隱市軒的胡思亂想

Maybe sometimes people need to see someone do it , so they can do it themselves.

本來是想看一部打發時間的電影，但是越看下去越覺得這部電影有可看之處，當然片中精彩的拳擊鏡頭讓原本對這項運動完不感興趣的我感到熱血沸騰，更重要的是它把人生許多的悲慘面帶了出來。

我是說悲慘，但不是說黑暗。在經濟大恐慌的年代裡，即使你願意做一些低下的工作也不見得找得到，但是Jimmy永遠相信他不會是最悲慘的，而在最艱苦的時候他也陸續看到人性的光輝，在碼頭的Mike Wilson就是一例；而他的經紀人Joe Gould(Paul Giamatti)跟他更完全不像是主客的關係，他們更像征服情海中阿湯哥和小古巴古丁那種近似朋友或是共同奮鬥的夥伴關係。其實當Jimmy去Madison花園乞討時，我也順著一度以為他仍然過著經紀人舒適的生活，但是當看到他爲了比賽而變賣家當時，當看到休息室中那戲謔的對話，場邊每一次的提醒，他們是生死與共的夥伴。


從BJ單身日記、芝加哥和冷山一路看來，Renee Zellweger演什麼就是像什麼。本片中從頭到尾最理性的就是媽媽Mae。當他爲了小孩的身體和健康而忍痛送走孩子甚至和丈夫大吵時，她都沒有失去理性。我從以前開始就對一些做丈夫的永遠只是說顧及我的承諾，甚至是說女人無法跟他吃苦等等感到不耐。能夠找到一位跟你一起吃苦打拼的妻子當然很好，但是誰不想過好日子，事實上很多男人往往是沉迷於賭博或是六合彩而不務正業，又或者是像Braddock剛開始完全不顧及經濟能力而一味叫著這是他給的承諾等等。而當Jimmy復出最後要挑戰Baer時，做妻子的就是緊張寫在臉上，只能說，她是真的適合吃這一行飯的。


Ron Howard的兩部大作美麗境界(A Beautiful Mind)和此部中都有一個共通點，一位堅毅不拔的妻子，而年代似乎往往出現在一些比較灰色的年代，感覺起來畫面就是很接近那個時代的色調，可以說這也變成了他的特色了嗎？

幾年前曾經看過Discovery介紹過紐約的職業棒球，Yankees當然比較有名，但是進到紐約裡面，Mets的人氣可不會輸給Yankees，他們的戰績在以往當然不能跟Yankees比，但是它就是能讓很多人感受到人生不就是輸多勝少，明天總是會有希望的(今年結束Braves長達14年的分區霸業不就是Mets嗎)。

大時代中的小人物總是會被洪流所淹沒，但是他們也更貼近我們，更接近真實的人生，不是嗎？

底下附上官網的故事：
The Jazz Age of the 1920s was a golden time for America, as the nation celebrated peace and booming prosperity on the heels of World War I. It was also a Golden Era for boxing, the brutal yet beautifully balletic sport that had captured the public imagination with its raw, primal struggles for transcendence in the ring. In the melting pot society of the early 20th century, disparate immigrant groups drew pride from their "native" sons who boxed; communities with strong Old World roots found a focus, an expression of their heritage, each time a fighter wearing their national colors or symbol climbed into the ring.

It was during this era that James J. Braddock, a New Jersey-based amateur known for his fierce right hand, turned pro. Like many working-class kids, Braddock saw boxing as his ticket to a decent life. It was the only thing he was ever good at-and for a while he was very, very good.

His career shone with promise in the early years, when he was dubbed "the Bulldog of Bergen" for an unflinching tenacity that seemed to carry him through fights with far larger opponents. But, after sustaining irreparable damage to his badly broken right hand, his career began to slide downhill. In 1929, he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of light heavyweight champ Tommy Loughran, who beat him in a heartrending 15-round decision that touched off a seemingly endless string of bad luck and ugly losses. Braddock was never the same again.

Nor was the nation. That same year, the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common stock. As the shockwave spread, American families from all walks of life and every economic class lost their savings, their businesses, their homes and their farms. By 1932, nearly one in four Americans was unemployed.

The nation was reeling in shock, as throngs of once working families began showing up at Salvation Army shelters. Food lines, work lines and Public Relief lines-something many Americans never thought they would see in their own country-became a commonplace sight. The poorest of the poor were forced to live in "Hoovervilles," grim cardboard-shack shantytowns that sprang up on the edges of most major cities (named with bitter irony for U.S. President Herbert Hoover, who, prior to losing the 1932 election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had failed to put into place any federal aid programs for struggling families). Thousands upon thousands of others roamed the country, searching for any job no matter how hard, demeaning or dangerous. For the first time since the nation's pilgrim beginnings, many Americans faced the very real and haunting prospect of hunger and malnutrition. Suicide rates among men who had lost their jobs soared.

Like so many bankers, butchers, farmers and factory workers, Jim Braddock watched as his life, too, began to fall apart. When the local boxing commission forced him to retire by revoking his license, Braddock searched valiantly for any available jobs, but there weren't many. He took hard-labor jobs in the shipyards, hauling sacks, or anything else he could get. Yet he was making so little that at one point, Braddock was trying to feed a family of five on just $24 a month. It seemed like a losing battle. When the family could no longer afford the basics-milk, gas, electricity-Braddock applied for Relief. It was a terrible blow to his pride, a secret shame that many who had always worked for their families were experiencing across the country.

But then in 1934, just as Roosevelt's New Deal began to kick into high gear, Braddock's luck began to shift as well. Unexpectedly, he was given the chance to fight John "Corn" Griffin in a bout Braddock was, by all accounts, pretty much guaranteed to lose. Instead, he managed to dance and jab his way to a win no one could quite believe-thanks in part to a newly strengthened left hand as a result of his stints working on the docks. Shortly after that, as if to prove it wasn't a fluke, he won a ten-round decision against Hall of Fame light heavyweight John Henry Lewis. Then, he took on Art Lasky, who had won all but one of his last 15 fights-yet Braddock dispatched him too in a thrilling 15-rounder.

With these remarkable wins, Braddock's spirit became renewed. Remarkably, one of the first things he did with his earnings was to pay back his Public Relief debt to the government. This selfless act of honor earned Braddock a new moniker among his growing ranks of American fans: "Gentleman Jim." Suddenly, with his fame beyond the boxing world increasing every day, he found himself in the unlikely position of being able to make a title shot against heavyweight champion Max Baer.

It might seem like a chance any boxer would jump at-but Braddock had plenty of reasons not to take the fight. In fact, many in the sports world warned that it was a potentially deadly match-up. Braddock was much smaller than Baer, far less experienced and had to rely mainly on his newfound left hook, favoring his formerly injured right. Baer, on the other hand, had recently been brought up on manslaughter charges when one of his opponents was instantly killed by his powerhouse knockout punch. Though he was later cleared of the charges, there was little doubt that Baer, when riled up, was one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport. (Baer had also subjected opponent Ernie Schaaf to a knockout punch in the tenth round of their 1932 fight, leaving him unconscious; Schaaf later died following a bout with Primo Carnera and his death was attributed in part to the brutal beating at the hands of Baer.) In 1933, Baer fought one of the greatest matches of all time, knocking out Max Schmeling in a ten-round fight that would go down in history. In 1934, the same night that Jim Braddock fought Corn Griffin, he defeated Primo Carnera, knocking him down 11 times in 11 rounds.

Despite critics' cries that Braddock-Baer would be an unfair bout and his wife Mae's concerns that she could lose her husband to a boxing match, Braddock persevered and jumped into some of the most challenging training a boxer had ever undertaken. The build-up to the match only increased the tension, with Max Baer publicly predicting an easy knockout and reportedly taunting Braddock by calling him a "bum"-an insult Braddock definitely could not let pass without an answer.

At last, the Braddock-Baer fight took place on June 13, 1935, in front of a packed crowd of 35,000 fans in Madison Square Garden. Millions more huddled around their radios to hear the blow-by-blow commentary. Baer came on strong in the first few rounds, but Braddock was undeterred-fueled as he was, fighting for his family's survival. Each time one fighter dominated the round, the crowds anticipated an early end to the fight-yet the opponent invariably rallied back. This nearly impossible to call, give-and-take battle continued for an unbelievable 15 rounds. Braddock, possessed by an unfailing spirit and pounding away with remarkable endurance, lasted all 15…and finally won the fight in a unanimous decision.

Instantly, it was proclaimed the greatest upset in boxing history…if not all of sports. In bars and living rooms around the country, ordinary people celebrated Braddock's championship as if he were one of their own family. The fight seemed to remind a desperate world that sometimes the down-and-out not only manage to stay alive but, in the process, become the greatest on earth. It was incredibly fitting that sports writer Damon Runyon had dubbed Braddock the "Cinderella Man" because his rags-to-riches story so resembled a classic fairy tale.

Braddock continued to fight, losing the heavyweight title to Joe Louis in 1937 in an eighth-round knockout (Louis was then 23 while Braddock was a comparatively ancient 32-and Louis would later say that Braddock was one of the most courageous fighters he ever fought). He went on to beat the odds one last time, defeating the talented Tommy Farr in 1938, putting him in position to fight for the title again. But instead, he retired, saying to reporters that he was doing so not because he was done fighting but out of fairness to his wife and family.

Over the years, Braddock continued to be a hero to all those who knew his story. He was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1964 and International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. He served honorably in World War II and went on to own and operate heavy equipment on the same docks where he labored for a pittance during the Depression. In the 1950s, he helped to build Brooklyn's famous Verrazano Bridge, which was at the time the largest suspension bridge in the world. He died in 1974 at the age of 68.