FAT CITY: Introduction by PETE HAMILL & GEORGE KIMBALL (Recorded September 18, 2009)

Summary: FAT CITY: Two fighters spar in an empty gym; one on the way up: 18-year-old “natural” Jeff Bridges, ticketed for the pros via an intro to manager Nicholas Colasanto (later “Coach” on Cheers); and one on the way down: pushing-30 ex-pro Stacy Keach, mortified by pulling a muscle in his first workout after a two-year layoff. But there are detours along the way, for Bridges his knocked-up girlfriend Candy Clark (in her debut), and for Keach his involvement with (Oscar-nominated) Susan Tyrrell, tearing it up as the Barfly to end all Barflies (“boozed, blowsy, and so good, so out of her mind with hope and depression, so used, so soiled, so lifelike…” – David Thomson). Maybe just one more win for Keach and he could get it all back. But what changes if you actually win? All location-shot by the great Conrad Hall (“with lovely shabby color that looks like paper used to wrap a burger” –Thomson) in Stockton, California at its dustiest, these are perhaps the Losing-est in Huston’s gallery of Beautiful Losers, with terrific if decidedly unglamorous boxing scenes and a cast seeded with actual fighters, most notably former welterweight champ Curtis Cokes in his only acting role, letter-perfect as Tyrrell’s sometime boyfriend “Earl.” This podcast is a recording of the Introduction by PETE HAMILL & GEORGE KIMBALL, recorded September 18, 2009, at Film Forum, when they appeared opening night.