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The Great White Hope
The Great White Hope
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Martin Ritt
Screenplay by	Howard Sackler
Based on	The Great White Hope; by Howard Sackler
Produced by	Lawrence Turman
Starring	James Earl Jones; Jane Alexander
Cinematography	Burnett Guffey
Edited by	William Reynolds
Music by	Lionel Newman
Production; company	Lawrence Turman Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	October 11, 1970;
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9.87 million
Box office	$9.325 million (rentals)

The Great White Hope is a 1970 American biographical romantic drama film written and adapted from the 1967 Howard Sackler play of the same name.^[3]^[4]^[5]

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, received Best Actor and Actress Academy Award nominations for their performances.

The film and play is based on the true story of boxer Jack Johnson and his first wife, Etta Terry Duryea, and the controversy over their marriage and Duryea's death by suicide in 1912.^[6]

Plot

Set between 1910 and 1915, the story follows Jack Jefferson, 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 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

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
Rockne Tarkington as Rudy
Jim Beattie as The Kid

Reception

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 that would sum up this film, saying: "To know the story of Jack Johnson is to know that it is a study in hubris."^[7]

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".^[8] Critic Emanuel Levy wrote called it a "well-acted drama".^[9] 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.”

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on reviews from 7 critics.^[10] On Metacritic the film has a score of 53% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[11]

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.^[2]

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Actor	James Earl Jones	Nominated	^[12]
Academy Awards	Best Actress	Jane Alexander	Nominated	^[12]
American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited Feature Film	William Reynolds	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	James Earl Jones	Nominated	^[13]
	Most Promising Newcomer – Male	James Earl Jones	Won
	Most Promising Newcomer – Female	Jane Alexander	Nominated
Kinema Junpo Awards	Best Foreign Language Film	Martin Ritt	10th Place
Laurel Awards	Star of Tomorrow – Female	Jane Alexander	8th Place
NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Beah Richards	Won
Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Drama – Adapted from Another Medium	Howard Sackler	Nominated	^[14]

References

^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p256
^ ^a ^b Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 329. ISBN 9780818404856.
^ Clive Barnes (October 4, 1968). "Theater: Howard Sackler's 'Great White Hope'" (PDF). The New York Times.
^ Vincent Canby (October 12, 1970). "'Great White Hope' Brought to Screen". The New York Times.
^ Sackler, Howard (1968). The Great White Hope, A Play. New York, NY: The Dial Press, Inc. OCLC 451597.
^ Unforgivable Blackness Retrieved May 11, 2016
^ "A FISTFUL OF BLACK REBELLION". Hartford Courant. December 12, 2004. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
^ Canby, Vincent (October 12, 1970). "'Great White Hope' Brought to Screen". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
^ EmanuelLevy. "Oscar Movies: Great White Hope, The (1970) | Emanuel Levy". Retrieved February 14, 2023.
^ "The Great White Hope (1970)". Rotten Tomatoes.
^ "The Great White Hope". Metacritic.
^ "The 43rd Academy Awards (1971) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 4 October 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
^ "The Great White Hope". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
^ "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America Awards. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2010.

External links

[1] Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p256

[Fox-2] Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 329. ISBN 9780818404856.

[3] Clive Barnes (October 4, 1968). "Theater: Howard Sackler's 'Great White Hope'" (PDF). The New York Times.

[4] Vincent Canby (October 12, 1970). "'Great White Hope' Brought to Screen". The New York Times.

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

[6] Unforgivable Blackness Retrieved May 11, 2016

[7] "A FISTFUL OF BLACK REBELLION". Hartford Courant. December 12, 2004. Retrieved February 14, 2023.

[8] Canby, Vincent (October 12, 1970). "'Great White Hope' Brought to Screen". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2023.

[9] EmanuelLevy. "Oscar Movies: Great White Hope, The (1970) | Emanuel Levy". Retrieved February 14, 2023.

[10] "The Great White Hope (1970)". Rotten Tomatoes.

[11] "The Great White Hope". Metacritic.

[12] "The 43rd Academy Awards (1971) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 4 October 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2015.

[13] "The Great White Hope". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved October 21, 2023.

[14] "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America Awards. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2010.

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PROFILPELAJAR.COM

The Great White Hope (film)

Plot

Cast

Reception

Box Office

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links

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