Price of Glory Movie Review:


Price of Glory is a good father-son movie with boxing as a nice backdrop. Arturo Ortega (Smits) was an inspiring world champion boxer whose rising career was unexpectedly cut short in one title match. Years later, Arturo is determined to raise his three sons, Sonny (Seda), Jimmy (Collins, Jr.) and Johnny (Hernandez) to become championship boxers. As the three boys begin to turn into men, Arturo becomes more obsessed with all of his son's lives and talent. Many conflicts arise in the Ortega family and Arturo and his sons are each left with many decisions to make to determine their journey not only in boxing, but also in life.

Price of Glory is a movie that does have potential. The film has feeling and strength with only a few mere flaws. The script by Phil Berger focuses totally on the Ortega family, not on the Ortega boxing. Berger's script does get crowded with subplots and situations, but the script's character relationships are pretty well balanced. However, the backdrop boxing sequences were not well balanced. During the film, Johnny and Jimmy have at least two boxing matches apiece, but the oldest son, Sonny, only fights once. Though, I saw this as an unbalanced aspect in the script, there was a fair amount of boxing in the film. Also, I believe if there would have been a few more boxing scenes in the film that the relationships might faded a little bit.

Carlos Avila's direction seems to be intact. Avila's boxing sequences were fast and quick like in all boxing movies, but his dramatic and emotional scenes connected the best with all the other aspects in the production.

Jimmy Smits is pure and efficent in his role as Arturo Ortega. He delivers many creative moments of heartbreak, love, anger and happiness that all shape his super performance. I was also impressed with Jon Seda's performance as Sonny. I am glad to see Seda acting again, who I first saw perform brilliantly in Selena. Seda has a simple and quiet style with his characters, which will probably land him some more roles. As far as for the other actors, Clifton Collins Jr. shows some range as Jimmy, and film debut actor Ernesto Hernandez will only get better in time. The only nuisance in the film is the performance by Costas Mandaylor as world champion boxer Davey Lang. Mandaylor delivers a very weak and annoying performance as the cocky boxer. Price of Glory is a film that I recommend to everybody. I was touched by the film's father-son story and was very entertained by the acting of Jimmy Smits and Jon Seda.

Report Card Grade: B

Joseph Tucker

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