The Iron Claw Movie (Von Erik’s) (1 Viewer)

[El Caliente]

Great movie where everyone walks away depressed.

 

[BigOdin504]

Ugh what a stinker.

I really wanted to like this movie.
I’m not sure I did.

 

[Semper]

I really wanted to like this movie.
I’m not sure I did.

I did too, and I did not. This would have been a great series in maybe 5 episodes.

 

[BigOdin504]

I did too, and I did not. This would have been a great series in maybe 5 episodes.

I like the actors
I was into the von erics when young and know the story well.
I just walk away thinking “ that wasn’t really good”

 

[jboss]

I did too, and I did not. This would have been a great series in maybe 5 episodes.

I agree it should have probably been a miniseries. The whole thing felt really rushed, which is saying something for a more than 2 hour long movie.

 

[Saintman2884]

I like the actors
I was into the von erics when young and know the story well.
I just walk away thinking “ that wasn’t really good”

There's a lot they left out, particularly why some of, if not most of the Von Erich boys, believed their was a family curse (it had to do with an infamous 1940's-50's Nazi storm trooper angle Fritz portrayed as a wrestler and allegedly, a Holocaust survivor put a curse on his family for his gross disrespect (The full, grim visual apocalyptic imagery/scenes of Polish/German death camps (lagers) were not widely known to the wider U.S. public in the 1950's-early 60's).

I do believe the film does capture Kerry von Erich's reluctance, hesitation, disillusionment being in the pro wrestling business, I think his heart was truly set on being an Olympic sprinter/athlete and like the film shows early on, he worked and trained his off for those 1980 Summer Olympics until Carter boycotted them. I still believe in hindsight, it was a rash, knee-jerk decision by Carter admininistration because it hurt and derailed a lot of U.S. hopefuls (like Kerry and future Bears/Raiders Willie Gault) and I think if Kerry had been allowed to go and travel and win some gold medals, I think his life takes a much different turn and it probably doesn't involve wrestling.

Its been rumored David von Erich really died of a drug overdose in Tokyo but Bruiser Brody (another wrestler who died a violent death at the hands of a Puerto Rican promoter in a arena's shower over pay disputes and Bruiser wanting to negotiate a majority share portion of that Puerto Rican territory in 1988) cleaned up his room and got rid of all the drugs so when police and EMT's arrived at his Tokyo hotel room room, the culprits responsible for killing him were removed and the coroner's autopsy (likely they knew) reason was speculation. Bruiser tended to make his own rules and could, on occasion, no-sell, or break character unexpectedly in the middle of matches whatever territory. He did that famously against Lex Luger in a cage match in 1987 and Lex, out of disgust, terror, or not knowing WTF Bruiser was doing or pulling, climbed out of the cage, got dressed quickly and then left the building as fast as he could.

I'm surprised they didnt mention or make a passing reference to Vince McMahon's WWF/WWE which was then on its gradual but eventual successful national expansion that would soon bankrupt every major independent wrestling organization still around (Verne Gagne's AWA (although tight-fisted, authoritian-styled Verne did make it easy for some wrestlers, announcers (Hulk(Verne REALLY SCREWED UP WITH HIM) Gene, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Curt Henning, Scott Hall, and the Rockers to leave) , Jim Crockett Promotions (if Vince's national early 80's expansion hadn't succeeded, Crockett's likely would've), Florida Championship Wrestling, Memphis, WCCW, Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling.

The fillmmaker didn't talk about how or the details surrounding certain other Von Erich boys and instead created composite characters or used their deaths to apply to certain major characters, like Kerry and Mike. The story here would have been better told in a 8-9, perhaps 10-episode HBO MAX, or Apple TV mini-series because their only so many complex, nuanced storylines a 2-hour movie can tell. The actor portraying Fritz von Erich and how brutal, hard-nosed, cutting, demanding, and driving of a father, wrestling promoter, businessman that as successful, well-known and popular WCCW got, compared to Gagne's AWA, Crockett's Carolina promotion, Bill Watts' Mid-South, and certainly Vince McMahon, he was a bit out of his depth and never seriously on their level. Not even close, really. Before McMahon's early 80's national expansion, Verne Gagne's AWA of the 1960's-early 80's was the closest thing to a national wrestling promotion (geographically, they were the biggest, spreading from the Upper Midwest, into Canadian Prairies, Plain States, Mountain West, and most of the West Coast.)

The film does kind of hint at Fritz's frustration of being essentially a relatively small-size promoter compared to the bigger, more powerful players. All he had was Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, and New Mexico and thank God, Texas is so big with 4-5 major cities and tens of millions of people living there, otherwise he'd be nothing.

 

[DaveXA]

I did too, and I did not. This would have been a great series in maybe 5 episodes.

I agree it should have been a miniseries and should have included the brother who wasn't in the movie. I actually liked the movie on it's own, but as another poster said, it was definitely rushed and didn't really do the Von Erich family justice. The real story is a hell of a lot more depressing.

My wife liked it more than I did. I did like the actors and if the story were more fleshed out, I think it would have been much better.

 

[Semper]

Is there a book this is based on?

 

[TheRealJRad]

I just didn’t find it engaging. Like not necessarily bad, it just wasn’t holding my attention.

 

[DaveXA]

Is there a book this is based on?

It's based on a true story. I watched them when I was a kid. The true, full story is even crazier than the movie, and it's not even close.

 

[Semper]

It's based on a true story. I watched them when I was a kid. The true, full story is even crazier than the movie, and it's not even close.

Yes I watched them as well. I was just wondering if Kevin maybe wrote a book or something. I saw some references to “ Dark Side of the Ring” earlier but at work so kind of busy to look it up.

 

[DaveXA]

Yes I watched them as well. I was just wondering if Kevin maybe wrote a book or something. I saw some references to “ Dark Side of the Ring” earlier but at work so kind of busy to look it up.

Ah, I don't know then. I'm not sure what material the writers pulled from. Good question tho.

 

[Sun Wukong]

I just didn’t find it engaging. Like not necessarily bad, it just wasn’t holding my attention.

It's difficult to condense all the tragedy of the Von Erichs into one movie.

I listen to a wrestling podcast called The Lapsed Fan where they will do these "deep dives" on certain topics where they go hardcore into analyzing the topic and start pulling from books, interviews, documentaries etc. to flesh out the story. They did an entire series on World Class/The Von Erichs where each episode analyzed one year of the promotion and what was going on with the Von Erichs personally during that time as well. It basically covers the entire 1980's with a prologue episode about Fritz's early life and career and an Epliogue episode about what happened after the promotion folded.

My point is, there's A LOT in those episodes about the boys, the promotion, their relationship with Fritz, the decline of the territories, etc. Way, way too much to condense into one movie. It's a big, sprawling story that goes to all kinds of weird places. It's fascinating but built for something long form. A limited series looking st things year by year would have been the best approach

 

[DaveXA]

It's difficult to condense all the tragedy of the Von Erichs into one movie.

I listen to a wrestling podcast called The Lapsed Fan where they will do these "deep dives" on certain topics where they go hardcore into analyzing the topic and start pulling from books, interviews, documentaries etc. to flesh out the story. They did an entire series on World Class/The Von Erichs where each episode analyzed one year of the promotion and what was going on with the Von Erichs personally during that time as well. It basically covers the entire 1980's with a prologue episode about Fritz's early life and career and an Epliogue episode about what happened after the promotion folded.

My point is, there's A LOT in those episodes about the boys, the promotion, their relationship with Fritz, the decline of the territories, etc. Way, way too much to condense into one movie. It's a big, sprawling story that goes to all kinds of weird places. It's fascinating but built for something long form. A limited series looking st things year by year would have been the best approach

Well said. How do I find this podcast? I'm really interested in the story.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Well said. How do I find this podcast? I'm really interested in the story.

It's on Spotify. I will warn you it isn't for everyone. The hosts can be crass and have a fairly juvenile and dark sense of humor. There's also a lot of improv where they will act out scenarios involving who they're talking about for comedic effect. Sometimes it hits and is hilarious, sometimes it lands with a thud. Sometimes it gets really dark.

But the information is top notch. It's probably the best researched piece of media sbout World Class and the Von Erichs I've found. Very comprehensive.