Title:
Ring Of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story
Producer/Directors:
Dan Klores and Ron Berger
Executive
Producer: Lewis Katz
Running
Time: 87 minutes without commercials
Media:
USA Network Acquisition Documentary Premiere (NTSC DVD Screener)
Premiere:
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at 9pm (ET/PT)
Network:
USA Network (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV
Rating: Not Available At The Time Of Review
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
On
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at 9pm (ET/PT) USA Network will present in an
unprecedented broadcast premiere, the Sundance Film Festival acquisition of the
moving documentary, “Ring Of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story” without
commercial interruption. This commercial free broadcast premiere is sponsored by
SAAB Cars USA. I am not a big boxing fan. In fact I’m not really a sports fan
at all, but this documentary really moved me and is extremely compelling. Emile
Griffith immigrated to New York City from the Virgin Islands in the late 1950s
and quickly became a welterweight contender after winning a National Golden
Glove championship. Winning fight after fight, Emile gradually brought all his
family members to New York and was living a true American dream where a man from
another country can come to the United States and make something himself while
changing the lives of all around him. At the same time fate had intertwined his
career with the destiny of Cuban boxing champion Benny “The Kid” Paret, who
had a background very similar to Emile’s
Emile
would clash in the ring three times with Paret. In their first fight, Emile won
Paret’s Welterweight Crown while the second match saw Paret defeat Emile.
Tragically in their third match, Paret had added a bit of what I guess today
would be called “trash talk” and referred to Emile Griffith a “maricon,”
which is a Spanish slang for being a homosexual. In the twelfth round of their
decisive fight at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Griffith bombarded a dazed
Paret with what has been speculated as a series of 17 to 25 powerful punches to
his head in the ring in seconds. Emile’s victory would be an empty one since
Paret was rushed to a hospital where he lapsed into a coma and died ten days
later. Thereafter, Griffith continued a successful boxing career, but guilt had
tainted him since the terrible accident. Eventually Emile’s American dream
lifestyle collapsed and he went from driving a Cadillac to riding a city bus.
Griffith would eventually work as a prison guard and even adapted one of the
inmates as his own son. In the time between boxing had been pulled from Network
television for more than ten years and eventually helped to create to
pay-per-view bouts that are common to cable and satellite television
broadcasters today. In 1992 Emile Griffith was the victim of a “hate crime”
and has since suffered from severe memory loss. Eventually Griffith would meet
with the son of the champion he defeated decades earlier, Benny Paret, Jr., for
what would ultimately prove to another life changing event.
“Ring
Of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story” features interview clips and voiceover with
Jimmy Breslin, Peter Hamill, Norman Mailer, Gil Clancy, Neal Gabler, Juan
Gonzalez as well as boxers Carmen Basillo, Jose Torres, Gene Fullmer, Gaspar
Ortega, and Juan LaPorte. Members of Griffith’s and Paret’s family are also
featured in clips. This is really a story about forgiveness and redemption as
much as it is about rising boxing titans and starcrossed fates. The subject of
Emile Griffith’s alleged homosexuality is not made clear and in a way I think
it is better that way because from my point of view, “Ring Of Fire: The Emile
Griffith Story” is more a story about parallel fates and karma. This is a
compelling documentary not to be missed. “Ring Of Fire: The Emile Griffith
Story” will premiere on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 9pm (ET/PT) and without
commercial interruption on the USA Network.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.