FAT CITY

One of John Huston's late masterpieces. In fact, if "Fat City" were the only John Huston film you were ever to see you would still know you were watching the work of a great director. Leonard Gardner adapted his own novel about a punch-drunk boxer hoping to make a comeback and Huston transformed it into a sad, funny elegy on the themes of loss and survival; every scene makes a point, every scene hits home.

It's also magnificently acted. Stacy Keach is Tully, the boxer who's a born loser. Jeff Bridges is the younger boxer who's 'soft in the middle' and who's no more likely to make it than Tully. Nicholas Colasanto steals almost every scene he's in as their manager, sadly another loser and there's a phenomenal performance from Susan Tyrrell as the lush Keach takes up with. She was Oscar-nominated and she should have won. This is also one of the greatest boxing pictures ever made.