Fat City (1972) on Netflix
Billy Tully, a boxer past his prime, spars with Ernie Munger, 18, at a Stockton, California gym. Tully sends the kid to his old trainer, Ruben Luna, and decides to fight again.
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- IMDb7.2/1011,911 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Stockton, California, Billy Tully, 29 and already past his prime as a boxer, works out at a gym to get back in shape. He spars there with Ernie Munger, 18, who is hitting a speed bag. Tully sees potential in the youngster and tells him to look up Ruben Luna, his former manager and trainer, whom he blames for mishandling his last fight. Since his wife left him, Tully drinks too much, cannot keep a job and earns money picking produce with migrant workers. Inspired, he decides to box again.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fat City (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Huston first planned to cast 48-year-old Marlon Brando as ex-boxer Billy Tully and Beau Bridges as Ernie Munger; when Brando kept stalling, Huston cast the then little-known 30-year-old Stacy Keach. Beau Bridges, feeling too old to play an 18-year-old, turned the part down and recommended his 23-year-old brother Jeff.
- After a faction of the New York Film Critics Circle objected to the low percentage of votes that would have given Stacy Keach its Best Actor award and forced a change to a majority requirement, Keach lost ground, Marlon Brando also fell short, and Laurence Olivier won for Sleuth as a compromise candidate.
- Most of Fat City's skid row scenes were shot on the outer fringe of Stockton, California's original skid row, the rest having been demolished between 1964 and 1969; that fringe was torn down a year after filming to make way for the Ort Lofthus Freeway.
