Arguably, the biggest flaw of the film was the depiction of Max Baer, James Braddock's opponent in the championship match. He was portrayed as a remorseless, crude villain who took pleasure in harming others. In the film, Baer threatens Braddock, telling him to drop the fight or he will end up dying int he ring like his previous two victims. Baer tells Braddock that he will sleep with his then widowed wife, but the actual Max Baer was nothing like this. In actuality, Baer only saw boxing as an inescapable evil to earn a living. He explicitly preferred partying to boxing. In response to the film, Max Baer's son spoke out: "The portrayal of my father in Cinderella Man couldn't have been more wrong and inaccurate. They turned a good0hearted, fun loving, friendly and warm human being who hated boxing into Mr. T from Rocky III with no redeemable characteristics." Furthermore, Baer's fighting only killed one person, not two as the film depicts.
In 1930, Baer accidentally killed Frankie Campbell after a boxing match. The film pretends that Baer felt nothing after the death of Campbell, but, in reality, he fell into a depression that would lead him to start drinking and smoking. He cried and had troubling nightmares long after the incident and lost four of his next five fights. He even raised $10,000 for Campbell's family during an exhibition match. The second victim, Ernie Schaaf, actually died after a fight with Primo Carnera. The film claims that Schaaf died instantly when his brain became detached from his spinal cord from one of Baer's famous right hooks, but Scaaf actually passed away four days after the fight. The autopsy determined the cause of death to be brain swelling and meningitis from a recent encounter with the flu.
Director Ron Howard even went to the extent of altering the Start of David stitching on the front of Baer's boxing shorts. In the actual fight between Braddock and Baer, the insignia was clearly visible, but it is hardly noticeable int he film adaptation. Baer's connection to Judaism is shaky, but to leave out a symbol Baer had become widely known for is a huge injustice to factual accuracy. Howard's inaccurate depiction of Baer is questionable at the very least, but it makes sense from a production standpoint. Perhaps Howard wanted to prevent the film from being associated with antisemetic ideals by removing the Jewish star from the antagonist's costumes or to avoid offending sensitive audience members. However, the real effects of this distortion lead the film to ultimately do a better job at telling an intense and emotional story than exposing audiences to real facts about the Great Depression. Howard likely wanted his audience to relate to and support Braddock, and there is no better way of doing this than by making his enemy as evil as possible. Max Baer's son describe's his outrage over Howard's decision making: "Anyone who knew my father, even slightly, liked him. In making a good movie, being true to the main characters is absolutely mandatory. By the same token, taking the adversary and turning him into a hateful cartoon was unnecessary, especially when that person was a real human being with a real reputation. Before this movie, I thought a lot more of Ron Howard." Baer even becomes a distraction away from the setting in the Great Depression. The film quickly becomes about Braddock's preparation for the fight and his fear associated with it.
The character of Mike Wilson, although a minor inaccuracy, further draw the film away from factual depiction of the Great Depression. James Braddock's friend, Mike Wilson is a completely fictional character. Scenes with Mike and Braddock only server to showcase Braddock's work ethic and persistent mentality. Rather than using the Wilson to further the audience's knowledge of the Great Depression, Howard chose to use Wilson to develop Braddock's character. Wilson appears only a few times throughout the film, lightly complaining about the government's mistake's, but the real focus is on Braddock's reaction. Howard misused a great opportunity to explain public opinion during the Great Depression, choosing instead to focus on Braddock's story. Although Braddock was accurately characterized by the film in this sense, Howard is employing fiction to explain a truth, which is still a technical inaccuracy.
Cinderella Man does an excellent job of explaining James Braddock's character traits and personal adversities, but the fiction it employs to create an entertaining story draw the film away from accurate depiction of the Great Depression. Both characters of Max Baer and Mike Wilson were missed opportunities to teach history. Max Baer was nothing like his counterpart portrayed in the film, and he only served to create an interesting challenge for Braddock to overcome. Mike Wilson never actually existed. Howard neglected the facts in order to tell a more compelling and emotional story when he could have focused more on the environment and time period. Although some may argue that the hardship of the Great Depression was conveyed in the film, Cinderella Man focuses more on the individual story of James Braddock than it does on the Great Depression.
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| The true Max Baer |
