The Great White Hope is a 1970 American biographical romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt, adapted by Howard Sackler from his 1967 play. It stars James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, reprising their roles from the stage production, along with Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn. The film and play are based on the true story of African American boxer Jack Johnson (fictionalized as 'Jack Jefferson') and his first wife, Etta Terry Duryea, and the controversy over their interracial marriage and Duryea's death by suicide in 1912.Unforgivable Blackness Retrieved May 11, 2016

The film was released by 20th Century Fox on October 11, 1970. It received positive reviews from critics, earning Academy Award nominations for Best Actor (for Jones) and Best Actress (Alexander). Jones also won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male.

Plot Set between 1910 and 1915, the story follows Jack Jefferson, going on a hot streak of victories in the boxing ring as he defeats every white boxer around. Soon the press and others who want to see white people win at sports, announce the search for a "great white hope", a white boxer who will defeat Jefferson for the heavyweight title.

Jefferson, meanwhile, prepares for a few more matches, but he lets his guard down by courting the beautiful, and white, Eleanor Bachman, 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 frame him for unlawful sexual relations with Eleanor and thereby take away his title. It leads to jealousy, a run from the law, and finally, tragedy.

Cast

Reception Box office According to Fox records, the film required $16,075,000 in rentals to break even. By December 11, 1970, it had earned $9,325,000 in rentals, thus the studio took a loss on the film.

Critical 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 both in the original stage play and won Tony Awards for their work. Jones would get bigger roles after this film, and Alexander, who earned three more Oscar nominations in succeeding years, made her debut here. Jones later contributed commentary to a documentary about Jack Johnson that would sum up this film, saying: "To know the story of Jack Johnson is to know that it is a study in hubris."

Critic Vincent Canby referred to the film as "One of those liberal, well-meaning, fervently uncontroversial works that pretend to tackle contemporary problems by finding analogies at a safe remove in history". Critic Emanuel Levy wrote called it a "well-acted drama". Variety said: "Jones' re-creation of his stage role is an eye-riveting experience. The towering rages and unrestrained joys of which his character was capable are portrayed larger than life."

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Awards and nominations Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref. Academy Awards Best Actor James Earl Jones Best Actress Jane Alexander American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film William Reynolds Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama James Earl Jones Most Promising Newcomer – Male Most Promising Newcomer – Female Jane Alexander Kinema Junpo Awards Best Foreign Language Film Martin Ritt Laurel Awards Star of Tomorrow – Female Jane Alexander NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Beah Richards Writers Guild of America Awards Best Drama – Adapted from Another Medium Howard Sackler

See also List of American films of 1970 List of boxing films

References

External links

The Great White Hope on Rotten Tomatoes