On the Ropes

Released 1999
A documentary featuring boxers Tyrene Manson, George Walton, Noel Santiago, trainer Harry Keitt, manager Mickey Marcello, and Randy Little
Directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen

"On the Ropes" is a sports documentary as gripping, in a different way, as "Hoop Dreams." Both films are about ambitious young people from the ghetto who see sports as a road out of poverty. "On the Ropes" centers on the New Bed-Stuy Gym in New York, where a wise trainer, himself a survivor of hard times, guides the careers of three boxers.

The trainer's name is Harry Keitt, and his story also will figure here. The boxers are Tyrene Manson, a young Golden Gloves contender who has already knocked out the defending champion; George Walton, who seems to have genuine professional potential, and Noel Santiago, who is quick and promising, but easily discouraged. As they prepare for upcoming fights, we learn something of their stories.

One of them is sent to prison, although she is apparently innocent. We watch as she is represented by an incompetent lawyer, crucified by uncaring prosecutors and sentenced by a judge who exhibits the worst kind of barbarism: indifference to those whose lives he has power over. The most amazing thing about the trial and conviction of Tyrene Manson is not that it happened. Justice miscarries all the time in America, frequently when poor black defendants are involved. No, what is amazing is that the lawyer, the prosecutors and the judge allowed themselves to be filmed as they toyed recklessly with Tyrene Manson's life. You'd think that even the most indifferent of jurists would be on good behavior before the camera. Perhaps the camera itself explains their lack of prudence. "On the Ropes" was filmed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen with a low-tech Sony Handycam; its subjects might not have expected a real movie to result. But it did and won the Special Jury Award at Sundance. Now they know.

Summary by Roger Ebert