Fat City (1972)

Director:

John Huston

Writer:

Leonard Gardner (novel)

Release Date:

26 July 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Plot:

The film tells the story of two boxers and their problems. One of them is on the decline of his career...

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Title Fight | Money | Loneliness | Comeback

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Stacy Keach	...	Tully
Jeff Bridges	...	Ernie
Susan Tyrrell	...	Oma
Candy Clark	...	Faye
Nicholas Colasanto	...	Ruben
Art Aragon	...	Babe
Curtis Cokes	...	Earl
Sixto Rodriguez	...	Lucero
Billy Walker	...	Wes
Wayne Mahan	...	Buford
Ruben Navarro	...	Fuentes
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Álvaro López	...	Rosales (uncredited)
Carl D. Parker	...	Paymaster (uncredited)
Al Silvani	...	Referee-Tully / Lucero fight (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston

Writing credits
Leonard Gardner		(novel "Fat City")

Produced by
David Dworski	....	associate producer
John Huston	....	producer
Ray Stark	....	producer

Cinematography by
Conrad L. Hall		(as Conrad Hall)

Film Editing by
Walter Thompson

Casting by
Fred Roos
Jennifer Shull

Production Design by
Richard Sylbert

Set Decoration by
Morris Hoffman

Costume Design by
Dorothy Jeakins

Makeup Department
Virginia Jones	....	hair stylist
Jack H. Young	....	makeup artist (as Jack Young)

Production Management
Russell Saunders	....	unit production manager (as Russ Saunders)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Saunders	....	assistant director (as Russ Saunders)

Art Department
Richard M. Rubin	....	property master

Sound Department
Tom Overton	....	sound
Arthur Piantadosi	....	sound

Special Effects by
Paul Stewart	....	special effects

Stunts
Nick Bullom	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rachel Schedler	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Thomas Del Ruth	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Richard Moore	....	additional photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
John A. Anderson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Margaret Booth	....	supervising editor
Abe Lincoln Jr.	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Kenneth Hall	....	music editor (as Ken Hall)
Marvin Hamlisch	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Gladys Hill	....	assistant: John Huston
Marshall Schlom	....	script supervisor
Denny Shanahan	....	unit publicist
Al Silvani	....	fight consultant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Rastar Pictures

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1973) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (Spain)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

John Huston initially wanted Marlon Brando to play the role of Tully. When Brando informed Huston repeatedly that he needed some more time to think about it, Huston finally came to the conclusion that the star wasn't really interested and looked out for another actor until he finally cast the then relatively unknown Stacy Keach.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Oma proposes a toast to Tully at the bar, suddenly she's holding a lighted cigarette, which vanishes again in the next shot.

Quotes:

Tully: [first lines]
Tully: Hey kid. You want to spar a little?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Help Me Make It Through the Night

Overlooked and forgotten, still packs quite a punch

American audiences don't generally go in for realistic stories of human despair and suffering that offer very little in the way of hope or relief. This may explain why John Huston's Fat City has been condemned to obscurity, a real shame considering what a great flick it is. It's the sort of movie you see and remember but can't quite pick it out of a line-up... a shuffling, mumbling story of down-and-out pugs in an off-the-map burgh. You're taunted with the possibilities of the story picking up to... well if not epic at least noteworthy proportions... but, all of the characters' minor victories are mitigated by their simultaneous defeats. Keach's Tully is the main thrust of the story, though it tends to veer off on the occasional tangent. A has-been who possibly never really was, crushed by the departure of his wife and overwhelmed by the constant little defeats in his life. Huston really drives this point home, that all of these little defeats add up. Without giving too much away, suffice to say Fat City is a film where mood overshadows plot. The mood is indelibly rendered by Conrad Hall's dark, dirty images, which nearly swallow the characters in the depth of their shadows. Watching it back to back with fellow pugilist opus Raging Bull (1980), it's easy to see that Huston was a keen observer of human behaviour, while Scorsese was a keen observer of Hollywood films of the thirties. And don't even talk about Rocky. I would compare it favourably with Barbet Schroeder's Barfly (1987), another film about fringe life in California, and even Vincent Gallo's excellent Buffalo '66 (1998), though of the three it is the bleakest and the least accessible.