The Great White Hype: Difference between revisions

| studio = [[20th Century Fox]]<br/>Fred Berner Films<br/>Altman Entertainment

| distributor = [[20th Century Fox]]

The film is satirizes racial preferences in boxing, and was inspired by [[Larry Holmes]]'s [[Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney|1982 fight]] with [[Gerry Cooney]] (who was known as "The Great White Hope") and [[Mike Tyson]]'s [[Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley|1995 return fight]] vs. [[Peter McNeeley]].{{cn|date=September 2024}} [[Entertainment Weekly]] called Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson) a "[[Don King]]-clone."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tucker |first1=Ken |title=MoviesThe aboutGreat hip-hopWhite Hype culture|url=https://www.imdbew.com/listarticle/ls0543476211996/05/10/great-white-hype-2/ |websitepublisher=www.IMDb.comEntertainment Weekly |access-date=1215 November 2014|ref=12023}}</ref>

Meanwhile, crusading television journalist Mitchell Kane ([[Jeff Goldblum]]) has finally gathered enough evidence to disgrace the unethical Sultan, but at the last moment, Kane is seduced by power and joins Sultan's squad. As Sultan's ego grows, Kane sees an opportunity to usurp his position. Though Conklin was never believed to stand a chance in the fight, Kane recognizes that he may actually win, and has Conklin sign with him rather than Sultan. Throughout all this, the true top contender to the heavyweight title, Marvin Shabazz ([[Michael Jace]]), and his managertrainer Hassan El Ruk'n ([[Jamie Foxx]]) are repeatedly denied the rightful chance to a fight, and they proceed to cause a headache for everyone involved in the hype scam.

Sultan and his crew use the media to promote the fight and publicize the white vs. black angle, even fabricating an [[Irish people|Irish]] ancestor for Conklin. The racial angle works, and money starts to pour in. On the fight day, Millions tune into [[Pay-Per-View]] on the day of the fight, and Kane is confident about a new era beginning with a Conklin upset. The fight begins, and Conklin getsand inRoper onlytrade oneseveral goodpunches and insults with each other, appearing to be evenly matched. Conklin then hits Roper with a strong punch, beforehurting him and sending him into the out-of-shaperopes. Roper, easilyfeeling dispatchesthe effects of his foelack -of whichconditioning, wasknows he must end the planfight allimmediately. He attacks Conklin with a barrage of punches that knocks him to the canvas, ending the alongfight. Conklin quits boxing again, Kane's plan falls short, Sultan reaps a huge profit, and Roper's critics are silenced. Shabazz, refusing to wait any longer, attacks Roper inside the ring and gets into a fistfight with him, while Sultan screams to not give away something they can sell. Shabazz knocks Roper out, and Sultan steps over Roper's unconscious body and announces that the two boxers will face each other next.

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 24 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title= The Great White Hype (1996) |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_white_hype/ |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= February 25, 2022 |archive-date= September 9, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240909091145/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_white_hype |url-status= live }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= GREAT WHITE HYPE, THE (1996) C+ |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film 2 out of 4 and wrote: "It starts out well, as a wicked satire on professional boxing, and then loses its energy, tires of juggling its characters and ends so abruptly at 91 minutes that it feels like the last reel is missing."<ref>{{cite web |last= Ebert |first= Roger |author-link= Roger Ebert |title= The Great White Hype movie review (1996) |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-great-white-hype-1996 |website= [[Chicago Sun-Times]] |access-date= 2020-04-12 |archive-date= 2020-04-12 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200412124329/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-great-white-hype-1996 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= The Great White Hype |url=https://ew.com/article/1996/05/10/great-white-hype-2/ |website=EW }}</ref>

A soundtrack containing rap music was released on April 30, 1996 by [[Epic Records]]. It peaked at 93 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and 27 on the [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]]. [[Camp Lo]]'s single "Coolie High" became a minor hit, peaking at 25 on [[Rap Songs|Rap charts]].<ref>{{Cite news |title = Soundtrack The Great White Hype Chart History |work= [[Billboard 200]] |url= https://www.billboard.com/artist/soundtrack/chart-history/tlp/ |access-date= April 10, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title= Soundtrack The Great White Hype Chart History |work= [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]] |url= https://www.billboard.com/artist/soundtrack/chart-history/blp/ |access-date= April 10, 2020 |archive-date= November 17, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211117164109/https://www.billboard.com/artist/soundtrack/chart-history/blp/ |url-status= live }}</ref>