TYSON (1995) — friday night fights at the movies!
October 28th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Uli Edel
Stars: Michael Jai White, George C. Scott, Paul Winfield, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Tony Lo Bianco, James B. Sikking
Genre: boxing docu-drama, based on a true story
–Excerpts from the movie:
“What do I think!?, I think he hits with bad intentions”. – Cus D’amato
“God’damn kid hits like Joe Frazier”. – Teddy Atlas
“40 times!!!?, even Al Capone wasn’t arrested 40 times!!”. – Cus D’amato
This HBO film released in 1995 was based on the life story of Mike Tyson. The movie was an adaptation of Jose Torres’ book: Fire and Fear – The Inside Story of Mike Tyson. Torres was an accomplished fighter, member of the international boxing hall of fame, and then later on became the NY State Athletic Commisioner of boxing. Jose was also under the tutelage of Cus D’amato just as Mike Tyson was.
Already an accomplished martial artist, this was to be the breakthrough film for Michael Jai White who portrayed the role as Tyson to a tee! From the body language to the haircut to the body style right down to the voice, Jai White would strike a strong resemblance to the young iron mike. George C Scott (Cus D’amato) & Paul Winfield (Don King) would also do a bang up job! It was pretty neat to see Malcolm-Jamal Warner (yes, from the Cosby Show) surface as one of Tyson’s childhood friends as well. The reenactment of the Trevor Berbick, Michael Spinks, & Buster Douglas fights were surreal, too! Some funny sequences from the film which was probably not so funny when it happened at the time was the Mitch Green confrontation on the street especially for Green’s jaw! I also couldn’t help but chuckle when the Barbara Walters & Robin Givens lookalikes appeared on the tube!
This movie covered Mike’s juvenile delinquent self growing up in the gritty Brownsville section of Brooklyn who was very fond of pigeons and thug life which in turn led him to the arms of upstate NY to a boy’s reform camp in the Catskills to being discovered by Cus D’amato and his raggamuffin crew consisting of Teddy Atlas, Kevin Rooney, Jimmy Jacobs, Bill Cayton, & Jose Torres which would ultimately lead to the blossoming of his professional boxing career until greed, being naive, & full of rage especially without the direction of D’amato took him onto the yellow brick road of self destruction in the Don King, Robin Givens era. “Tyson” would tell the tale of his story up until his conviction of rape to Desiree Washington.
Rather than trying to rehash Iron Mike’s life story, I’m going to just mention some highlights from the film (his life) that seemed to be turning points.
Furthermore, I’m not going out on a limb to say that this docu-drama is the definitive life story of mike tyson but from just basing it on the accounts of reported events in the media in real life during his struggles which includes the point of view from Tyson’s original trainer, Teddy Atlas and his book: Atlas – From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man, stories do seem to match up with Jose Torres’ writeup. Only Tyson and the people directly involved will truly know. Some events that were known to the public at the time involving iron mike included the robin givens-barbara walters interview, the mitch green altercation, Givens breakup, the changing of hands to Don King from the Bill Cayton & Kevin Rooney reign, and the Miss Black America escapades.
The events that seemed to impact Mike Tyson includes:
*product of his environment growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn
*discovers boxing while at the reform school in the Catskill with trainer Bobby Stewart
*meeting Cus D’amato and crew
*Cus D’amato & Camille take custody of Mike Tyson
*Death of mom
*Tyson’s sexual assault on Teddy Atlas’ niece
*Teddy Atlas out, Kevin Rooney in
*Cus D’amato dies
*Jimmy Jacobs takes the reign
*Robin Givens enters his life
*Jimmy Jacobs dies
*Bill Cayton takes the reign, but Don King is the shark.
*Don King-Tyson goes all black, never looks back
*Cayton-Rooney lose control of Tyson
*manipulation by Robin Givens
*Barbara Walters
*breakup
*Buster Douglas
*Miss Black America
*Jail
Michael Jai White did a fantastic job depicting this troubled, talented, & fascinating man. The roughneck side along with a more sensitive, vulnerable, & shy side of Mike Tyson were definitely unraveled leaving the insecure portion of himself to morph into doing some not so nice things. Being a great student of the boxing game under the guidance of Cus D’amato was one of the highlights of this film. I’m not sure how accessible this movie is but a VHS copy might be lingering somewhere in your local swap meet, flea market, or pawn shops. Let me leave off with some of Cus D’amato’s quotes:
“Always keep your chin tucked down into your chest. I don’t care if you are running roadwork or just walking around school or watching T.V. Keep that chin tucked down. And your eyes looking up and out”
“A professional performs no matter what he is feeling inside“. – Cus D’amato
“Fear is a friend of every good and reasonable athlete“.
“Who ate my ice cream!!!?”.
On Rocky Marciano – “One word describes Rocky Marciano, Tenacity. He would not allow the concept of defeat to enter his mind“.
On Joe Louis – “Joe Louis had the quiet rage. He was a negro in a white man’s world and he hated it“.
Tags: michael jai white, mike tyson
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