My Take on the Movies
A Mini-Review of
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
By: A. L. “Toni” Anderson

Million Dollar Baby is a fictional movie produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also plays the main character, Frankie Dunn. Clint (whom I have loved since the days of “Dirty Harry”) is an aging former fight trainer and cut-man, with major unresolved issues concerning his daughter (who is never shown onscreen). Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a hillbilly waitress who has nothing in her life except her drive to become a fighter. Frankie has no desire to train a “girlie” boxer, and does not even want her in his gym. That would be that, were it not for the intervention of Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman), a has-been fighter who has gone one round too many in his own career.

The story is narrated by Eddie, but we don’t find out until the end to whom he is directing his monologue. He avers that a fighter must have “heart,” among other attributes, but it is clear that “heart” is what separates the fighters from the talkers. The film has plenty of heart.

The bond between Frankie and Maggie becomes ever stronger, despite a series of maneuvers by Frankie to unload Maggie onto another manager. She sees some­thing of her own deceased father in him, however, and manages to hang on to the bitter end. It is small wonder that she needs family to hold onto, after we are introduced to her misguided mother, whose main concern is not to jeopardize her welfare and Medicare benefits.

As Maggie’s career rises, so too do the stakes, and eventually she is fighting for a split of a million dollar prize, which to her opponent (known as “The Blue Bear”) is apparently worth more than life.

The film is based on a collection of short stories from Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner, authored by a former manager and cut-man using the pen name F.X. Toole. Although the stories purport to be fictional, if they are not actually taken from real life, they are brought to life, nonetheless, by the cast of this film.

[© 01/18/2005]