Play It to the Bone *** (1999, Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich) – Classic Movie Review 7794

Writer-director Ron Shelton’s 1999 boxing movie Play It to the Bone is a quite hard-hitting drama about best friends Cesar Dominguez (Antonio Banderas) and Vince Boudreau (Woody Harrelson), washed-up middleweight boxers who dream of one last hit at the big time.

They get a break at the last minute from sleazy promoter Joe Domino (Tom Sizemore) as substitute fighters at a warm-up event for a Mike Tyson heavyweight title match, with a promise of $50,000 each and a shot at the middleweight title. The downside is they will have to fight each other for the first time. Penniless, they get Cesar’s girlfriend and Vince’s ex, Gloria (Lolita Davidovich) to drive them to Las Vegas for the match, picking up sexy hitch-hiker Lia (Lucy Liu) on the way.

After a lot of talk along the way, most of it good stuff, though you really have to just sit and listen, the long climatic fight packs a real punch. The ideally cast Banderas and Harrelson are excellent and entirely credible this intelligent, well-written and flavoursome, if not always terribly exciting or appealing movie, which unfortunately somehow lacks the popular touch.

Also in the cast are Robert Wagner, Richard Masur, Willie Garson, Cylk Cozart, Jack Carter, Aida Tuturro, Louie Leonardo, Julio Garcia and John Ortiz.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7794

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