This movie is based on a true story about Olympic wrestlers Mark and Dave Schultz and coach/sponsor John Du Pont and that's as much detail as I care to get into because I think this movie works best the less you know about it (sorry, Wrestling Observer podcast listeners).
PROS - Steve Carrell was really good. - The reactions of the audience were fantastic. Like I said, Meltzer has talked a lot about the movie so I knew what was coming. It seemed like I might have been the only one. Listening to people talking when they left the theatre was pretty entertaining. They did NOT know what they were in for. I was sure I had told my wife what the movie was about but clearly I did not.
CONS - The whole thing, apart from the ending, was pretty dull. As in, I-don't-recommend-this-movie dull.
It's weird to me that anyone wouldn't know how that story ended, because it was such a huge news story here in the Philadelphia area. DuPont's compound wasn't that far away from where my aunt & uncle live, and his name was pretty much poison around here. A local university had to rename their basketball arena because it was the "John DuPont Arena." Also - Kurt Angle even alluded to it in his autobiography, I believe he knew the Schultz brother.
I have been looking forward to Foxcatcher for a long time, but I have not heard one good thing about it. Everyone I know who has seen it has told me not to waste my time and to wait for Netflix.
2. Read online that Mark Schultz came out and trashed the movie saying a lot of it is inaccurate, made-up and never happened.
3. Read online that Kurt Angle's character isn't in the movie at all. That really surprised me being that he is a very well known Olympic athlete that was there at Foxcatcher training under Dave Schultz when all this happened before going on and winning the gold medal.
(edited by Kevintripod on 19.1.15 0153)
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill
Originally posted by Spiraling_ShapeIt's weird to me that anyone wouldn't know how that story ended, because it was such a huge news story here in the Philadelphia area.
I don't think it was a big deal here, and even if it was, that was a long time ago. Leaving the theatre, I heard a lot of "what the fuck was THAT" and "I thought this was a wrestling movie" and things like that.
Originally posted by Spiraling_ShapeKurt Angle even alluded to it in his autobiography, I believe he knew the Schultz brother.
I believe Angle trained at Foxcatcher and Dave Schultz was his coach. Back me up, K-Tri:
Originally posted by KevintripodRead online that Kurt Angle's character isn't in the movie at all. That really surprised me being that he is a very well known Olympic athlete that was there at Foxcatcher training under Dave Schultz when all this happened before going on and winning the gold medal.
There wasn't really any place for Angle in the movie, though. The timeline of what happened was very compressed and they made it seem like one big thing
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
the murder
happened right after another big thing
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
the 1988 Seoul Olympics
when, in real life, the two events were years apart.