Fat City

"Fat City" (1972) is available to watch online on iFILM — John Huston's adaptation of Leonard Gardner's debut novel, shot on location in Stockton, California, in the bars and labor camps Gardner wrote from life.

Two boxers, opposite trajectories. Tully is a worn-out journeyman in his late thirties, drinking most of what he earns, still telling himself the ring owes him something. Ernie is eighteen, unbroken, just starting out. Stacy Keach and a very young Jeff Bridges play them without any cushion between the performance and the reality — quiet, specific, uncomfortable.

Huston shoots with no interest in uplift. The camera watches rather than roots. That refusal to console is what keeps the film from aging. Stream "Fat City" (1972) online on iFILM.