'The Iron Claw' Is Making Grown Men Sob Their Eyes Out All Over The Country Right Now (But Not Steven Cheah)

I finally saw 'The Iron Claw' last night - the new A24 movie about the legendary Von Erich family, who ran the WCCW wrestling territory in Texas throughout the 70s/80s - and it was just as phenomenal and devastating as promised. 

From the way it was filmed, holding on just one camera angle for long stretches, allowing the actors to really suck you into their monologues/conversations - to the performances themselves, the editing/pacing, and the overall tone of the movie, I really think director Sean Durkin knocked this one outta the park and delivered what is quite possibly the greatest professional wrestling film ever made here. It's neck-and-neck with 'The Wrestler' starring Mickey Rouke, in my eyes, and manages to outdo how depressing that one is with a true story - which is saying A LOT. 

I mean, it made Brandon Fuckin' Walker weep like a baby, if that's any indication of how heavy 'The Iron Claw' gets....

As I was writing this blog, Steven Cheah actually dropped his 'Iron Claw' review, where he calls BFW out for crying during the movie....

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I am very much on Brandon's side here, and think not AT LEAST tearing up by the end makes you a robot without a pulse - but then again, I cried just as much at 'Avengers: Endgame'. You all remember. It wasn't my proudest moment. 

Anyway, for those who aren't familiar with the Von Erich's story, or the "Curse of the Von Erichs" - it's an incredibly tragic one. If you don't want to get the movie spoiled, I'd stop reading here because I'm gonna briefly explain it.

'The Iron Claw' opens by showing Fritz Von Erich, the first 'Von Erich' to ever step into the squared circle, struggling to break through in the business enough to support his family financially, but promising his wife he'd one day be NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. Fritz's real name was Jack Adkisson, but to get an edge up on all of the other heels of the 50s, he worked a Nazi gimmick with his "brother" Waldo Von Erich (an idea given to him by Stu Hart, Bret/Owen's father) - and it worked! 

He never won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship he coveted so desperately, but Fritz was a very successful wrestler for two decades before he'd transition to promoting and training/coaching/torturing his sons Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris. From everything you can read about this guy, he was just about as awful a person as you could imagine, and the epitome of one of those stage-parents who forced his kids into pursuing his own dreams that he never achieved. 

I'm not sure if he was always a horrible guy, but Kevin Von Erich has said his father was just never the same after his firstborn, Jack Jr, passed away at the age of 6 after being electrocuted by a trailer and falling face first into snow, eventually drowning. This is where a lot of people consider the "Curse of the Von Erichs" to start. Then, between 1984-1993, four of the five Von Erich brothers died - three of them by suicide. David was the first to go, dying of enteritis at 25 years old in a hotel room in Japan right before his career was about to take off. Then Mike overdosed at only 23 years old, and Chris and Kerry shot themselves at 21 and 33 years old respectively.

Kevin is the only remaining Von Erich brother, to this day, and Zac Efron's performance as him in the film is unreal. He got ridiculously jacked to play him, and gets lost in the character completely - which is very hard for a guy as famous as Zac Efron to do. I don't feel like he's necessarily getting Oscar buzz for this, but I really think he should. I'd even throw nominations to Holt McCallany (Fritz Von Erich), Harris Dickinson (David Von Erich), or maybe even Jeremy Allen White (Kerry Von Erich) for Best Supporting. It's gonna be tough to beat Cillian Murphy/Robert Downey Jr for Oppenheimer this year, but I really hope 'The Iron Claw' sees SOME nominations like those at the Academy Awards. Outta respect.

Unfortunately, for runtime/pacing/story reasons, Chris (the youngest Von Erich) was cut from the movie entirely, and 'The Iron Claw' acts like he didn't exist. It's a real shame, and almost ironic considering he was always the Von Erich who wanted to break through in wrestling and be apart of the family and couldn't….but after seeing the movie, I do sorta understand the filmmaker's decision. The real story is almost so sad it's unbelievable and SEEMS Hollywood-ified, which is crazy to say - but it's true.

My only knock on 'The Iron Claw' is their bizarre casting of Ric Flair. I'm not the first hardcore wrestling fan to complain about this minute little detail, and I certainly won't be the last (we're a complaining bunch), but it totally took me out of the movie at a pretty emotional/vital point. No offense to the poor guy playing him, who everyone is shitting on right now - but he just didn't look, sound, or act anything like The Nature Boy. He almost sounded like he was doing a Dusty Rhodes impression while cutting a promo. I'm sure most people won't care about that sorta thing, tho - he's in the movie for maaaybe five minutes tops. 

The casting of Kevin Anton as Harley Race more than makes up for it - as does the 'Tom Sawyer' training montage….

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If you want to learn a little bit more about the Von Erich family, their Dark Side of the Ring episode is a good, informative watch….

….and if you wanna learn a little bit more about 'The Iron Claw', check out Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White on KFC Radio….