Undisputed
is primarily for aficionados of boxing, with a lot of time
devoted to fights. Film footage even includes Braddock's knockout
in 1937 by Joe Louis, whom one character, Emmanuel "Mendy"
Ripstein (played by Peter Falk), regards as the finest boxer
of all time. The plot is totally unrealistic, however. Most
action takes place at Sweetwater Prison, a facility of some
700 hardened criminals in California's Mojave Desert (though
actually filmed at the High Desert State Prison in Nevada).
We are told that inmates at maximum-security Sweetwater are
so nasty that the facility exists to keep them away from inmates
in other correctional institutions; they are violent criminals
and members of organized crime, many serving life sentences.
Each character, including Ripstein, is introduced by titles
with their name and criminal offense. Miraculously, Sweetwater
has no racial problems; a white guy (played by Fisher Stevens),
for example, is the fight manager of Monroe Hutchen (played
by Wesley Snipes), a murderer who has not lost a boxing match
during his decade or so of incarceration. One day a helicopter
arrives, delivering World Heavyweight Champ James "Iceman"
Chambers (played by Ving Rhames), who has just been convicted
of a single act of rape, with civil charges in the pipeline;
the inference is that he has been railroaded because he is
Black. A self-composed Black rape victim appears from time
to time in televised interviews to profess that she started
to have sex with Iceman, then withdrew her consent when she
was treated rough, whereas Iceman claims that there was no
rape because her consent was never withdrawn. (Rape carries
the death penalty in some states, provided the victim dies,
so the he-said-she-said offense appears not to warrant placement
into Sweetwater.) But Iceman is anything but self-composed.
From the time he arrives at Sweetwater he tries to bully everyone,
arrogantly in words and crudely with fists, claiming that
he has to do so to survive. The only person whom he accepts
as a friend is his cellmate, Mingo Sixkiller (played by Wes
Studi). When Iceman learns that Hutchen is the boxing champ
of Sweetwater, he strides up to him in the mess hall, takes
a swing at him, but Hutchen instead of Iceman ends up in solitary
confinement, obviously a mere device in the story to delay
the inevitable fight between them long enough to enable more
character development. While in solitary, Hutchen spends his
time meticulously building a pagoda with matchsticks between
doing exercises to keep fit, thus gaining the respect of filmviewers.
Eventually, Iceman ends up in solitary over an altercation,
but Ripstein puts pressure through channels to organize the
inevitable--a match between Hutchen and Iceman. Ripstein insists
that the London boxing rules (pre-Queensbury) must be followed,
presumably to even the odds, and bets arranged by Vegas bigshots
are in the millions. Hutchen's supporters propose to put sleeping
pills into Iceman's last meal before the fight, he vetoes
the idea, but who knows what really happens? The outcome of
the match is predictable. Some sort of deal is made to have
Iceman released from prison when the match is over despite
his dismally poor prison record. Then, in an epilog, Iceman
defeats a challenger to regain his "undisputed"
heavyweight championship, but the camera soon focuses on Hutchen,
and the word "Undisputed" appears. Directed by Walter
Hill, Undisputed may be perceived
in the eyes of most cinema patrons as a glorification of the
art of boxing. But the opposite is obvious to the perspicacious
observer, who will notice that the sport reeks of the smell
of gangsters, punks, and gambling interests, even in prison.
MH
I
want to comment on this film
