Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Articles Department of Cinema and Photography 2017 Allegory of the Ring [A Review of Grudge Match] Walter C. Metz Southern Illinois University Carbondale,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cp_articles Recommended Citation Metz, Walter C. "Allegory of the Ring [A Review of Grudge Match]." The Journal of Sport History 44, No. 1 (Jan 2017): 95-96. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Cinema and Photography at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “Allegory of the Ring” A Review of Grudge Match (2013). Dir. Peter Segal. Prod. Gerber Pictures. By Walter Metz Published in: The Journal of Sport History. 44.1 [2017]. 95-96. Grudge Match, Peter Segal’s boxing comedy, relies on the contrasts between Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (1976) and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull (1980) to produce a battle of popular Hollywood movies versus art house cinema. However, when Grudge Match pairs these two iconic actors—playing geriatric rivals reunited for one final confrontation—it forwards an understanding of what film historians seem to have forgotten. Stallone’s character was based on Rocky Marciano, the celebrated heavyweight who held the world’s championship from 1952-1956. DeNiro’s character in the biopic Raging Bull was directly based on the real Jake LaMotta. But as historical figures, Marciano and LaMotta share far more in common than the disparate films would indicate.