Price Of Glory *** (PG-13)

Reviewed By George O. Singleton

The price of gory is too high

Jimmy Smits: Arturo Ortega Maria Del Mar: Rita Ortega

Jon Seda: Sonny Ortega Clifton Collins Jr.: Jimmy Ortega

Ernesto Hernandez: Johnny Ortega Director: Carlos Avila

30 Second Bottom Line: A father with three sons motivates them to excel in boxing; in large part because he wants them to realize his personally failed dream of a world championship. Set in an Arizona town on the border of Mexico, we see how he leads his family on this journey.

Story Line: As in the film Hurricane, drastic situations cause major changes as the years pass. Arturo Ortega (Jimmy Smits) is in the ring in the late 1970's as his career is stopped short because his greedy promoter gets him into a championship fight before he is ready.

Fast forward several years to a family outing and we see Arturo taking his wife Rita (Maria Del Mar) and their three sons to boxing championships where youngsters compete. We get a sense of the intensity of what boxing is all about as well as the single-minded focus of Arturo. He motivates his sons like the coach of a winning NCAA basketball team.

As the boys develop, Jimmy (Clifton Collins Jr.), the oldest son becomes jealous of his brother Sonny's (Jon Seda) boxing skills. While the drama builds with the older boys, the youngest son, Johnny (Ernesto Hernandez) soon shows he is the one with the natural talent and desire. As Jimmy and Sonny have their ups and downs with the family and their careers, Johnny has the skills of a Muhammad Ali with no distractions.

Johnny picks up the cocky habits of his father, which causes him to have a run in with a promoter's assistant that changes the direction of the picture. We know the movie will have a Rocky-like ending and it when it does, though we are happy, we sense there is something missing. The movie is enjoyable because we see a family, who happens to be Latino, struggle against great odds with fierce dedication. Every one in the family grows as a person from the challenges they face.

Tell Me More About It: The acting is excellent and you are pulling for the family to overcome the hurdles placed before them. Rather than a Rocky ending with a victory in the ring, I would like to have seen just how the family members were doing six months or ten years later. Just what did they learn on the road to the victory in the ring? Was there life after boxing? While Arturo urged his nephew to go to college so he would have a long-term career, why could he have not selected one of his three sons for that same path? He was so focused on them being what he wanted them to be rather than what they wanted to be, that you have to wonder if any family member survived in tact. So while the movie has a happy ending on the surface, after thinking about it for a few days, I have to believe that things don't turn out so well for anyone.

This was a Hollywood movie and not a documentary-based film like Boy's Don't Cry or Hurricane, and this would have been much better with some changes in the attitude of Arturo from the beginning of the story. It's entertainment with a message that could have been stronger.

The fight scenes in the movie are fantastic and you wonder about boxers getting punch drunk even with protective headgear. In real fights, the referees should possibly call more standing "eight counts." With fighters now extending their careers well past 40, we see why the fight game does not generate the excitement of former years. We like our athletes at or near their prime. It's the mind set of not knowing when to let go and move on that explains why Arturo has so much difficulty thinking of life beyond boxing as every smart sports figure should do.

Jimmy Smits: NYPD-TV	Maria Del Mar: Blue Murder-TV
Jon Seda: Homocide-TV	Clifton Collins Jr.: Traffic
Ernesto Hernandez: A gun, a car, a Blonde	Carlos Avila: The Tent Show