Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini Stars in New David Mamet Film
May 1, 2008 by Michael Sedor
Filed under MMA-UFC
Image details: Premiere Of "Redbelt" At The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival served by picapp.com
David Mamet’s movies and plays come as close to a boxing match as written words can. His actors dance around each other, they throw verbal jabs, they’re constantly testing each other’s will, they slyly move in for the kill, they plot their actions well in advance, and eventually try for the win. His movies always have a winner and a loser. There is hard-hearted competition, there are feints, there is macho posturing, there is constant deception, and there is a concrete decision and result which itself somehow borders on ambiguity.
So it’s only natural that Mamet’s next movie Redbelt, which opens today, revolves around fighting, specifically mixed martial arts. It’s cast fittingly includes one of the 80’s most beloved and tortured boxers: Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. There’s aways the sense that Boom Boom could have been a storied lightweight but his fateful 1982 match against Duk Koo Kim changed that. Read Ron Borges terrific ESPN retrospective if you were too young to remember what happened that night at Caesars Palace.
