MRQE Ranks: Cinema's Best Boxing Movies

1

On the Waterfront (1954)

Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger

Director: Elia Kazan

Synopsis: This classic story of Mob informers was based on a number of true stories and filmed on location in and around the docks of New York and New Jersey... [MORE]

2

Raging Bull (1980)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto

Director: Martin Scorsese

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's brutal character study incisively portrays the true rise and fall and redemption of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent m... [MORE]

3

Rocky (1976)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith

Director: John G. Avildsen

Synopsis: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a Philadelphia boxer, is but one step removed from total bum-hood. A once-promising pugilist, Rocky is now takin... [MORE]

4

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter... [MORE]

5

When We Were Kings (1996)

Director: Leon Gast

Synopsis: In 1974, boxers Muhammad Ali and George Foreman came to the still-emerging and politically unstable African nation of Zaire for what Ali called the... [MORE]

6

Boxing Gym (2010)

Director: Frederick Wiseman

Synopsis: Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (Missile, Domestic Violence) profiles Lord's Gym in Austin, TX, offering viewers a glimpse into the lives o... [MORE]

7

The Fighter (2010)

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee

Director: David O. Russell

Synopsis: Mark Wahlberg stars in Paramount Pictures' inspirational docudrama exploring the remarkable rise of Massachusetts-born, junior welterweight title w... [MORE]

8

Girlfight (2000)

Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Santiago Douglas, Jaime Tirelli, Ray Santiago, Paul Calderon

Director: Karyn Kusama

Synopsis: Karyn Kusama makes her debut with this sensitive, subtly told coming-of-age story about boxing and love. Diana (Michelle Rodriguez) is a tough thou... [MORE]

9

The Quiet Man (1952)

Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen

Director: John Ford

Synopsis: Returning to the Ireland of his birth, director John Ford fashions a irresistable valentine to the "Auld Sod" in The Quiet Man. Irish-American boxe... [MORE]

10

Cinderella Man (2005)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Paddy Considine

Director: Ron Howard

Synopsis: The true story of an athlete who achieved his greatest success against the most daunting odds of his life is brought to the screen in this historic... [MORE]

11

The Hurricane (1999)

Cast: Denzel Washington, John Hannah, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, Vicellous Reon Shannon

Director: Norman Jewison

Synopsis: In 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top-ranked middleweight boxer whom many fight fans expected to become world champion. When three people wer... [MORE]

12

The Boxer (1997)

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Gerard McSorley

Director: Jim Sheridan

Synopsis: Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) directed this drama about a Belfast boxer, filmed with Dublin locations substituting for Belfast. Released... [MORE]

13

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Geraldine Hughes, Antonio Tarver

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Synopsis: Sylvester Stallone returns to the director's chair for Rocky Balboa, the fifth sequel to the film that made him a superstar 30 years before. The mo... [MORE]

14

The Hammer (2007)

Cast: Adam Carolla, Heather Juergensen, Oswaldo Castillo, Tom Quinn, Constance Zimmer

Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Synopsis: Can a guy edging into middle age become a success fighting guys half his age? That's the big question behind this independent comedy. Jerry Ferro (... [MORE]

15

Ali (2001)

Cast: Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver

Director: Michael Mann

Synopsis: Notoriously obsessive director Michael Mann and star Will Smith devoted nearly two years and over 100 million dollars from the coffers of Columbia ... [MORE]

16

Real Steel (2011)

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand

Director: Shawn Levy

Synopsis: A retired pugilist transitions to the business side of the ropes after human boxers are replaced by robotic ones in director Shawn Levy's feature-l... [MORE]

17

Rocky II (1979)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith

Director: Sylvester Stallone

18

Gentleman Jim (1942)

Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, John Loder, Alan Hale

Director: Raoul Walsh

Synopsis: Maybe Errol Flynn was never the war hero that he often played, but he was a capable boxer, and Gentleman Jim makes full use of this skill. Flynn st... [MORE]

19

The Champ (1979)

Cast: Jon Voight, Ricky Schroder, Faye Dunaway, Jack Warden, Arthur Hill

Director: Franco Zeffirelli

Synopsis: Billy (Jon Voight) is on the road with his son T.J. (Ricky Schroder), fighting low-end boxing matches for drinking money before moving on to the ne... [MORE]

20

Champion (1949)

Cast: Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Ruth Roman, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart

Director: Mark Robson

Synopsis: While far from the only good film on boxing, Champion is perhaps the best drama ever based on the fight game. It is remarkable for a number of thin... [MORE]

21

Rocky III (1982)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Mr. T, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Synopsis: Sylvester Stallone returns to the character which made him famous in this wildly successful sequel. Rocky III starts with the Italian Stallion so f... [MORE]

22

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

Cast: Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris, Stanley Adams

Director: Ralph Nelson

Synopsis: One of the most memorable sports dramas because of its strong character development, Requiem for a Heavyweight is carried by Anthony Quinn as the w... [MORE]

23

City for Conquest (1940)

Cast: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp

Director: Anatole Litvak

Synopsis: There are three key characters in Anatole Litvak's filmization of Aben Kandel's novel City for Conquest, as opposed to the six or more in the book ... [MORE]

24

The Great White Hope (1970)

Cast: James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert, Joel Fluellen, Chester Morris

Director: Martin Ritt

Synopsis: Although the characters' names were changed, The Great White Hope was a thinly veiled account of the trials and tribulations of boxer Jack Johnson,... [MORE]

25

The Harder They Fall (1956)

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Edward Andrews, Mike Lane

Director: Mark Robson

Synopsis: An obviously ailing Humphrey Bogart made his final screen appearance in The Harder They Fall. Adapted from a novel by Budd Schulberg, the film is a... [MORE]

26

The Champ (1931/I)

Cast: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates, Edward Brophy

Director: King Vidor

Synopsis: Wallace Beery won an Academy Award for his tour de force performance as a washed-up boxer. The bibulous Beery travels from one tank-town bout to an... [MORE]

27

Fat City (1972)

Cast: Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Nicholas Colasanto

Director: John Huston, John Houston

Synopsis: With a screenplay adapted by Leonard Gardner from his own novel, John Huston's drama examines the meager hopes and resigned dreams of small-time bo... [MORE]

28

Diggstown (1992)

Cast: James Woods, Louis Gossett Jr., Bruce Dern, Oliver Platt, Heather Graham

Director: Michael Ritchie

Synopsis: In this comedy, a charming con man teams up with a boxer fallen on hard times in hopes of making some quick money. After doing time for selling art... [MORE]