romanticizes a business that is at best tough and unforgiving and at worst barbaric and dehumanizing. Perhaps the most amazing thing about The Wrestler is how well it succeeds on both levels, which likely accounts for the effusive praise it has garnered from film geeks who wouldnt know a headlock from a padlock as well as pro wrestling enthusiasts.

Thats what makes Rourkes performance so amazing and The Wrestler such a great film”it simultaneously depicts pro wrestling at its best and worst and gets them both right. We understand how the business can chew people up and spit them out, but also its appeal and why Rourkes character keeps getting back in the ring despite all of the risks and challenges it has created in his life. Aronofsky and Rourke manage to convey the lure and revulsion that is unique to pro wrestling and simultaneously extrapolate them to much larger truths about human existence.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer specializing in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, flower arranging and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.


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Japanese Pro Wrestling Legend Mitsuharu Misawa Remembered

February 28, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Movies 

Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan earlier this year less than a week before his 47th birthday. He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito. Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious. Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Initial reports in the Japanese media suggest that he was pronounced dead at the hospital, but a number of eyewitness accounts have speculated that he may have died in the ring.

There\’s at least a small bit of solace in the fact that he died in the ring doing what he loved, and what he did better than just about anyone on the planet. Misawa\’s last moments were spent working the kind of brutally stiff, athletically realistic match that got a generation hooked on Japanese wrestling.

Misawa was a top level high school wrestler, and that got him noticed by All Japan Pro Wrestling majordomo Shohei Giant Baba. He made his professional debut in\’81, and got his first big break in\’84 when he was chosen as the second Tiger Mask replacing Satoru Sayama. In\’90, he had his longtime tag team partner (and occasional rival) Toshiaki Kawada unmask him.

Misawa would wrestle as himself from then on, and become an even bigger star in the process. In June,\’90 he became one of the top stars in All Japan Pro Wrestling when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta. That match was his first main event appearance at the famous Nippon Budokan. He soon faced Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen in an unsuccessful challenge for the title, and would become the biggest star in Japanese pro wrestling for the next decade.

Hed have legendary battles against Kawada, Hansen, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and Steve Dr. Death Williams in singles competition. Hed also become a force on the tag team scene along with Kawada facing Williams and Terry Gordy along with Tsuruta and Akira Taue. Misawa would continue as a mainstay in AJPW until the early part of this decade. After the death of Giant Baba, he left to establish Pro Wrestling NOAH. He would serve as the companys president while wrestling a full time schedule until his death.

Japanese pro wrestling served as an introduction for many American fans into shoot fight sports and MMA. Before the Internet, fans would trade videotapes to stay up on the latest matches from Japan and along with Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Muta Keiji Mutoh it safe to say that Misawa is one of the wrestlers most responsible for getting a generation of American fans hooked on the product.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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