The Brawler (2019, directed by Ken Kushner)

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

The Brawler is a biopic of boxer Chuck Wepner (adequately played by Zach McGowan). A resident of Bayonne, New Jersey and nicknamed “The Bleeder” because of how much he usually bled in the ring, Wepner was the first boxer to face Muhammad Ali (played by Jerrod Page, who looks and sounds like Ali but who has none of his fabled charisma) after Ali’s famous defeat of George Foreman. No one gave Wepner much of a chance. Ali barely bothered to train for the match and falsely accused Wepner of using racial slurs while talking to him. To everyone’s shock, Wepner not only went 15 rounds with the champ but he even knocked Ali off of his feet. Wepner ultimately lost the fight but he won the hearts of many of the people watching. He also inspired Sylvester Stallone to write and star in a movie called Rocky.

Though he was famous being “the Real Rocky,” Wepner initially didn’t make a dime off of Rocky or any of the sequels that followed. While Stallone became a superstar, Wepner got addicted to cocaine, fought exhibition matches against Andre the Giant and a bear, and finally ended up in prison. After getting out of prison, Wepner returned to his old job of selling liquor and made money signing memorabilia. After he nearly got arrested as a part of a fraudulent autograph scam, Wepner finally took Stallone to court and sued for the money that he felt Stallone owed him. Stallone settled, making Chuck Wepner the only man to go the distance with both Muhammad Ali and Sylvester Stallone.

If the plot of The Brawler sounds familiar, maybe you’ve seen one of the many documentaries that have been made about Chuck Wepner. Or maybe you saw Chuck, a 2016 film about Chuck Wepner that starred Liev Schrieber. The Brawler hits all of the same points as Chuck, so much so that it almost feels like an unofficial remake. (Both films even features a voice-over narration from the actor playing Chuck.) The main difference between the two films is that The Brawler spends a lot more time on Wepner’s time as a drug addict and it also portrays Stallone (played unconvincingly by Anthony Mangano) in a much more negative light. Even though Wepner screws up every opportunity that he’s offered (including a chance to appear in Rocky II), it’s Stallone who is portrayed as being a villain because he didn’t always return Wepner’s calls and Stallone’s assistants were sometimes rude. While Chuck spends all of time whining about how unfair his life is, Stallone comes across as being often clueless but hardly malicious in the way he treated Chuck. It’s not easy to make a Hollywood superstar into a more sympathetic character than the poor underdog who is suing for the money that he’s owed for inspiring one of the most successful franchises of all time but The Brawler manages to pull it off. In Chuck, Wepner is an inspiring underdog who never lets life keep him down. In The Brawler, Wepner is a self-destructive child who lets down everyone who tries to help him. When it comes to Chuck vs The Brawler, it’s Chuck by a clear knock-out.

The most interesting thing about The Brawler is that Burt Young has a cameo as a man watching the Wepner/Ali fight in a bar. You have to wonder how Stallone felt about that. Et tu, Paulie?

Remembering The Real Rocky: Chuck (2017, directed by Philippe Falardeau)

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Jedadiah Leland

In 1975, an unheralded boxer named Chuck Wepner shocked the world when he managed to go nearly 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali. (He only fell short by 19 seconds.) The fight not only made Wepner a temporary celebrity but it also inspired a down-on-his-luck actor to write a script about an aging boxer who just wants to show that he can go the distance. The name of that script was Rocky and it made Sylvester Stallone a star.

As for Chuck Wepner, he initially enjoyed being known as “the Real Rocky,” but he soon learned that fame is often fleeting. After Wepner retired from the ring (but not before one exhibition match against Andre the Giant), he attempted to reinvent himself as an actor but a combination of bad friends, bad decisions, and a bad cocaine habit conspired to derail his life and Wepner eventually ended up serving a 10-year prison sentence. While he was incarcerated, Wepner did get to see a film being shot on location in the prison. The name of the film was Lock-Up and the star was none other than Sylvester Stallone.

With Chuck, Chuck Wepner finally gets the movie that he deserves. Wepner’s fight with Ali occurs early on in the film. The rest of Chuck deals with Wepner’s attempts to deal the aftermath of the biggest night of his life. Wepner may love his fame but secretly, he knows that it’s not going to last. While Stallone makes millions playing the role of Rocky Balboa, Chuck struggles to make ends meet. Even when given a chance to appear in Rocky II, Wepner falls victim to his insecurity and blows the audition. Seeking escape though drugs, the real Rocky ends up in prison, watching the other Rocky shoot his latest movie. Though the film suggests that Chuck finally found some peace with his third wife and a career as a liquor distributor, it’s still hard not to feel that Chuck Wepner deserved more.

Featuring a great lead performance from Liev Schreiber and outstanding supporting work from Naomi Watts, Jim Gaffigan, Michael Rapaport, Ron Perlman, and Morgan Spector (who plays Sylvester Stallone as being well-meaning but often insensitive), Chuck is a heartfelt, warts-and-all portrait of Chuck Wepner. The film sets out to give Wepner the recognition that he deserves and it largely succeeds. Watch it as a double feature with ESPN’s The Real Rocky.

Remembering Chuck Wepner: The Real Rocky (2011, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig)

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Jedadiah Leland

During his professional boxing career, Chuck Wepner had more than a few nicknames. Some people called him “The Bayonne Brawler,” because he was from Bayonne, New Jersey and he was a street fighter. After a 1970 loss to Sonny Liston, Wepner became known as “The Bayonne Bleeder” because of the amount of blood that he shed in the ring. However, after 1976, most people knew Chuck Wepner as “the real Rocky.”

In 1975, the largely unknown and little-regarded Chuck Wepner was given the opportunity to challenge Muhammad Ali for the world’s Heavyweight title. For the fight, Ali was paid $1.5 million while Wepner received only $10,000. For Ali, it was supposed to be an easy title defense. For Wepner, it was not only his biggest payday but also his chance to prove that he belonged in the ring with the champ.

During the fight, Wepner shocked everyone by holding his own. In the ninth round, Wepner knocked Ali down and it briefly looked as if the Bayonne Bleeder was about to become the world’s Heavyweight champion. Returning to his corner, Wepner told his manager, “Start the car. We’re going to the bank. We are millionaires!”

His manager replied, “You better turn around. He’s getting back up and he looks pissed off.”

When Ali got back on his feet, he came at Wepner with everything he had. Despite getting decisively outboxed and getting his nose broken during the final rounds, Wepner still went 15 rounds with Ali before the referee stopped the fight and declared Ali to be the winner by technical knockout.

Sitting in a bar and watching the Ali/Wepner fight was a struggling actor named Sylvester Stallone. A few days after the fight, Stallone wrote the first draft of his screenplay for Rocky and the rest is history. However, when Wepner would later try to get paid for inspiring one of the biggest box office hits of all time, Stallone claimed that Wepner had not provided any inspiration at all. Eventually, Wepner took Stallone to court and the case was settled for an undisclosed account.

ESPN Film’s The Real Rocky is an hour-long documentary about Chuck Wepner and his life both before and after Rocky. Featuring extensive interviews with Wepner himself and a group of veteran boxing journalists, The Real Rocky attempts to answer the two questions that haunt Wepner’s career: Was Chuck Wepner the real Rocky and did Wepner really knock down Muhammad Ali?

After the fight, Muhammad Ali claimed that Wepner did not knock him down but instead that Wepner had tripped him. In the documentary, Wepner continues to insist that he did knock Ali down and even says that, if asked, Ali will back him up. However, the documentary features a close-up of a photo that appears to show Wepner throwing a punch while standing on Ali’s foot, which would mean that Ali was right and Wepner did trip him. The Bayonne Bleeder knocking down Muhammad Ali is a great story but it probably did not happen.

As for whether or not Wepner was the real Rocky, the documentary leaves little doubt that he was. Along with the obvious parallels between Wepner vs. Ali and Balboa vs. Creed, the documentary reveals that Wepner later fought an exhibition match with wrestler Andre the Giant, a match that was later recreated in Rocky III. Even after the first movie, Stallone was still borrowing from Wepner’s life.

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After his retirement from the ring, Wepner struggled with drug addiction and briefly did some time in prison. In the documentary’s most bittersweet moment, Wepner talks about being locked up in East Jersey State Prison, just to discover that Stallone was also at the prison, shooting a movie where he played a prisoner. After being released, Wepner went back to his job as a liquor salesman, a job that he still holds today.

The Real Rocky is an engrossing documentary that allows Wepner to tell his story in his own words. With Stallone on the verge of winning an Oscar for his latest (and probaly) last performance as Rocky Balboa, now is a great time to watch this documentary and spare a few thoughts for the real Rocky, Chuck Wepner.