Why so Mean?

Last night Melanie and I watched the Christian Bale/Marky Mark movie, The Fighter. Quick review: Surprisingly sad early on and builds to a nice satisfying ending. Watching that movie caused me to think of another boxing movie that features an older boxer making a comeback, Cinderella Man. I really enjoyed that movie too but I was disappointed later to find out that the film portrayed the boxer, Max Baer incorrectly as a total bastard. He's actually a sympathetic character if you read about him. Killing opponents in the ring almost destroyed the man's career. Like any decent person.

After I discovered that fact the scenes concerning Max Baer almost kill the movie for me. I guess they decided they needed a villain. I don't see any reason that Max Baer couldn't have been displayed has a tough and dangerous fighter. The nature of the fight game is that if you are good at what you do you are a potential danger to your opponent. You are, after all, attempting to punch them as hard as you can at spots on their body that will cause them the most pain and debilitation. A 144 minute movie could certainly create a heavy that is more than merely a two dimensional villain.