What The Critics Thought

"The most profoundly moving platonic love story of the year. It may be time to wheel out another batch of Career Achievement Awards for Mr. Eastwood." Collin Souter EFILMCRITIC.COM "It's a weeper, a fighter, a dreamer of a film that treads on ground that's been fairly trampled over the years. It should stink. Instead, it's flat-out wonderful." Tom Long DETROIT NEWS "The crowning achievement in an incredible career of a true American icon." Edward Havens FILMJERK.COM "We can see why Warner Bros. decided to move it up a couple of months for the awards season." Eric Lurio GREENWICH VILLAGE GAZETTE "Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank deliver a powerful one-two punch that will knock your socks off and hit you squarely in the heart." Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone THEMOVIECHICKS.COM

"Any doubt that Eastwood ranks among America's finest filmmakers should forever be dispelled thanks to this unexpectedly brilliant masterpiece." Edward Douglas COMINGSOON.NET "It may be a classically staged tale of an underdog's triumph, but each scene is packed with authentic feeling." Owen Gleiberman ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY "Is it really this good? In a word, yes." William Arnold SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER "Like the very best wine Mr Eastwood just gets better and better as the years go by. Eastwood once again shows just how classy he is by not only starring in "Million Dollar Baby", he directed it, co-produced it and wrote the music. Take a bow Mr Eastwood. In a long list of wonderful films this is your best to date." Richard Surfield THE MOVIE PAGES "The result is the kind of movie they don't make anymore -- a real crowd-pleaser." Ann Hornaday WASHINGTON POST

The Inside Story

"I almost wish I could point out something wrong with Million Dollar Baby just to be a little different from every other critic on the planet." Rebecca Murray ABOUT.COM

If you can't take my advice to forget that "Million Dollar Baby" is a boxing film then please, at least take the advice of one of the worlds most respected actors who just happens to be a fine director, producer, musician and composer, the legendary Mr Clint Eastwood who says of his latest film; "What interested me about Million Dollar Baby is the fact that it isn't really a boxing story, it is a love story about a person who is distressed about his non-existent relationship with his daughter, and who then finds a sort of surrogate daughter in this young girl who is dying to make her mark on the world as a boxer." Eastwood plays Gym owner and boxing manager Frankie Dunn, a man who has been in the fight business for 23 years, who is estranged from his daughter yet writes her every week, and is in a constant theological battle with his local priest who is just about at the end of his tether. "Frankie is searching for redemption," Eastwood explains. "He's an Irish Catholic guy who's in his senior years, and he's become disillusioned with his church and his lack of a relationship with his daughter. The dilemma with his daughter is very tough on him, and it's left a huge void in his life." Creating an even bigger void is the fact that Frankie is ultra conservative when it comes to handling his boxers. He plays them out for too long, setting up too many minor fights that wear them down until they move on to another manager and greater success. Maggie Fitzgerald, who provides salvation for Dunn's tortured soul is played by Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank who says she found a real connection between Maggie's screen life and her own even though she questions the need to box. "Why does someone want to become a boxer?, she asks" "To go in the ring and hit and be hit is not something I really understood until I started training for this film. But for Maggie, not only is boxing her way out, it's something that she loves. I can certainly relate, because growing up, my family lived in a trailer and we didn't have a lot of money. I started doing plays at the age of nine. It's what I loved and I wanted to do it forever, and I connected to that part of Maggie." While Swank may have connected in the film Dunn initially fails to find one and Maggie is nurtured initially by his sidekick and the gym's caretaker, Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris played by three time Oscar nominee Morgan Freeman, who also narrates the story. "Scrap sees that Maggie's got just about all it takes to make it," says Freeman. "He remembers himself being in her situation. And he knows that she's not just a youngster, he sees that she's there with deep meaning and deep desire." "Scrap sees Maggie's drive, her passion and her focus, and somewhere in there he sees talent," Swank notes. "He sees the underdog in her as well, which I think he was. But she doesn't really realize how much he's involved in putting her and Frankie together. There's so much beauty in a character not knowing everything that's going on behind the scenes to help them get to where they're going." And speaking of behind the scenes, one thing that is constant throughout "Million Dollar Baby" is the bond between Frankie Dunn and Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris, A bond and interaction which provides a real joy indeed. Eastwood sees the relationship between the two men this way. "Frankie and Scrap are two guys who have had a certain amount of disappointment in their lives. Scrap doesn't have anybody in the world except Frankie, and in their relationship is a certain statement about loyalty between friends." In many ways though, the two resemble those grumpy old men played Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau. You know, they rub each other up, cuss each other, yet deep down they respect each other. "They're like two old married people," muses Freeman. "Their banter has an age to it. Frankie is just generally PO'd, and in a lot of cases, he's his own worst enemy, but Scrap is attached to him because he knows he has this deep well of a heart that's seriously cracked because of his relationship with his daughter that he can't mend, no matter what he does. It's a source of enduring pain and Scrap is the only one privy to it." So how did they all get on working together? "To get the opportunity to work with Clint was amazing," Swank says enthusiastically. "It really was a dream come true. And Morgan is incredible, so full of grace." "It's rare that you get the opportunity to work with someone you like and have a history with," says Freeman. "Clint is still the same director he was when I worked with him on Unforgiven. He never gets in the way. He tells you what the shot is going to be and suggests maybe walking this way or that. And then he lets his actors do their job. I'd pay to work with him." The question many ask is why do so many big actors say those same words, "I'd pay to work with him." It's probably because Eastwood hasn't forgotten his roots. "My theory in directing actors is to not insert the ego," he explains. "Having come up in that side of the business, I'm very sympathetic to the securities that are necessary and the insecurities that are unnecessary to make a good performance, and so I let the actors bring a lot to the table. When they bring something that's good, fine; and when they bring something that's not quite so good, I make adjustments to it. I try to ease into everything and then eventually the performances come together. You set a working environment for the actors and then they feel good about themselves." And was he impressed with Swank's contribution to the film? "I'd never worked with Hilary before," he revealed, "but I had met her on several occasions before and I knew just by the way she moved that she had good athletic ability. I had no doubts about her acting at all, but I knew that her success in this film would depend on how diligently she would train to get this role under her belt. And she did. She has a work ethic that's unparalleled. There isn't a one 'double shot' in the whole picture. No doubles were used during filming, and Hilary did all of her own fighting." Crew Bytes "MILLION DOLLAR BABY" was .......
directed by Academy Award, Director's Guild, Golden Globe & National Society of Film Critics Award winner Clint Eastwood ["Mystic River", "Bird", "Breezy" and "Tightrope"]; screenplay by EMMY Award winner Paul Haggis ["Crash"]; costume design by Deborah Hopper ["Tightrope", "The Dead Pool", "Death Becomes Her", "The Haunting" and "America's Sweethearts"]; production design by Two time Academy Award winner Henry Bumstead ["The Sting", "To Kill A Mockingbird", "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Vertigo"]; edited by Joel Cox ["True Crime", "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", "Absolute Power" and "The Bridges of Madison County"]; cinematograhpy by Tom Stern ["Space Cowboys", "Unforgiven", "A Perfect World" and "Mystic River"]; original music by Clint Eastwood ["Bronco Billy", "Every Which Way But Loose", "Bird", "The Bridges Of Madison County" and "Mystic River"]; set decoration by Richard C Goddard ["Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", "Brewster's Millions", "Black Rain", "Broken Arrow", "True Crime" and "Windtalkers"] produced by Clint Eastwood, Paul Haggis, /Tom Rosenberg ["The Mothman Prophecies", "Runaway Bride", "The Gift" and "Underworld"] and Academy Award and TWO TIME Golden Globe Award winner Albert S Ruddy ["The Godfather", "The Longest Yard", "The Cannonball Run I & II", "Death Hunt", "Bad Girls", "The Scout" and "Mean Machine"]. Casting About "MILLION DOLLAR BABY" stars .......
Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood ["Space Cowboys", "Unforgiven", "The Bridges Of Madison County" and "Blood Work"]; Academy Award, Golden Globe, The New York Film Critics Award and named "Sho West Star of Tomorrow" Hilary Swank ["The Affair of The Necklace", "Boys Don't Cry" and "Insomnia"]; OBIE Award, Golden Globe and Silver Bear Award winner Morgan Freeman ["The Shawshank Redemption", "Kiss The Girls", "Amistad" and "Nurse Betty"]; Mike Colter ["Million Dollar Baby"]; Lucia Rijker ["Rollerball"]; Brian O'Byrne ["Avenue X", "Disco Pigs", "Bandits" and "Intermission"]; Anthony Mackie ["8 Mile", "Crossing", "Hollywood Homicide" and "The Manchurian Candidate"]; Margo Martindale ["Lorenzo's Oil", "The Firm", "Ride with the Devil" and "The Hours"], Riki Lindhome ["Backseat Detour" and "Seeing Other People"]; Michael Peña ["Running Free", "Gone in Sixty Seconds", "Buffalo Soldiers", "The United States of Leland" and "The Calcium Kid"] and Jay Baruchel ["Almost Famous", "The Rules of Attraction" and "Nemesis Game"] as Danger. The Story

"Million Dollar Baby packs an emotional punch that knocks the wind out of its audience like no movie has in years." Alex Sandell JUICY CEREBELLUM

Maggie Fitzgerald grew up as trailer trash and has struggled throughout her life. But she has a dream. Maggie wants to be the next World Women's Boxing Champion. She's prepared to scrimp, save, wait on tables and more importantly, put her heart and soul into achieving her dream. Maggie knows she can't make it on her own, she needs a trainer and manager. Maggie has her eye on someone, Frankie Dunn the owner of the Hit Pit Gym. Needless to say, he's not interested in a female boxer, especially one who is 31 years old. Hell she'll be 35 before she's up to scratch. Eventually Maggie wears him down, much to the relief and amusement of Dunn's sidekick Eddie 'Scrap-Iron' Dupris. True to her word, Maggie works hard, impressing Frankie who finally agrees to get her into her first fight. They become a formidable team as other managers and boxers soon find out. The trouble is, Maggie's scaring everyone off. She possesses a killer punch and uses it effectively. The crowds might love her but unless Frankie can get her fights to go beyond the first round no-one will want to face her in the ring. The Verdict "In a word? Brilliant! Mr Eastwood just gets better and better. Once seen there's no doubt "Million Dollar Baby" is his best work to date. Forget that this is a boxing film thats just the vehicle for an astounding film superbly helmed by Eastwood, narrated by Morgan Freeman [who also appears as Eddie 'Scrap-Iron' Dupris] and perhaps, an Oscar winning performance by Hilary Swank. I've never found a reason in five years of reviewing to give a film 5 Stars but in this case ...? Yes! Most Highly Recommended. 5 STARS." The Cast

Clint Eastwood Hilary Swank Morgan Freeman Jay Baruchel Mike Colter Lucia Rijker Brian O'Byrne Anthony Mackie Margo Martindale Riki Lindhome Michael Peña Benito Martinez Bruce MacVittie David Powledge Joe D'Angerio Marcus Chait Tom McCleister Erica Grant Naveen Morgan Eastwood Jamison Yang Ming Lo Miguel Pérez

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Frankie Dunn Maggie Fitzgerald Eddie Dupris Danger Barch Big Willie Little Billie 'The Blue Bear' Father Horvak Shawrelle Berry Earline Fitzgerald Mardell Fitzgerald Omar Billie's Manager Mickey Mack Counterman at Diner Cut Man J D Fitzgerald Lawyer Nurse Pakistani Little Girl in Truck Paramedic Rehab Doctor Restaurant Owner

The Crew Directed by Clint Eastwood Screenplay by Paul Haggis Based upon stories from "Rope Burns" by F X Toole Produced by Clint Eastwood/Paul Haggis/Tom Rosenberg/Albert S Ruddy Original Music by Clint Eastwood Cinematography by Tom Stern Film Editing by Joel Cox Casting by Phyllis Huffman Production Design by Henry Bumstead Art Direction by Jack G Taylor Jr & Jack Taylor Set Decoration by Richard C Goddard Costume Design by Deborah Hopper Production Manager Tim Moore Run Time 137 minutes Rated TBR [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Warner Brothers - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved