Where to watch Play It to the Bone
3 Stars
Two aging fighters in LA, friends, get a call from a Vegas promoter because his undercard fighters for a Mike Tyson bout that night are suddenly unavailable. He wants them to box each other. They agree as long as the winner gets a shot at the middleweight title. They enlist Grace, Cesar’s current and Vinnie’s ex-girlfriend, to drive them to Vegas. On the trip, we see flashbacks to their previous title shots, their competitive friendship, and Grace’s motivational wiles. (She has her own entrepreneurial dreams.) The fight itself is historic: ten rounds of savagery and courage. Who will win, who’ll get the title shot, who gets Grace, and where will she find venture capital?
Play It to the Bone is Writer/Director Ron Shelton’s second attempt at penning a screen story about the sport of boxing. The Great White Hype (1996), an often-overlooked gem of a comedy, is a satirical examination of the corrupt politics within governing sanctioning bodies and the racial tensions that unethical promoters exacerbate. Play it to the Bone is a lot more focused in its storytelling and tone. The film has comedic elements, but it’s a drama with an action-packed third act. Ron Shelton’s screenplay combines the ‘Road film’ with the ‘Sports Drama,’ and, outside of a few missteps, including a sidebar with Lucy Liu as a teenage nymph runaway, it mostly works.
Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas have chemistry as best friends who are called on to fight each other in 8 hours. Both actors appear believable enough, both physically and in a twenty-minute brutal fight sequence that plays out on screen. Boxing fans, including myself, should appreciate the authenticity of the featured bout, the accompanying broadcast, and the commentators, as well as the realistic outcome. Lolita Davidovich, as good-looking as she is talented, plays a thick-skinned friend to both fighters, and she is the heart of the movie and the crux of the story. Play It to the Bone is an offbeat sports movie that is both talky and slow-paced, yet delivers a hard-hitting finale that is worth the wait.
Directed by: Ron Shelton
Written by: Ron Shelton
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich