The Iron Claw (2023)

[BetterButter]

 

[benteen]

While I stopped watching the current stuff a ling time ago, I've been a fan of wrestling since ai was a kid and am very familiar with the Von Erich story. The film looks great. Holt McCallany REALLY looks and sounds like Fritz Von Erich. This movie is going to be sad and not exactly something to cheer you up around Christmas time.

Edited October 11, 2023 by benteen

[AimingforYoko]

Best line I saw about this, "The Von Erichs weren't cursed, Fritz Von Erich was an asshole."

[Laurie4H]

I have high hopes for this.  It’s a Christmas release also so probably an Oscar contender. 

[sashabear21]

It looks great and I can't wait to see it, but already lamenting that they seem to be one Von Erich short in there (and no, I'm not talking about Lance). I'm sure it was for dramatic purposes and to keep the movie from being too long, but Chris was a big part of the Von Erich tragedy/curse so it's even sadder if he was cut out of the movie entirely.  

[Kel Varnsen]

On 10/11/2023 at 4:55 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Best line I saw about this, "The Von Erichs weren't cursed, Fritz Von Erich was an asshole."

If you read that on the AV that may have been me. I wonder how much they will go into what an awful person he was. I didn't really know much about the family until I listened to the Behind the Bastards podcast episodes about Vince McMahon. The first one talks about the Von Erich's and how horrible Fritz was, and how he had a hand in a lot of the tragedy. Chris never should have been a wrestler and Mike should never gotten back in the ring after he had brain damage. And the tribute show after David's death seems like his dad trying to cash in on his sons passing. 

But then I watched the Beyond the Mat episode about the family, and they seemed to gloss over Fritz and how much control he had over the family. I have to wonder if part of that was because there were a lot of interviews with Kevin and that was part of the deal for him being involved (since he calls his dad a great man). Hopefully the movie isn't afraid to go in that direction.

[BetterButter]

Into the ring: The Iron Claw stars talk dropkicks and their emotional wrestling drama

[SeanC]

Zac Efron gives the performance of his career in this.

At times, the streamlining of the stories of the other Von Erich siblings does feel like an absence in the narrative, despite the commendable efforts of the actors portraying them. That said, this is an emotionally affecting tale, and Efron hits highs as a dramatic actor that I've never seen from him previously. This is one of the best male entries in the weepie genre in quite some time, and represents a real shift in tone for Durkin, whose earlier directorial efforts were much more opaque.

[sashabear21]

I saw this on Thursday, I really liked it.  I grew up in East Texas in the 80’s. The Von Erich brothers were our Gods.  If we focused on each individual brother and their tragedies and legal issues, you’d have a 20 hour movie too depressing to watch. 

[Kel Varnsen]

I had the day off yesterday so I watched this and was surprised by how good it was. I was impressed by how much material for that many characters they crammed into a 2 hour movie. I was also surprised by how they didn't try to force some bullshit happy/triumphant ending after all the tragedy.

And Zac Efron was also really good. I honestly didn't know he could pull off that kind of dramatic work. Was also impressed that he actually looked like a believable wrestler. He was huge and jacked and on top of that he was like a completely different body type than how ha looked when he was huge in Baywatch. That must have taken a ton of work. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Heard this was good,but there wasn't much on the Dad, Fritz Von Erich. Texas seemed to be a favorite place to wrestle for the family Von Erich. I'm sure they did the circuit like so many wrestlers back then. Seems like St.Louis,Kansas City,Chicago,Dallas,Houston,New Orleans etc... had the weekly bouts? 

[rmontro]

On 10/11/2023 at 11:09 PM, sashabear21 said:

I'm sure it was for dramatic purposes and to keep the movie from being too long, but Chris was a big part of the Von Erich tragedy/curse so it's even sadder if he was cut out of the movie entirely.  

Reportedly Chris' character was mixed in the Mike in the movie.  So when you watch the movie, it's so tragic, but realize there was another son in there so the real story was even more tragic.

This movie was really good, surprisingly so.  Didn't expect that for a wrestling movie.  A minor quibble that was a distraction the whole time I was watching it:  I remember Kerry as being the big bulked up one, while Kevin had a leaner physique, but Kevin is the bulkiest one in this.  I would definitely recommend this for a watch though.

[Danny Franks]

I finally watched this today. I'd been putting it off because I already knew the story and knew how depressing the movie would be.

There's something about the Territory days of wrestling that's so fascinating - all these local promotions that were simultaneously big time in their area but full of carnies and seedy as anything.

WCCW is one of those that's really interesting, because of the amount of talent there, and the mystique and tragedy of the Von Erich boys. The Sportatorium always seems like an iconic venue of those Territory days.

The journey from the glory days to Kevin on his own was incredibly sad. Fritz was an abusive asshole, and far worse than this movie showed - he used the deaths of his sons to sell tickets for shows, for crying out loud.

Some great casting in this movie - Fritz and David seemed incredibly well cast, Kerry and Kevin less so. I get why Efron wanted to play Kevin, the sole surviving brother, but he's so much more like Kerry (especially in this jacked form). Meanwhile Jeremy Allen White just didn't seem right at all. Kerry was a complete himbo - great looking, strong as an ox, but absolutely nothing going on between the ears.

Honestly though, it was a little disappointing. The pacing was not good, and the other brothers weren't given enough time for their deaths to really resonate. I think the focus should have been less tightly on Kevin so we could see more of the other brothers, and the circumstances that led to their deaths.

The quote from Kevin, "I used to have five brothers, now I'm not even a brother," hits harder than the version they used in the movie. 

I still don't know how I feel about them combining Chris and Mike into one character. They both had very different lives, and were tragic in their own ways - Mike was a very promising wrestler who suffered brain damage due to toxic shock syndrome, but was wheeled right back out there by his dad, and Chris as the youngest who wanted to be a wrestler but he was asthmatic and had brittle bones, so just couldn't do it.

Edited January 12 by Danny Franks

[Ashlee]

This movie made me cry so much and it didn’t even tell the full tragedy of the family.