James Earl Jones is no Pugilist
The Great white hope is a 1967 play written by Howard Sackler that won James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader for you few that don't know) a bunch of Tony awards. In 1970 the play was made into a film. The same actors were used. Jones, a fine actor whose deep basso voice immediately invokes images of power and general badass-ness delivers an unintentionally comical performance in the film. Here’s the trailer.
The story is about Jack Johnson, the first black heavy weight boxing champion. There was a documentary about him a few years ago that was brilliant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_(boxer)
Ok back to James Earl Jones. The trailer did a great job of not showing too much actual punching from Jones. This is because Jones punches like a slap (a bitchslap). He is almost slapping his fists, instead of throwing his punches from the hips (generating more power and an overall pleasant esthetic); he is upright and jabbing with the grace of a marionette. Jones is clearly a lefty, when he’s swinging with his right hand the appearance is that of someone who shouldn’t be in the ring, it is awkward and bizarre. His acting in the film was great but when he got in the ring, the illusion was broken, I chuckled. After watching that movie, I actually gave more props to Stallone for his boxing in Rocky (swing as hard as you can from 5 feet away, we’ll suspend our disbelief).
Click to viewThe story is about Jack Johnson, the first black heavy weight boxing champion. There was a documentary about him a few years ago that was brilliant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_(boxer)
Ok back to James Earl Jones. The trailer did a great job of not showing too much actual punching from Jones. This is because Jones punches like a slap (a bitchslap). He is almost slapping his fists, instead of throwing his punches from the hips (generating more power and an overall pleasant esthetic); he is upright and jabbing with the grace of a marionette. Jones is clearly a lefty, when he’s swinging with his right hand the appearance is that of someone who shouldn’t be in the ring, it is awkward and bizarre. His acting in the film was great but when he got in the ring, the illusion was broken, I chuckled. After watching that movie, I actually gave more props to Stallone for his boxing in Rocky (swing as hard as you can from 5 feet away, we’ll suspend our disbelief).