Bokser
Poland,
1967, 93 min
Shown in 1968
CREDITS
- dir
-
Julian Dziedzina
- scr
-
Bohdan Tomaszewski, Jerzy Suszko
- cam
-
Mikolaj Sprudin
- editor
-
Zenon Piórecki
- cast
-
Daniel Olbrychski, Tadeusz Kalinowski, Malgorzata Wlodarska, Leszek Drogrosz
- prod co
-
Start Film Unit
- source
-
Film Polski, Mazowiecka 6/8, 00-048, Warsw, Poland, FAX: 48-22-275-784
OTHER
Behind the public stresses and strains of Olympian athletics, there are always the personal dramas of men and women whose entire personalities have been changed during the period of preparing for international competition. The Polish cinema has, more than any other, been most attentive to this background for cinematic narrative, and director Julian Dziedzina has made a reputation for himself as an interpreter of the athletic hero. In this compelling character study of a young Polish boxer, a simple peasant who is chosen to represent his country in the Olympic Games, a marvelous insight is given into the nature of violence raised to the idealized levels of sportsmanship. The tensions of pre-Olympic trials are intermingled with the hero's reminiscences, and Dziedziina has managed to create an extraordinarily poetic balance between the calm and storms of this complex personality. For the first time, here is a sympathetic picture of a human being whose sensitivities toward others have to be correlated to his ability to destroy them, often unintentionally. The brilliant performance of Daniel Olbrychski in the title role justifies his status as Poland's major new star. And in a retrospective view, the recent cheers and cries from Mexico only add to the pathos of this singular history, and to one's curiosities about other Olympian stories, still untold.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #28
A print of Tonight and Every Night, to be shown at the Rita Hayworth tribute in 1972, was stolen out of a truck on its way to the theater.
