The Great White Hope (film)

The Great White Hope
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Martin Ritt
Produced by	Lawrence Turman
Screenplay by	Howard Sackler
Based on	The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler
Starring	James Earl Jones Jane Alexander
Music by	Lionel Newman
Cinematography	Burnett Guffey
Edited by	William Reynolds
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	October 11, 1970 (1970-10-11)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9.87 million

The Great White Hope is a 1970 biographical romantic drama film written and adapted from the Howard Sackler play of the same name.

The film was directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn. Jones and Alexander, who also appeared in the same roles in the stage versions, both received Best Actor and Actress Academy Award nominations for their performances.

The film and play is based on the true story of Jack Johnson and his first wife, Etta Terry Duryea and the controversy over their marriage and Duryea's death by suicide in 1912.

Set between 1910 and 1915, the story follows Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones; patterned after real-life boxer Jack Johnson) going on a hot streak of victories in the boxing ring as he defeats every white boxer around. Soon the press and racists announce the search for a "great white hope", a boxer who will defeat Jefferson for the heavyweight title. Meanwhile, Jefferson prepares for a few more matches, but he lets his guard down by courting the beautiful (and very white) Eleanor Bachman (Jane Alexander), and when everyone, including Jack's black "wife", discover this, the tensions grow to fever pitch. Jack's close black friends become scared over his pushing the envelope of success and the white authorities conspire to frame him with unlawful sexual relations with Eleanor and thereby take away his title. It leads to jealousy, a run from the law, and finally, disaster.