Although Filmed in Black and White, the Film Is Gorgeously Rich in Texture
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Although filmed in black and white, As The Heart of the the film is gorgeously rich in texture World proved, Maddin with tones of greens, purples, blues is—as one review in and, appropriately enough, bright The New York Times stabs of crimson. And while essential- described him—the ly a silent drama, beneath the swirling "finest black–and–white Gustav Mahler soundtrack there's silent director in all of the gentle sound of fangs piercing a Canada." Dracula: Pages virgin's neck and the sickening thwack from a Virgin's Diary is of a wooden stake being driven another feather in his through Dracula's heart. Maddin cap and this reviewer has not so much made a record of a eagerly anticipates his next foray into Pretenders beware, Maddin is pre- stage production; rather, he has feature filmmaking, The Saddest Music pared once again to claim his rightful re–imagined Stoker's Dracula as it in the World (based on an original place as Canada's most original and might have looked before the likes screenplay by Kazuo Ishigura), a daring auteur. of Bela Lugosi and Francis Ford Rhombus Media production that will Coppola got a hold of it. be unleashed on the world in the fall. By Paul Townend Paul Townend is a Toronto-based freelance film critic and editor. 2003 100m prod NFB, exp Sylvia Sweeney, Louise Lore, p Silva Basmajian, d Joseph Blasioli, sc Stephen Brunt, ph Michael Ellis, ed Craig Bateman, s John Martin, mus Allan Kane, narr Colin Linden; with Muhammad Ali, George Chuvalo, Milt Dunnell, Angelo Dundee, Robert Lipsyte, Rachman Ali, Iry Ungerman, Jimmy Breslin, Bert Sugar, Ernie Terrell. The fiction is that George Chuvalo, a no–name club fighter from Toronto, by the luck of the boxing gods, went FB. N he toe-to–toe for 15 rounds in March f t 1966 with Muhammad "I am the o tesy greatest!" Ali and left the ring blood- our c ied, but still standing; a real–life Rocky The Last Round es Imag TAKE ONE 43 Balboa. The world press was dismis- more. He wanted a shot at the world help matters that he had recently sive, calling the fight a mismatch and heavyweight title. converted to Islam and the contro- a sham. Who the heck was this guy versial Nation of Islam leader Elijah His chance came in New York City Chuvalo? By what right did he have Muhammad was now his spiritual in a February 1965 match with to fight the "greatest"? And where adviser. This, combined with the Floyd Patterson, a former heavy- was Toronto, anyway? As usual, the farce of the second Liston fight, made weight champion, at Madison truth is stranger—and more compli- Ali an undesirable champion, and he Square Gardens, the mecca of box- cated—than fiction. was stripped of his title. In order to ing. In the most important fight of his win it back, his manager, Angelo Joseph Blasioli tells this twisted tale life—a win would have given him a Dundee, arranged for a fight with of fate expertly and entertainingly shot at Ali, who had previously beaten Terrell, the newly appointed champ, in The Last Round. Interviews with Sonny Liston to claim the heavy- but no city in the United States would all involved, except Ali—although weight crown—Chuvalo went 15 allow it. Dundee then tried Montreal, his brother Rachman appears in the rounds with Patterson and lost in a but Mayor Jean Drapeau suddenly film—are combined with old photo- closely fought contest that should got righteous and also wouldn't allow graphs, trips to the Junction in have been declared a draw. It was a it. Toronto was next on the list in this Toronto's west end, and wonderful prestigious loss and a moral victory. travelling road show, and Harold black–and–white archival footage Later that year, Ali and Liston were Ballard, the part owner of Maple Leaf provided by CBC Sports. Ali's scheduled for a rematch and if Liston Gardens, had no problem, but by now story is well known and his fight won, Chuvalo was promised a bout the American pay–for–view compa- with Chuvalo only a blip in his stel- with him. But the fickle fates of box- nies had pulled out and refused to lar career, but for Chuvalo it was ing threw him a curve. Not only did televise the fight in the United States. his defining moment, the one fight Ali win, but he did so with the famous Then Terrell pulled out as well. he will always be remembered for. "phantom" punch in the first round Dundee had a venue but no opponent that sent Liston to the deck and box- Chuvalo wasn't a no–name club fight- for Ali. So in steps Chuvalo, who ing into disrepute. Chuvalo had to er, but the heavyweight champion of finally gets the fight he has always settle for a match with Ernie Terrell, Canada, and one of the Top Ten in wanted, while also putting Toronto a lumbering giant with mob connec- the world. The son of working–class on the world map. tions. Again he went 15 rounds, and immigrant parents from the Junction, again he lost in a decision that was March 29, 1966: The match took on close to Toronto's slaughterhouses clearly rigged. Chuvalo's chance at mythical porportions as the underdog (his father worked the killing floor at the championship bout he had longed Canadian vs. the loudmouth American, Canada Packers; his mother plucked for all his professional career seemed and although the Canadian didn't chickens for half–a–cent a bird), his to slip away. win, he didn't go down either. Like only ambition from an early age was the fictional Rocky Balboa—it has to be the world boxing champion. By Then fate took another strange and been said that the Chuvalo–Ali fight 15 he was a strapping lad of 90 kilo- startling turn. Ali's name came up was the inspiration for Rocky—he grams. He turned pro before he was in the U.S. Army draft. He cried foul, "won" by going the distance. It was a 20, but he was brought along too fast, or more to the point, he complained, great fight and a historic moment in with too many fights and not enough "Why me? I ain't got no quarrel with Canadian sports. The Last Round does training. He was being groomed to be the Viet Cong." In the politically justice to both the fight and the man. the house fighter at Maple Leaf charged atmosphere of the time, this Gardens; however, Chuvalo wanted was tantamount to treason. It didn't By Paul Townend 44 JON( - SEPTEMIlfl 2118 .