The Great White Hope (film)

The Great White Hope
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Martin Ritt
Produced by	Lawrence Turman
Screenplay by	Howard Sackler
Based on	The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler
Starring	James Earl Jones Jane Alexander
Music by	Lionel Newman
Cinematography	Burnett Guffey
Editing by	William Reynolds
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 11, 1970 (1970-10-11)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6 million

The Great White Hope is a 1970 biographical romantic drama film written and adapted from the Howard Sackler play of the same title. The film was directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn. Jones and Alexander, who also appeared in the same roles in the stage versions, both received Best Actor and Actress Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Plot

Set between 1910 and 1915, the story follows Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones; patterned after real life boxer Jack Johnson) going on a hot streak of victories in the boxing ring as he defeats every white boxer around. Soon the press and other whites announce the search for a 'great white hope', a boxer who will defeat Jefferson for the Heavyweight title. Meanwhile, Jefferson prepares for a few more matches, but he lets his guard down by courting the beautiful (and very white) Eleanor Bachman (Jane Alexander), and when everyone, including Jack's black 'wife', discover this, the tensions grow to fever pitch. Jack's close black friends become scared over his pushing the envelope of success and the white authorities conspire to nail him with unlawful sexual relations with Eleanor and taking away his title. It leads to jealousy, a run from the law, and finally, disaster.

Cast

• James Earl Jones as Jack Jefferson
• Jane Alexander as Eleanor Bachman
• Chester Morris as Pop Weaver
• Hal Holbrook as Al Cameron
• Beah Richards as Mama Tiny
• Moses Gunn as Scipio
• Lou Gilbert as Goldie
• Robert Webber as Dixon

Response

The film opened to positive responses from both audiences and critics. They especially loved the performances of both James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, who were in the original stage play: they won Tonys for the play. Jones would get bigger roles after this film, and Alexander made a debut here. Jones later contributed commentary to a documentary about Jack Johnson which would sum up this film: he said 'To know the story of Jack Johnson is to know that it is a study in hubris'.

References

• Sackler, Howard (1968). The Great White Hope, A Play. New York, NY: The Dial Press, Inc. OCLC 451597. 

External links

• The Great White Hope at the Internet Movie Database
• The Great White Hope at AllRovi
• The Great White Hope at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Great White Hope at the Internet Broadway Database