The Great White Hype
| The Great White Hype | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Reginald Hudlin |
| Produced by | Fred Berner Joshua Donen |
| Written by |
Tony Hendra Ron Shelton |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Marcus Miller |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
91 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $8,008,255 |
| The Great White Hype | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | April 30, 1996 |
| Recorded | 1994-1996 |
| Genre | Hip hop, R&B |
| Label | Epic |
| Producer | DJ U-Neek, DJ Premier, RZA, 4th Disciple, Doug Rasheed, P.M. Dawn, Studio Ton, Tik-Takk |
The Great White Hype is a 1996 American sports-comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Damon Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, John Rhys-Davies, Salli Richardson and Jamie Foxx.
The movie is a satire of racial preferences in boxing. The name is a play on the title of the 1970 film The Great White Hope, but it is not based on an actual boxing contest. It was inspired by Larry Holmes's 1982 fight with Gerry Cooney and Mike Tyson's 1995 return fight vs. Peter McNeeley.
The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox, which also distributed the earlier film.
James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (Damon Wayans), the undefeated heavyweight boxing champ of the world, defeats his latest challenger with ease and visits an after-party thrown by the Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson), a conniving and manipulative businessman who also acts as Roper's fight promoter. The Sultan relays some bad news to everyone: The fight was a financial flop. He deduces the reason that boxing events have become far less profitable is because audience members are sick of watching only black boxers fight each other. The Sultan predicts that a white contender, even one without a viable chance of winning, would create a huge payday for all involved in the fight (citing the Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney battle in 1982 and the playing of the race card in that instance as a precedent), and he vows to either find or "create" a white contender in no time at all.
...
Wikipedia