The Iron Claw (2023)
February 29, 2024 12:59 PM - Subscribe
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.
I liked this, but I really wanted to like this more. Maybe I was in part distracted by Zac Efron's hair and face, I'll admit. But something was missing. Maybe it was just that there was so much to cover, and not enough time to cover it. And there was so much more! I agree with the writer/director that they had to leave out the 6th and youngest Von Erich, Chris -- it would have been too much, narratively and emotionally -- but it still feels like short-changing the memory of a poor kid who died way, WAY too young. The Fake Von Erich, Lance, was supposedly on-screen, portrayed by pro wrestler MJF, but I think in a blink-and-you-missed-it flash across the screen during a montage late in the movie. I also think they could have done a better job of demonstrating/clarifying how the wrestling industry actually works (which is so, so different than most people, even the fans, think, from what very little I (think I) know), but that's a lot more difficult, and the more other wrestlers/wrestling you include, the less it becomes about the Von Erichs. A prestige TV mini-series on the same story would be able to delve into the industry in more detail, but a film like this needs a smaller focus.
Oh, and the guy as Ric Flair was terrible. Way, way off.
I grew up in Houston in the 1980s, but I was totally unaware of regional wrestling and the Von Erichs because 1) I only knew about (then) WWF from the TV blitz, and 2) I didn't know any kids my age who were part of the wrestling fan culture. Watching this was in part a little peek for me into an alternate childhood I could have had -- not being a wrestler, god no!, but growing up a part of that fandom and world. I didn't get into wrestling until the height of the Monday Night Wars, and I stopped watching regularly not too long after WWE secured a monopoly and had begun to seriously decline, when I was in my 20s, so I have a totally different relation to the sport(s-entertainment). It is fascinating to look at how things worked before Vince (and Linda!) McMahon transformed the industry, in all the terrible and maybe good ways they have, and where the stuff I got into came from.
Anyway, I liked the post-death sequence, even though/because it was sentimental. I wanted to see something positive, some sense of peace/redemption for this family. The moment that finally got me was when he said he'd lost his brothers, and his kids said they'd be his brothers. That to me was what so much of the movie was about: the tragedy of these actually quite sensitive brothers who are pitted against each other by their patriarch for placement in the hierarchy within the family, and then sent out to fight on behalf of the patriarch's name and legacy. Instead of being allowed to develop in pursuit of their own dreams and means of self-expression, they live a life of literally performing violent (if, in their case, by the "good guys" against the "bad guys") masculinity, with an identity that is a blur of fact and fiction, authenticity and psychological manipulation. Gee, it almost sounds like it could be a good analogy for American masculinity in general!
All in all, it was clearly the work of someone who loves and respects wrestling as a popular art/entertainment and wrestlers as people who sacrifice their bodies, lives, and families to an often toxic industry. And as someone who also loves and (sorta) respects wrestling etc. etc. I stop to think... is that a good thing? Is maybe the problem that it was a bit too reverent? Again, something that a prestige TV series could do better, being both critical while also not insulting/dismissive.
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:39 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
Oh, and the guy as Ric Flair was terrible. Way, way off.
I grew up in Houston in the 1980s, but I was totally unaware of regional wrestling and the Von Erichs because 1) I only knew about (then) WWF from the TV blitz, and 2) I didn't know any kids my age who were part of the wrestling fan culture. Watching this was in part a little peek for me into an alternate childhood I could have had -- not being a wrestler, god no!, but growing up a part of that fandom and world. I didn't get into wrestling until the height of the Monday Night Wars, and I stopped watching regularly not too long after WWE secured a monopoly and had begun to seriously decline, when I was in my 20s, so I have a totally different relation to the sport(s-entertainment). It is fascinating to look at how things worked before Vince (and Linda!) McMahon transformed the industry, in all the terrible and maybe good ways they have, and where the stuff I got into came from.
Anyway, I liked the post-death sequence, even though/because it was sentimental. I wanted to see something positive, some sense of peace/redemption for this family. The moment that finally got me was when he said he'd lost his brothers, and his kids said they'd be his brothers. That to me was what so much of the movie was about: the tragedy of these actually quite sensitive brothers who are pitted against each other by their patriarch for placement in the hierarchy within the family, and then sent out to fight on behalf of the patriarch's name and legacy. Instead of being allowed to develop in pursuit of their own dreams and means of self-expression, they live a life of literally performing violent (if, in their case, by the "good guys" against the "bad guys") masculinity, with an identity that is a blur of fact and fiction, authenticity and psychological manipulation. Gee, it almost sounds like it could be a good analogy for American masculinity in general!
All in all, it was clearly the work of someone who loves and respects wrestling as a popular art/entertainment and wrestlers as people who sacrifice their bodies, lives, and families to an often toxic industry. And as someone who also loves and (sorta) respects wrestling etc. etc. I stop to think... is that a good thing? Is maybe the problem that it was a bit too reverent? Again, something that a prestige TV series could do better, being both critical while also not insulting/dismissive.
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:39 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
Couple of related podcasts. Director interview. Interview with Kevin and his sons about their life and the movie.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 3:53 AM on March 1
posted by TheophileEscargot at 3:53 AM on March 1
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posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:02 PM on February 29