Gladiator (1992)

Director:

Rowdy Herrington

Writers (WGA):

Djordje Milicevic (story) and
Robert Mark Kamen (story) ...

Release Date:

6 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Nobody owns Tommy Riley. Nobody.

Plot:

Tommy Riley has moved with his dad to Chicago from a 'nice place'. He keeps to himself, goes to school. However, after a street fight he is noticed and quickly falls into the world of illegal underground boxing - where punches can kill.

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Bare Butt | Chicago Illinois | Broken Nose | Debt Collector

Cast

James Marshall	...	Tommy Riley
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Abraham Lincoln Haines
Robert Loggia	...	Pappy Jack
T.E. Russell	...	Spits (Leroy)
Jon Seda	...	Romano
Tab Baker	...	Storm Trooper
Brian Dennehy	...	Jimmy Horn
Ossie Davis	...	Noah
Dwain A. Perry	...	Storm Trooper
Cara Buono	...	Dawn
Joan Schwenk	...	Secretary
Raul Salinas	...	Teen in classroom
Marctwaine Nettles-Bey	...	Teen in classroom
Francesca P. Roberts	...	Miss Higgins
Emily Marie Hooper	...	Belinda

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Australia:M (re-rating) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M (cable rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

James Marshall did two hours of boxing, one hour of weight training and one hour of jogging for five days a week for four months.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Riley punches Horn on the top of the head Horn says the skull is the hardest bone in the body. Actually the Femur (thigh bone) is!

Quotes:

Romano: You got to be a real perverse individual pass up this kind of money.
Tommy Riley: It's got a bad smell.

Soundtrack:

Latin Till I Die (Oye como va)

Almost succeeds

Any movie with Ossie Davis, Robert Loggia, and Brian Dennehy is going to be watchable, and Gladiator is no exception. Unfortunately, this tale of two friends in the underground world of extreme boxing can't quite overcome either its poorly constructed screenplay or the weakness of leading men James Marshall and Cuba Gooding Jr. Of the two, Gooding is better, but Marshall is uniformly poor in the dramatic scenes, though perfectly fine in the action sequences. The film also trips up by portraying its protagonists as the least likely high school students in America--in fact, everyone attending their school looks well into their mid-20s. When Gladiator concentrates on fight scenes--or when Davis, Loggia, and Dennehy are on screen--it's a more than adequate, though predictable, boxing drama. Overall, it's a disappointment, though not entirely without merit. Approach with low expectations, and you'll be moderately satisfied.