Review: The Great White Hype (1996)

People in the Movie:  Samuel L Jackson, Damon Wayans, Peter Berg

Director:  Reginald Hudlin

Pigeonhole:  Comedy / Satire

The Basics: A satiric look at the sport of boxing, specifically the corruption and the idea of using racism to fuel a fight promotion.  A shady boxing Manager/Promoter named Reverend Fred Sultan (Jackson) handles the business of the current Heavyweight Champion, James “The Grim Reaper” Roper (Wayans).  Seeing financial opportunity, Sultan finds the only person to have ever beaten Roper in a boxing match (albeit when they were both amateurs), Terry Conklin (Berg), who is currently the lead singer of a metal band in Cleveland.  Conklin is also white.  The match is built up with comedic back and forths, with the movie ending in a knockout (pun intended). 

Recommendation:  I find the movie very entertaining.  It was very appropriate when it came out, somewhat slapping the face of the state of boxing in the mid 90’s.  You do not have to be a boxing fan, or even know the first thing about boxing to enjoy it, plus it’s only 91 minutes long, and doesn’t get bogged down with too much fluff.  ‘R’ rating is for language. 

My Take:  I would say most of the roles were bordering on caricature-like and very much highlighted the corruption of the “sport”.  The beauty of the movie is that you can tell it did not take itself too seriously, which made it twice as entertaining.  

**spoiler alert** The movie opens with Roper defeating another fighter with ease, retaining his title as Champion.  At the after-party Sultan is lamenting with his entourage that the fight was financial failure because no one wants to watch two black fighters in a bout.  He realizes the only way to turn a huge profit is to get a white fighter into the ring against Roper, but there are no white contenders in boxing at the moment.  It is remembered then, that Roper’s only loss as a boxer was to white fighter named Terry Conklin, when the two were amateurs.  Sultan’s party locates Conklin in Cleveland, where he is the lead singer of a heavy metal band.  Conklin is currently a peace loving Buddhist, but is still lured away to fight Roper with the promise of money to help eradicate homelessness (Conklin is kind of a dullard, if you didn’t guess).  Sultan develops a marketing ploy, getting a trainer for his new fighter to get him back into fighting shape, and referring to him by his now-invented fighter name “Irish” Terry Conklin (even though he isn’t Irish).  An employee of one of the boxing commissions (played by Cheech Marin) is then bribed by Sultan to get Conklin ranked so he can fight Roper, even though Conklin has never fought in a professional bout. 

Roper treats the upcoming fight as joke, so instead of training, he watches lots of TV, and eats ice cream.  Sultan builds up the hype of the fight, and with Conklin’s hard training, and Roper’s lack thereof, people begin to believe Conklin has a real shot at beating Roper in the ring.  In the background of this fight, the true number one heavyweight contender, who has been waiting to fight Roper, Marvin Shabazz (Michael Jace) and his manger Hassan El Rukn (Jamie Foxx) provide even more comic moments.

The movie has a very good soundtrack, including performances by Brian Setzer and Method Man, in the movie, on the night of the fight.        

 

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun:  Terry Conklin’s band is called Massive Head Wound… This is not an award winning classic, but if you like satiric comedy, and/or the lead actors, you will like this one.