Play It to the Bone, 2000

Additional Captures

Director & Screenwriter: Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, Tin Cup, White Men Can’t Jump)

Co-Stars: Woody Harrelson (Vince Boudreau), Lolita Davidovitch (Grace Pasic), Lucy Liu (Lia), Robert Wagner (Hank Goody), Tom Sizemore (Joe Domino

Studio: Touchstone Pictures/Shanghai’d Films

Filming Locations: Las Vegas, Nevada, and desert of California

Release Date: January 21, 2000

“Sometimes your entire life can change with one phone call.”

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle:

“Shelton presents a cynical and harsh world that, at the same time, thrives on the nurturing of very basic virtues: courage, stamina and discipline. Surrounded by corruption, the fighters are like children, waiting to be exploited. Yet they’re also special people, with a core of strength that has as much to do with character as muscles.

Cesar Dominguez (Antonio) and Vince Boudreau (Harrelson) play the fighters…best friends who dream of one more shot at the big time. Their careers are all but finished, and then one day the phone rings and they catch a break. They’re offered the opening bout on the same card as Mike Tyson for a fight in Las Vegas to take place that night. Only problem is, they have to fight each other.

In addition to being savvy about its subject, [the film] has an important virtue. It dares to take its time. Shelton, exuding the confidence of a veteran filmmaker, has most of the picture take place in the car, as the fighters – accompanied by Grace, Cesar’s girlfriend [and Vince’s former girlfriend] – make the long drive from L.A. to Vegas.

They talk about Vince’s religious visions (he sees Jesus everywhere), Cesar’s flirtation with homosexuality and their hard luck at the hands of promoters and judges. Much of the talk is silly, but because the conversations are allowed to breathe, it’s not just silly. We get to know and like them, and, without meaning to, we start worrying about the fight. A nice unspoken subtext of the conversation is that the guys are, in fact, trying to clash in order to make it easier to hit each other.

…the guys are terrific – Banderas, endearingly sensitive; Harrelson, endearingly goofy. Eventually, Shelton moves the film into the ring, and then he doesn’t skimp on the boxing sequences. These guys pound on each other, and we get enough of the fight to understand its ebb and flow.”

From Film.com:

“It’s…a funny and touching process to witness, from Vince’s horrified reaction to Cesar’s admission of past homosexuality to Grace’s encounter of Cesar’s pre-fight, rage-at-the-heavens ritual. Shelton’s vibrant dialogue, always wonderfully customized for each character and shrewdly literate in its overall music, may not reach the heights of ‘Bull Durham’ or even the best moments in ‘Tin Cup’, but it is an unabashed pleasure all the same. The centerpiece of [the movie] is a brutal, ten-round preliminary boxing match…what Shelton’s fight scenes do very well is capture the way a professional boxer’s artistry in the first rounds of a match gradually gives way to exhaustion, dizziness, and pain in later rounds. At that point, a commitment to win is driven almost entirely by a stout heart, and no one has more heart in this movie than the two middleweight has-beens at its center.

The intensity, the grit, the blood, the pain of the fight between Cesar and Vince hold you in rapt attention from minute to minute. The camera work is superb, and the tension and excitement swell as the crowd straggles in late only to stand and cheer in orgiastic lust for more punches. The phrase, “play it to the bone”, is a reference to seeing something all the way through or not quitting until you’ve achieved your desire goal. And this is exactly what Cesar and Vince do when they step into the ring. They go for a lengthy, bloody, old-fashioned slugfest, complete with colorful ring attendants and a celebrity-studded audience who are unexpectedly getting their money’s worth. This match is absolutely convincing, with Antonio and Woody and their fight doubles undetectably blended. It’s dazzling, exhausting, breathlessly brutal and graceful at the same time. It is a beautifully edited climactic fight sequence, which acknowledges the brutality of boxing without ever apologizing for it.”

Related Information

The fight scenes between Antonio and Woody got a little to close for comfort on a few occasions. Antonio suffered hairline fractures of a rib and his nose, as well as a chipped tooth. At the premiere, Antonio said, “The punches were hard, and the sweat was real. I’m in the best shape of my life now.” Melanie, however, was less enthusiastic: “It was gruesome. He always came home in a lot of pain.”

The film was not a box office or critical success; however, as is so often the case, Antonio received positive reviews for his role:

Kevin Smith, Los Angeles Times: “…Antonio Banderas, in what is arguably his most challenging role ever and perhaps the richest since his collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar.”

Edvins Beitiks, San Francisco Examiner: “Although Shelton’s camera work inside the car is more close-up and claustrophobic than it needs to be, the way the actors draw you into their lives, especially Banderas, is beautiful to behold…Banderas is a pleasure to be around, especially during a monologue about a knockout loss at Madison Square Garden and the thrill of hearing his name shouted by the announcer, twice. When Banderas talks about liking men, but then backing off – ‘I didn’t dig it’ – or when he stands by a railroad track yelling at himself, he yanks the movie to his chest. It belongs to him.”

Synopsis compiled by Lisa