Million Dollar Baby Movie Review 2004

Multi-Oscar winning flick left conservative pundits frothing and hurling baseless allegations at the ever-gracious Eastwood (directing his 25th film). As always, you should make up your own minds. Old school boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) manages a rundown LA gym, aided by his best friend, former boxer Scrap (Freeman, who also narrates). Abrasive Frankie, long estranged from his own daughter, is very reluctant to have anything to do with 30-ish, uneducated waitress Maggie (Swank), whom he deems too old to train. But Maggie fiercely bets that boxing can change her life--and it does, although not in a way anyone could have expected. Downer ending doesn't negate the heart-tugging vulnerability of its characters or its emotional power. A knockout. Based upon "Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner" by Jerry Boyd, under the pen name F.X. Toole.

Distribution

Warner Home Video, Inc., 5775 Linder Canyon Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91362, URL: http://whv.warnerbros.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 133 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Waiters & Waitresses, Boxing, L.A., Rags to Riches, Physical Problems, Top Grossing Films of 2005

Screenplay

Paul Haggis

Cast

Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Mackie, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian F. O'Byrne, Margo Martindale, Riki Lindhome

Cinematography

Tom Stern

Director

Clint Eastwood

Music

Clint Eastwood

Other

Walt Martin, Joel Cox, Deborah Hopper, Henry Bumstead

Producer

Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy, Tom Rosenberg, Malpaso Productions, Warner Bros.

Awards

Oscars 2004: Actress (Swank), Director (Eastwood), Film, Support. Actor (Freeman); Directors Guild 2004: Director (Eastwood); Golden Globes 2005: Actress--Drama (Swank), Director (Eastwood); Screen Actors Guild 2004: Actress (Swank), Support. Actor (Freeman).