Eastwood shot the film in less than 40 days between June and July 2004. Its time to give recognition to the man who runs the show behind the scenes. Frankie says that he doesn't usually train girls, until he meets the tenacious Maggie. Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a tough-luck waitress, who persuades a grizzled old trainer named Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) to help turn her into a world-class boxer. The back of Maggie's robe has the phrase "Mo Cuishle". Maggie is devastated, and she and Frankie leave. A horrified Frankie refuses, so Maggie later bites her own tongue in an attempt to bleed to death. Is it really possible for a person to want to live following an injury like Maggie's? Hilary Swank bagged her second Oscar for the sheer determination and heartbreaking emotion on display as Maggie Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old waitress desperately clinging to her dream of becoming a boxer. On their return to Los Angeles, Frankie agrees to let Maggie travel to Las Vegas to face Billie The Blue Bear (Lucia Rijker) for the welterweight title. Despite her age, Maggie proves herself to be worth Frankie's time and . Appearances On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. No one would consider it moral to yell "jump" to a person standing on a high ledge. Maggie becomes an extraordinarily successful fighter, always knocking out her opponent in the first round. 'Million Dollar Baby' is amongst his finest films, a superb film, that almost reaches a Landmark level! After months of training, Maggie is given a manager, but during her first fight, Frankie decides to take over as her manager, and she then knocks out her opponent. Out of the several short stories in the book, the ones that are merged together to form the script of the film are The Monkey Look, Million $$$ Baby, and Frozen Water. Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond (died 1542), daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare and Alison FitzEustace Margaret Fitzgerald (supercentarian) (1896-2009), Canadian supercentenarian A main character in the film Million Dollar Baby, played by Hilary Swank This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. She describes her previous fame, the crowds chanting her name, and feels that having achieved that exulted status, there's no point in living as a quadriplegic. Billie the Blue Bear, dropping Maggie Fitzgerald's head across a stool, paralyzing her, freezing us, and how can anyone ever forgive that? I cant help but to get really choked up when I write about Margaret Maggie Fitzgerald, the protagonist in the 2004 Academy Award-winning film, Million Dollar Baby. Shes a Wow! It received critical acclaim and grossed $216.8 million worldwide. Frankie is also reluctant to let Big Willie fight in a title match. However, fortunately, unlike the fate of Maggie in the film, Crockett didnt meet with any tragedy in her life. And she's a damn good boxer too, starting off . Hilary Swank as Maggie is some kinda BAD ASS. in spades. [1][2] Filming took place in Los Angeles and film sets at Warner Bros. Clint Eastwood is a legendary film personality. Frankie bestows Maggie a Gaelic nickname, embroidered on her boxing robe, Mo Chuisle (misspelled in the film as "mo cuishle"), but does not tell her its meaning. Hilary Swank bagged her second Oscar for the sheer determination and heartbreaking emotion on display as Maggie Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old waitress desperately clinging to her dream of . Maggie's rough around the edges, but shows a . Frankie, who has come to think of Maggie as he would a daughter, does what any good father would do. At the outset, he flatly refuses saying he has no interest in training a girl. She eventually finds a. Shes one helluva fictional character. Our weekly email is chockful of interesting and relevant insights into Jewish history, food, philosophy, current events, holidays and more Dr. Daniel Eisenberg is with the Department of Radiology at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA and an Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Imaging at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine. Stories of businessmen jumping off buildings after a stock market crash fill us with pity for the lost chance at intervention, not a feeling of satisfaction of them "having done the right thing. Maggie, a waitress from the Ozarks region of Missouri, starts working out at the gym. While the fictional Maggie is convinced that her life is over after her injury, the real Christopher Reeve chose to define himself not as the movie star he had been, but rather by his future potential -- limited in some respects, but boundless nonetheless. E.S. A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional. We are certainly never permitted to shorten the life of someone like Maggie who is in a very compromised state, but not dying. Gradually making her way upwards, she becomes notorious for taking out opponents in the first round while earning herself the moniker of "Mo Cuishle." Hollywood Athletic Club - 6525 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. The film was named the third "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far" in 2017 by The New York Times.[26]. It was after 'Million Dollar Baby' was released that her boxing career came to the limelight. [12], Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four stars and stated that "Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby is a masterpiece, pure and simple," listing it as the best film of 2004. She trained for nearly five hours every day, winding up with a potentially life-threatening staphylococcus infection. Even though Maggies financial success is a boon to her terrible, unsupportive family, they are quite unamused by her success as a female boxer; her own mom tells her that her home girls and home boys are secretly making fun of her. As she tells him, I want a trainer. Million Dollar Baby: Directed by Clint Eastwood. . Specifically because of his fame, he was able to sensitize the world to the plight of the disabled and become an unrelenting crusader for stem cell research and spinal cord injury research. She competed in the Junior Olympics and Washington State championships in swimming; she ranked 5th in the state in all-around gymnastics (which would come in handy for starring in The Next Karate Kid (1994) years later). Little by little, an unbreakable father/daughter bond develops between them, and for the first time in a long while, both Dunn and Maggie seem to have found purpose in life. With Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel. Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald, a waitress from the Ozarks, shows up at the Hit Pit, a rundown Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn. While he trained a lot of people in the field, he never got to make his dream of winning the world championship come true due to a boxing accident in 1970 that had left him with a detached retina. [9] In its later wide release opening, the film earned $12,265,482 in North America and quickly became a box-office hit both domestically and internationally. The film played in theaters for six and a half months. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, Frankie's friend and employeethe film's narratorencourages and helps Maggie. For the 1941 film, see. Frankie runs the Hit Pit boxing gym, and Scrap is his best friend and the maintenance man for the gym. Frankie Dunn believes her too old to be getting in the line, but her conviction wins him over and they begin a rigorous training. But in such a state of presumed depression, is it in her best interest for us to give her decision-making autonomy to end her life? But it does not require an edict from the Code of Jewish Law to recognize that Maggie is making the wrong choice. Our society is so enamored with autonomy that we sometimes fail to consider other issues. We, as a society, do not feel they are in a position to make prudent decisions. How Dan Foglers Boyhood Dreams Turned Into Adult Realities, Use Womens History Month as Your Excuse to Watch These Cinematic Masterpieces. As an actor, I had my reservations with him, but as a storyteller, I have truly inhaled him. He was in his 40s by then, so there was no prospect of him pursuing it as a profession, but he learnt enough to know about the world of boxing and write stories about it. See production, box office & company info. Film(s) Frankie's glory days as a boxing coach are far behind him, though he's still on the lookout for the next superstar boxer. Eastwood had his daughter Morgan Colette appear in a brief role as a girl who waves to Swank's character at a gas station. [27][28] The film is also available online through video on demand and most major streaming platforms. characters are most like you. Maggie cant abide the thought of being bedridden for the rest of her life; after having a leg amputated due to gangrene, she begs Frankie to help her end her life. We take for granted a world where patient autonomy is the overriding ethical principle to which all other considerations must bend. Is Million Dollar Baby based on true events? Maggie asks Frankie to train her, but he refuses as he does not train women and she is too old to begin a boxing career. Frankie is shown experiencing the first three of the five stages of grief: first seeking multiple doctors' opinions in denial, then blaming Scrap in anger and later trying to bargain with God through prayer. One man told New Yorker magazine that upon jumping, "I instantly realized that everything in my life that I'd thought was unfixable, was totally fixable -- except for having just jumped. If she dies today you know what her last thought would be? Boxing movies come with a different set of emotions. A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional. Frankie then sneaks into the hospital one night, unaware that Scrap is watching from the shadows. And both took a. Interests boxing, her only calling in life. Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran Los Angeles, California boxing trainer who keeps almost everyone at arm's length, except his old friend and associate Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman). 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