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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
On the Ropes
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by:
Nanette Burstein
Brett Morgen
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 24, 1999
DVD: April 25, 2000
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not rated
Starring Harry Keitt, Randy Little, Tyrene Manson, and Mickey Marcello
A documentary highlighting three young boxers from the mean streets of Brooklyn and their coach as they prepare for the 1997 Golden Gloves Tournament, giving equal attention to their experiences in and out of the ring.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A sports documentary as gripping, in a different way, as "Hoop Dreams."
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
Walking out of the theater, I felt so bereft that I couldn't speak. And it doesn't hurt any less thinking about the movie now, as I write this.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Matt Williams
The documentary has no narration, and uses excellent expository camerawork to say things that no narrator could equal.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Renee Graham
Has the impact of a left-right combination to the chin.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
In recording life as it unfolds in the course of a year, On the Ropes not only defies prediction as to its outcome but is in some ways downright confounding...as involving and suspenseful as the best fictional films.
Read Full Review >New York Post Rod Dreher
What the film lacks in freshness...it makes up for in its sympathetic and compelling portrayal of its subjects.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Isn't so emotionally powerful as the Oscar-winning "When We Were Kings" but which -- in its more intimate way -- still packs a punch.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Often technically rough, but it's painfully compelling.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Gary Dauphin
Burstein and Morgen take all this in from an unobtrusive middle distance, letting the subjects themselves slowly complicate the profusion of athletic and ghetto-real clichés that fly scattershot in the early going.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
The material is powerful--one boxer has been accused of a crime and the trial conflicts with a crucial competition--but much of it feels predigested, the themes inadvertently one-dimensional.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Edvins Beitiks
The story of a trainer and three of his boxers trying to break away from the confines of a gym in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Each story is strong, gripping in its own way. But you've heard them all before.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
John N. gave it a10:
This is Hoop Dreams for Boxers. A well done documentary about the real drama of boxing. My prayers go to Tyrene.
