Cockfighter (1974) on Netflix
Frank Mansfield has sworn not to speak until one of his fighting cocks wins a championship. He bets his trailer, his money and his girlfriend on a single fight.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.9/102,907 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Frank Mansfield keeps fighting cocks and has taken a vow of silence until one of them wins a championship. Before a match he slices the beak of his best bird so it looks cracked, hoping for higher odds. He puts the trailer, his money and his girlfriend on the line against a fellow cocker, and loses. He goes back to his home town in Georgia, to the family farm and to Mary Elizabeth, his long-time fiancée, who asks him to give up the birds and settle down. He chooses the fights instead, sells the farm and puts the money into new chickens with a partner, Omar Baradansky.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Cockfighter (1974)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Roger Corman said Cockfighter was the only movie he backed in the 1970s that lost money; he had it re-cut and re-released as Born to Kill, but it still did not succeed.
- Novelist Charles Willeford wrote the screenplay himself, said the story loosely follows the structure of the Odyssey, and cut the novel's subplot about the beautiful widow Berenice, likely its Calypso figure, along with Mansfield's brief music career.
SPOILER
The film's final scene reverses the book's: Mansfield claims Mary Elizabeth loves him as she walks off, while in the novel he realizes the relationship is over and he is free.
