Million Dollar Baby (2004) on Netflix
Maggie Fitzgerald, a waitress from the Ozarks, wants to box. Los Angeles trainer Frankie Dunn turns her away, since he does not train women and thinks she is too old.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.1/10773,764 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Trailer
Plot summary
Frankie Dunn has run the Hit Pit, a boxing gym in Los Angeles, for years, and he is long estranged from his daughter. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, a former fighter of his who lost an eye in his 109th bout, now looks after the place. Maggie Fitzgerald, a waitress from the Ozarks, arrives and asks Frankie to coach her. He says no, because he does not train women and considers her too old to start, so Scrap lets her work out at the gym anyway. When Frankie's own prospect, Big Willie Little, grows impatient and signs with a rival manager, Maggie gets her chance.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To play the boxer, Hilary Swank trained for nearly five hours every day and wound up with a potentially life-threatening staphylococcus infection from blisters on her foot. She did not tell Eastwood about the infection, thinking it would be out of character for Maggie.
- Several studios rejected the project even with Clint Eastwood attached as actor and director, and Warner Bros. would not agree to a $30 million budget, so Eastwood persuaded Lakeshore Entertainment's Tom Rosenberg to put up half the budget and handle foreign distribution.
- The title phrase came out of boxing: "million dollar baby" was used as an insult during pre-fight publicity by Sonny Liston to Muhammad Ali, who was the underdog at the time.
SPOILER
In early 2005 some disability rights activists protested the film's ending, and the Disability Rights Education Fund argued the movie carried the stereotype that the quality of life of people with disabilities is not worth living, contradicted by thousands who view their own lives as ordinary and normal.- After being fired from the television series Family Law, Paul Haggis wrote the script on spec, and it took four years to sell it.
