Programmed July 2022

In the Ring: Boxing On-Screen

If boxing hadn’t already existed, cinema would have had to invent it. With its frenetic motion and inherent danger, its astonishing highs and lows, the prizefight was among the very first events ever captured by a motion-picture camera. Rising in tandem with moviemaking in the twentieth century, the boxing film has produced everything from emotionally visceral masterpieces ( Rocco and his Brothers , Raging Bull ) to secretly leftist film noir ( Champion , The Set-Up ) and triumphant documentary (When We Were Kings). Selected by critic Christina Newland, this collection of propulsive, stylish, and surprisingly subversive boxing dramas sheds light on the way filmmakers have used the sport to tell stories about class, race, and masculinity. From larger-than-life heroes to the villainous fringes, this collection of cinematic knockouts has it all—palookas and tomato cans, the bums and the champions.