neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Million Dollar Baby
	Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman 2004		While many of his contemporaries are retired, ineffectual or deceased, tough-guy actor and no-bull director Clint Eastwood stays in the movie-industry trenches and does some of his very best work with "Million Dollar Baby." The septuagenarian Eastwood slams an old-fashioned against-the-odds boxing film (modernized with a female competitor) up against a tearjerker that hits you like a sucker punch, and the result is even more effective than his previous directorial effort, the lauded ensemble drama "Mystic River." "Million Dollar Baby," based on short stories by longtime fight manager F.X. Toole, homes in on three characters who are vividly realized by Eastwood and his co-stars Morgan Freeman ("The Shawshank Redemption") and Hilary Swank ("Boys Don't Cry"). Eastwood plays brooding ex-fighter Frankie Dunn. Estranged from his daughter, Frankie trains up-and-coming boxers at a shabby gym that he runs with his comrade and former ring rival Eddie (Freeman). Then, trailer-park refugee Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) shows up at the gym and insists that Frankie train her to be a pro boxer and manage her. At first, he tells this dogged, untutored young woman to take a hike, but her drive and raw talent win Frankie's respect, and a bond is formed. As Maggie rises through the ranks, "Million Dollar Baby" enters unexpected territory with shattering consequences. It's indisputably a knockout.