Classes are for students 18+ unless otherwise noted.
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A heavyweight title fight was the first film to be projected before a mass audience, back in 1897. Since then, the squared circle has remained a perennial cinematic subject. This class draws inspiration from the instructor’s book Smash Hit: Race, Crime, and Culture in Boxing Films. We will walk through a century in which film noir’s brutal cynicism reflected the public’s growing fascination with gangsters, the Blacklist infiltrated Hollywood, and ethnic and racial rivalries dominated headlines. Each week, you will watch one film at home for us to discuss in class, including The Set-up, Body and Soul, Requiem for a Heavyweight, andthe consummate Thanksgiving film, Rocky. Clips from other films, fights, and interviews with actors and boxers will elucidate cultural milestones and spark group discussion
Please view Robert Wise’s 1949 film The Set-up prior to the first class.
David Curcio received his MFA from Pratt Institute in 2001. He has written on film, literature, and boxing films for numerous magazines and websites including Bookslut, TCM's Noir City, The Boston Art Review, Big Red and Shiny, Ringside Seat, and The Fight City. He was also a contributor to the 2021 coffee table book Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985. Smash Hit: Race, Crime, and Culture in Boxing Films is his first book.
David Curcio
No Class Nov 11
