Former boxing champ Billy Flynn (Jon Voight) is trying to be a horse trainer with adoring son T.J. (Ricky Schroder). Billy's ex-wife Annie (Faye Dunaway) comes back into T.J.'s life with a rich new husband despite Billy's objection. Billy had told T.J. that his mother was dead.
This seems to be a jumbo of a couple of great movies. It has a bit of Rocky, a bit of Paper Moon, and a few others. It's definitely throwing a lot including the kitchen sink at this. In the end, the movie gets overwhelmed by the amount and the nature of the melodrama. It looks like everybody is playing to the cheap seats at the back of the colosseum. I can see where Dunaway is going with her character and I can forgive Schroder for his age. He's told to go over the top and that's what he does. Jon Voight just needs to pull it back a few notches. Somebody has to. In the end, it's director Franco Zeffirelli's movie, for better and for worst.
This seems to be a jumbo of a couple of great movies. It has a bit of Rocky, a bit of Paper Moon, and a few others. It's definitely throwing a lot including the kitchen sink at this. In the end, the movie gets overwhelmed by the amount and the nature of the melodrama. It looks like everybody is playing to the cheap seats at the back of the colosseum. I can see where Dunaway is going with her character and I can forgive Schroder for his age. He's told to go over the top and that's what he does. Jon Voight just needs to pull it back a few notches. Somebody has to. In the end, it's director Franco Zeffirelli's movie, for better and for worst.