Phantom Punch (film)
| Phantom Punch | |
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| Directed by | Robert Townsend |
| Produced by |
Hassain Zaidi Marek Posival Ving Rhames Byron A. Martin |
| Written by | Ryan Combs |
| Starring |
Ving Rhames Stacey Dash Nicholas Turturro Alan van Sprang David Proval Bridgette Wilson |
| Music by | Stephen James Taylor |
| Cinematography | John Dyer |
| Edited by | Michael Doherty |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Screen Media Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Phantom Punch is a 2008 film directed by Robert Townsend. The film is a biopic of Sonny Liston, with Ving Rhames in the lead role. The film also stars Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro, Alan van Sprang, David Proval, and Bridgette Wilson.
In 1950 Liston is carrying out a prison sentence in Missouri State Penitentiary. After knocking out the prison boxing champ Big Lester in a brawl over cigarettes, he is coached by the prison athletic director Father Alois to hone his boxing skills. In the ring he knocks out Big Lester again followed by several other contenders. Having shown improvement, he is released after serving just two years of a five-year sentence.
Upon his release in 1952 he joins a boxing gym in St. Louis, Missouri, run by Caesar Novak at the recommendation of Father Alois. His fellow inmate Catfish later arrives to act as his cut man. During this time Liston takes part in several matches and meets his future wife Geraldine. He visits Father Alois, now working in a church, to thank him and tell him about Geraldine. Sitting in a parked car with Geraldine at night he is told by a policeman to move his car along, which escalates into a fistfight and another prison sentence for Liston. Geraldine greets him at his release in 1957 and invites him to live with her at a house being rented to her by her cousin after getting married at a justice of the peace on the way. Liston experiences nightmares remembering abuse suffered at the hands of his father.
Caesar Novak takes Liston back in his gym as a fighter and asks him to stay out of prison. One night the policemen from the previous altercation stop by Liston's house and threaten him, telling him that he has to throw any future fight against Floyd Patterson. In 1962 Novak attacks Bobby Zazo in a club in a dispute over Farah, a girl Novak stole from him, and arranges through mutual organized crime connections to pay Zazo $10,000 in retribution. Mob connections pressure Novak to tell Liston to take a dive in the upcoming match against Patterson so that they can win on a bet but Novak asks Liston to win instead. Liston wins the match by knockout but no press arrives to interview the new champion. When approached by his organized crime connections, Novak explains that he actually bet their money on Liston and made them $1.2 million.
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