Summaries

Synopsis

A boxing match, cheering crowds, wild pandemonium. At canvas level, we see the legs of two fighters who are duking it out. One fighter is white, the other, black. The white fighter is knocked to the canvas. Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones) becomes the first black heavyweight boxing champion in history.

Retired heavyweight champion Frank Brady (Larry Pennell) appears on the front porch of his house and walks into his front yard, a group of boxing promoters, managers and newspapermen in tow. Goldie (Lou Gilbert), Jefferson's manager, boxing promoters Pop Weaver (Chester Morris), and Cap'n Dan (R. G. Armstrong) are among them. From two automobiles in the background, we see that this is the early 1900s. Brady yells, I ain't gonna fight not dinge! Promoters remind him no one thought it 'would work out like this.' Since Brady retired last summer, a black man has become the heavyweight champion. The black man, a 'smart ass' beat his last opponent badly. 'You're the white hope, Mr. Brady!' 'How would you like it if the whole damn country said "Brady let us down. He let a loud-mouth n--- become champion of the world." Now Frank, you take a good long look at that belt. ..I know you trust me, and I say you can beat him. And, Franklin, the good Lord hates a quitter.'

Frank Brady strides back into his house and reemerges with his heavyweight championship belt around his waist. 'It's gonna be a pleasure.' They can tell Jefferson he said so. The fight will be held in Reno, Nevada, 'white man's, country.'

Jack Jefferson is in training at a gym, working the heavy bag with his trainer and corner-man, Tick (Joel Fluellen). Jefferson's white girlfriend, Eleanor Bachman (Jane Alexander), resplendent in a long, cream-colored dress and a beige wide-brimmed hat is watching him train. Jefferson takes a break. He says to Eleanor 'You know you're tired of sitting here, why don't you go buy yourself something pretty.' She refuses. She wants to stay with him, unless he minds her sitting there. He doesn't mind. She's his 'lady luck.' He gives her a long, slow kiss on the lips.

Goldie arrives and tells Jefferson he's got the fight with the retired champion. Goldie notices Eleanor. Jefferson introduces them. Goldie warns him about a white girlfriend. He suggests that she leave. Jack says she's staying. Goldie persists. First they hate you for fighting white guys. Okay. They hate you more because you win. Still, okay. Then they hate you so much they're willing to pay through the nose to see you get knocked on your can. Well, that's more than okay. Cash in. But when they start hating you more than that, watch out. 'That means now. I got ears! I get told things!' A white girl? You want to drive them crazy? Jefferson defends his relationship with Eleanor. He ain't foolin' around this time. And she's not going to hide either.

The press come in, led by a newspaperman named Smith, 'Smitty' (Lloyd Gough). They pepper Jefferson with questions about the upcoming fight. Think you can take him? How many rounds is it going to go? Any idea why you smile when you're fighting? 'I'm a happy sort of person and always feels good...what I want to put a face on for... It's a sport, a game.'

Jefferson's black common law wife, Clara (Marlene Warfield), barges in and charges toward Eleanor, cursing. Tick jumps between them and restrains Clara. The newspapermen write furiously in their notepads. Jefferson yells at Clara to leave. He quit on her when 'she cleared out of Detroit with Willie the Pimp,' and took his clothes, his rings, his valuables. He tells Tick to give her twenty dollars and car fare. Goldie persuades the newspapermen not to print anything about the altercation.

Reno, Nevada. The fourth of July. The day of the fight. Jack Jefferson vs. the Great White Hope, Frank Brady. Fireworks. Marching bands. A giant stuffed black doll in grinning blackface, with boxing trunks and boxing gloves and a yellow streak down its back, towers above the crowd. At the weigh in, Jefferson is undeterred, laughing. He taunts Brady. 'Hey Frank, how you doin'?' To Tick: 'Looks like Frank's about to walk the plank!'

The crowd is segregated. Whites, for Brady, hurl insults at Jefferson. A group of black men and boys, led by a minister, meet with Jefferson outside the stadium. They've been prayin' for him, praying that the 'good Lord lets you win for us'. Jefferson gets angry. They're not praying for him, as a man, as Jack Jefferson. They're only praying for him as a symbol, as their symbol. He turns and storms away.

Jefferson beats Brady and celebrates with his fans back in Chicago. Eleanor is the only white person present. There's singing and dancing and laughing and joking around. Black women swarm over Jefferson, and ignore Eleanor. The whooping and hollering grinds to a uncomfortable silence when a man (Moses Gunn) appears, banging what looks like the lid of a garbage can. He accuses Jefferson of being nothing but the white man's boy, playing the white man's game, and insults his relationship with Eleanor.

The local district attorney (Hal Holbrook), holds a meeting of what appears to be upstanding citizens of the community, including a black doctor who criticizes Jefferson for doing harm to his race.

Eleanor is called to the district attorney's office, alone, for an 'informal inquiry'. The D.A., Mr. Cameron, questions Eleanor about Jefferson. How they met (on the boat from Australia, she asked the captain to be introduced). She also spent a lot of time in Jefferson's stateroom, of her own free will. She knows the D.A. is trying to use her to get to Jack. She didn't come to tell lies, but she is there to head off any attacks they want to make on Jack through her. She breaks down and sobs. She describes her love for him. Says she's not afraid to have him for a lover. She'll say it to anyone. 'Even if it seemed unnatural,' Cameron asks gently. Eleanor stares at him, then smiles knowingly: 'You slimy, two-bit, no-dick mothergrabber.'

After she leaves, Cameron shrugs. Nothing to move on. Zero. I'm not so sure, says an associate. Maybe they can get him on the Mann Act. But that's for prostitution, says, Cameron, 'and she's no pro.' 'I'll have to have a word with the fine print boys,' says the associate, whom we later learn is Jim Dixon (Robert Webber), a federal marshal.

Jack and Eleanor go for a long drive in a shiny convertible, and arrive at an idyllic spot in the country. Later that night they are in bed. Eleanor is sunburned. She asks Jack if he's feeling all right. 'You look a little peculiar, Jack.' 'I'm a little ashy. That's how I get sunburned.' They laugh. 'I thought it just bounces off,' she says. She shares a daydreaming fantasy about them being together. She's lying in the sun. 'How maybe I'd stay there, and it would keep burning me, day after day. I'd get darker and darker. I really can get dark, you know? I'd dye my hair and change my name. I'd come to you in Chicago like somebody new. A colored woman, or a creole, maybe, huh? Nobody but you would ever guess.'

A loud crash and the front door is broken down. Men enter with guns drawn. Dixon identifies himself. 'You drove Miss Eleanor Bachman across the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. Having done so, you proceeded to have relations with her. Under the Mann Act that makes you liable. Therefore I'm placing you under arrest.' 'How much this carry?' Jefferson asks. 'One to three.' 'She clear?' 'Just you.'

Word gets out about Jefferson's arrest. In Chicago, friends and family gather at his mother's home. Mama Tiny (Beah Richards) reminisces about her son as an eleven-year-old. She would tell him all of the things that he wasn't allowed to do as a colored child. But he wouldn't listen. 'I hit him with a stick, till I couldn't hit him no more. He pulled away from me and bust it in two and run off.'

There's a knock on the door. A group of young men enter--members of a black baseball team. The Detroit Blue Jays. They're Jack's friends, they say. Tick enters: 'A $20,000 fine, three years in Joliet.' He has a week out on bail. Jefferson enters, sharply dressed in hat, jacket, and a bright pink shirt and tie. He stands by the window where two detectives in a car outside can see him. Under his coat, one of the baseball players is wearing clothes identical to Jefferson's. The baseball player takes Jefferson's place at the window, and Jefferson slips out with the baseball team.

Jefferson, Goldie and Eleanor flee to Canada, then to England. Members of the press welcome him, enquire about his next fight. Jefferson is issued a summons. In court, lawyers argue over Jefferson being in England. Jefferson says he doesn't want no 'rompus,' he just wants to fight and make a living. The judge replies that the 'American legalities are none of our concern.' However, the license for Jefferson's next match is denied. The judge welcomes Jefferson to remain in London and pursue any 'other means of livelihood' he can.

Jefferson, Goldie and Eleanor go to France, where he's allowed to fight. Before the fight, in his dressing room, Jefferson is agitated. Impatient with Goldie and Tick. He refuses to warm up before the fight; he'll warm up 'in there, on the man.' He forbids Eleanor from watching the fight. When it's time, he strides towards the ring. There's no smiling for this match.

Eleanor is alone in Jefferson's dressing room. Newspaperman Smith 'Smitty' enters. He asks her how she's doing. She looked so piqued the other day...'and you did go to the doctor...Decided not to have it?' She turns away and asks him to go away. Outside, there's booing, and Smith leaves to find out why. In the ring, amid the boos, Jefferson's opponent is covered in blood, and grasps him feebly. Jefferson swats him to the canvas with the back of his hand.

Back in the U.S. Cap'n Dan and other promoters are looking at film of the next candidate to be the Great White Hope. 265 pounds, six foot eight. 'Fresh is what he is...Big. Clean, strong. Real farm boy.' Boxing fans are waiting on their knees for something like him. Cap'n Dan ushers in 'a friend 'of his. It's Dixon, the U.S. marshal. He has a proposal. There's a mass migration of blacks heading north from the fields of the South. Jefferson is a hero to them. In addition, his escape made the law look foolish. This is something they can't have. Dixon makes a proposal. If Jefferson can be made to lose his next fight, Dixon may be able to get him a reduced sentence. Dan sells the plan to the other promoters, including Pop Weaver. Dan puts it to Pop to arrange the fix. Pop looks at Dixon. 'You can't put that deal in writing, can you, mister?' 'I'm sorry, Pop. I wasn't even here.'

Jefferson, Goldie and Eleanor travel to Germany. Eleanor walks through a Carnival-like scene. She approaches a table where Jefferson is fooling around, arm wrestling with Germans in uniform. As Eleanor approaches, Jefferson's laugh is silenced. 'You said you'd call for me, Jack. Don't drink anymore.' Jefferson, drunk, mocks her concern, imitates a monkey. Eleanor demands that he stop. You're making a fool of yourself in public, she says. People are looking at him. Angry, he refuses to stop. She says she'll be in her room, and walks away.

Goldie approaches. They've got a match. Without prompting, Jefferson asks how much for him to lose? If Pop Weaver wants a straight fight, he don't come sneakin' over here. Eighty-twenty split. A hundred grand for Jefferson, and his sentence is cut to six months. Even though he has no money and can't get a match, Jefferson refuses. Sarcastically, he asks Goldie if he has enough money to go home.

In Hungary, Jefferson plays Tom, and Eleanor appears as Little Eva in a stage production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Tick appears in drag as Topsy. Jefferson makes eye contact with a man in the audience, Pop Weaver. Neither man smiles. Catcalls drive the three performers off the stage.

World War I has started. Nightfall. Jefferson, Tick and Eleanor are at a train station. Weaver appears. He hands Jefferson a piece of paper. Jefferson's mother is 'very low.' Jefferson thanks him for coming around. Weaver says it's finished for Jack. You can't stay over here. What's it all for? Staying champ a little longer. 'Champ don't mean piss-all to me, man...That champ stuff done been clear out of me... That championship belt is nothing but a hunk of junky hardware that don't let go. I'm stuck with it just like you stuck needin' it off me. So just knock me for 10 and take it. I'd be much obliged.' 'Believe me,' Weaver says. 'We'd rather have it straight.' Jefferson grabs him by the collar. He wants a match with the best they've got. He'll go to Mexico. 'Right up next to ya.'

In Juarez, Mexico, Eleanor walks from a dingy rooming house, across an unpaved street. She passes people in old, torn clothing, and stray animals wandering aimlessly around. She's carrying a plate of food. Her cream-colored dress is now little more than dirty rags. Jefferson is working on a heavy bag in what looks like a stable converted to a makeshift gym. There's straw on the ground and the walls are all dirty. Eleanor brings the plate of food. There's still no word that a boxing match will happen-no cable, no letter, nothing. 'Jack, will you talk to me...Do what they want you to, Jack.' 'I told you to keep out of it.' 'I can't keep out of it...Say yes and get it over with, will you...You're letting them do this to you, it's worse...You're not your own man anymore, Jack. They have you and you know it. At least you can buy yourself back from them. ...Look at this grease you swallow for them.' He tells the story of how he was cheated in the ring by a white man when he was young. He doesn't want her to ever see him go down to a white man. He doesn't want to hear anything from her abut 'living.' He wants her to leave. 'I want to stay, even if you-' 'You can stay with your own.' 'Why can't you wait and give me one chance to make you happy?' He takes a rag and repeatedly slaps her with it. 'You win, Daddy,' she says, and slowly walks out the door. Jefferson is alone in his training area. The door opens. Dixon and another man approach. He introduces himself as 'El Jefe'. Dixon: They're making it easy. The match will be held in Havana. 'You fight the way you're told, turn yourself in, you'll get a suspended sentence.' Or else they'll throw the book at him. Jefferson replies, maybe they can tell him how they'll throw the book at him, since that 'book' is in the U.S. and he is in Mexico. El Jefe says his country needs to cooperate with the U.S Government. So Jefferson must fight. Jefferson refuses. He intends to walk right out that door. El Jefe pulls a gun. He will shoot Jefferson if he has to. Jefferson walks towards the door. The door opens. Tick and two Mexican officers carry Eleanor's limp body in. She threw herself down the well. 'Busted her neck.' Jefferson carries her over to the wooden table used for his rub down. 'Oh, baby.' He dissolves into tears. 'Set that fight up. I'll take it now.'

The big fight in Havana. Brady, the former champion whom Jefferson beat earlier on, is now the referee. Jefferson is taking a pummeling. Goldie and Tick look at each other in dismay. Dixon looks on as well, self-satisfied. Between rounds, Jefferson strolls to his corner and sits down. One eye swollen shut, bloodied. Goldie tells him to 'lay down, already. You won't have a head left. You hear me. This round, you understand!' Jefferson nods. In the audience, Pop Weaver and Cap'n Dan are all smiles. They'll be getting the belt back, and this time they'll 'keep it in the family. Round 11. Jefferson continues to take a pummeling. He locks eyes with Goldie. Goldie nods. Jefferson is knocked to the ground. The count goes to eight. Jefferson gets to his feet and starts whaling on his opponent. Goldie screams at him to stop. Dixon, Weaver and Cap'n Dan, startled, jump to their feet. Jefferson's opponent drops to the canvas. The bell rings.

Back in his corner, Goldie pleads to his fighter. 'I'm beggin' ya like you're my son. They'll kill ya.' Round 12. Jefferson continues the pummeling. But he's exhausted. He clinches the much bigger man, and holds on to him. The clinch is broken and Jefferson is knocked to the canvas, but gets back up. He's knocked down again, and gets back up. He's knocked down a third time and stays down for ten. The new champion is hoisted on the crowd's shoulders. Brady holds the belt above his head. Goldie and Tick carry Jefferson from the ring.