I saw this underrated, really thought provoking movie that asks the question about sports and racism and the name of this movie is the Great White Hype. I had been wanting to watch this movie for a few years now and recently my brother got Netflix and we ordered this one and thus last night we sat down and watched it. What really attracted me to this movie was the cast which has countless great actors which includes Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Damon Wayans, Cheech Marin, and Jamie Foxx. The theme of the movie, which is emphasized throughout, is racism and how it is ever prevelant in boxing and in other sports. For example, I read the other day that Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, believed that Latin players are not treated as well as Japanese players which sounds absurd but it I can see some of that in the way that broadcasters and journalists describe latin players as being “hot headed” and having little ability to speak the English language.
Anyways, back to the movie, the way that Jackson’s character is portrayed is so surreal because he plays the part of promoter so well. He is tired of having to see Wayans’s character, Roeper, going through countless contenders and most of these guys are black but Jackson’s character sets out to find a contender for him. Sultan, played by Jackson seems intent on finding someone who is white to play the race card and it is unbelievable how close it is to real life. I’m not the biggest boxing fan, but I’ve seen a few boxing matches where and Oscar De La Hoya would go against Pernell Whitaker and it would divide races by someone being on one side and another person standing by their race. Throughout the movie, Sultan finds Terry Conklin, who is played Peter Berg isn’t even close to being a legitmate fighter but what sells it is the race card. In between all this, Goldblum’s character, Kane, is a journalist trying to find dirt on Sultan but he has his limitations due to not having any real access to Sultan himself.
The way that Roeper takes the fight is very chill, because all the guy does is smoke and eat jello, not worrying at all about the potential fight that is coming up. I forgot to mention a little subplot in this movie, and that is Jamie Foxx’s character, Hassan, trying to get his fighter, Shabazz, a fight against Roeper but they won’t move on it because it would be too boring of a fight and once again it would be black vs. black. I found the movie to be funny due to the rib that it was pulling on boxing and how they present their fights. For one race to get behind one fighter is one thing, but to have a promoter preparing a guy that had barely only won a few amateur matches and believe that he can really take him down, that right there is straight up stealing money. The movie, alltogether, is a good experience because it makes you think twice about how some tactics are used into getting people that they are getting a raw deal but in the end all they get to do is just pack their bags and go home. A short movie, but it got my attention quickly due to the theme and ideas behind the actual fight which will surprise some people in the end.
Just Another Day... 