History Film / TheFighter

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/AmyAdams as Charlene.

Starring Creator/MarkWahlberg as Micky, Creator/ChristianBale as Dicky, Melissa Leo as Alice, and Creator/AmyAdams as Charlene. Was nominated for seven {{Academy Award}}s, with Bale and Leo winning for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/DarrenAronofsky was originally attached to direct. He did remain on the film, serving as an executive producer. In a curious twist, Creator/DavidORussell wound up nominated for Best Director against Aronofsky (nominated for ''Film/BlackSwan'') at the 2011 AcademyAwards.

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Micky has seven sisters and a brother.

* MomentKiller: An intended "afternoon delight" between Micky and Charlene is snuffed by Alice and her daughters showing up en masse to tell Charlene off.

* BreakTheHaughty: Dicky calls Charlene out on how she acts high and mighty around everyone just because she went to college, even though she never graduated and she's just as much in the gutter as they are.

As our story opens in 1993, Micky is a struggling boxer in a working class Lowell neighbourhood. He is perennially in the shadow of his older brother Dicky Eklund, whose claim to fame as a boxer was knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard in a single fight in the late 1970s (despite the fact that Sugar Ray got back up and won). Dicky has since fallen on hard times, becoming addicted to drugs and generally a screwup; he's being followed by an HBO documentary crew that is supposedly documenting his "comeback" (but is in fact using him to make an documentary on substance abuse). Micky, who is depending on his brother to be his trainer, is becoming increasingly annoyed with his brother and his manager-mother Alice. Micky also takes an interest in barkeep Charlene, who thinks Micky is being exploited and neglected by his family.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: "Alright, ''MTV-girl''..."

** ChristianBale [[Film/TheMachinist yet again]] lost a huge amount of weight for a role.

Starring MarkWahlberg as Micky, ChristianBale as Dicky, Melissa Leo as Alice, and AmyAdams as Charlene. Was nominated for seven AcademyAwards, with Bale and Leo winning for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Not to be confused with the character class in ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy I}}'' or ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

* AutobiographicalRole: Micky Ward's trainer Mickey O'Keefe plays himself. So does SugarRayLeonard.

-->'''Mickey:''' You were my hero.\\

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Sugar Ray's reaction to being confronted by Dickie is basically "Dude, who ''are'' you?" He does eventually recognize Dickey, but his expression changes to "Dude, what ''happened'' to you?" and he beats a hasty retreat.

* CatchPhrase: ''"Head, body, head."'''

* ChewingTheScenery: ChristianBale as the twitchy, attention-seeking Dickie.

** ChristianBale [[TheMachinist yet again]] lost a huge amount of weight for a role.
** MarkWahlberg trained every day for ''four years'' waiting for the film to escape DevelopmentHell. He wound up building a boxing gym at his house to make it easier.

* EightiesHair: Micky's sisters.

* FreakierThanFiction: Bale seems to be overdoing it, and Wahlberg seems to be underplaying it. Then at the end we see footage of the real people they're playing and we find out their performances were in fact spot-on. In an interview, the director David O'Russell claims that he had to actually tone down Micky's sisters, as he was afraid people would think [[RealityIsUnrealistic they were too over-the-top.]]
* GloryDays: Dickie replays his knockdown (not "out", ''down'') of Sugar Ray constantly. [[spoiler: Other character suggest it was a slip, not a knockdown.]]

* HollywoodNewEngland: Mark Wahlberg is [[TheDeparted once again]] one of the only authentic Bay Staters, but the other majors mostly manage credible accents.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Dickie manages to turn every conversation into one about him (and invariably, the Sugar Ray fight).
* {{Jerkass}}: Almost every female character except Charlene (well, his daughter wasn't bad either), and Dickie.
** Dickie occasionally leans toward JerkWithAHeartOfGold, though.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The film ends with Ward's first title win and only mentions his true Crowning Moment Of Awesome - the legendary three-bout series with the late Arturo Gatti - in footnotes at the movie's end.
** MarkWahlberg and Creator/DavidORussell have mentioned that they are considering making the Gatti story into a sequel.

* ParentalFavoritism: Alice focuses her attention on Dickie, which Micky resents.
* PlayingAgainstType: AmyAdams as Charlene.

** MelissaLeo is only about decade older than MarkWahlberg and ChristianBale.
** Also, ChristianBale is younger than MarkWahlberg, but plays his older brother.
* RedemptionQuest: Of a sort; Micky is looking to validate his earlier potential. Dickie has a more obvious one, though it's not in the ring.
* RedOniBlueOni: Dickie is the red to Micky's blue.
* TheRemake: Parts of the film are based on the HBO-produced documentary ''High on Crack Street'', which partly chronicled Dickie's crack addiction. However, quite a bit was changed between the actual documentary and the film (for example, Dickie never talked about having a comeback, didn't have an Asian girlfriend and his body type was more muscular than thin).
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Bale's performance has received so much acclaim, that he's mostly talked about, when Mark Walhberg is the main star and plays the main character, while Bale is in a supporting role. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], as seen in the LeaningOnTheFourthWall quote on the main page. Melissa Leo and Amy Adams also got more attention and praise for their performances than Wahlberg.

* TrashLanding: Dickie's frequent escapes from the crackhouse.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/DarrenAronofsky was originally attached to direct.
** He did remain on the film, serving as an executive producer. In a curious twist, Creator/DavidORussell wound up nominated for Best Director against Aronofsky (nominated for ''Film/BlackSwan'') at the 2011 AcademyAwards.

* ArcWords: ''"Head, body, head."'''

* FakeAmerican: ChristianBale as Dicky.

* ClusterFBomb

* TroubledProduction: Amazingly averted. This only bears mention due to ChristianBale's bad temper and David O. Russell's infamous anger issues and attempts at violence.

** MarkWahlberg and cREATOR/DavidORussell have mentioned that they are considering making the Gatti story into a sequel.

** He did remain on the film, serving as an executive producer. In a curious twist, cREATOR/DavidORussell wound up nominated for Best Director against Aronofsky (nominated for ''Film/BlackSwan'') at the 2011 AcademyAwards.

** MarkWahlberg and DavidORussell have mentioned that they are considering making the Gatti story into a sequel.

** He did remain on the film, serving as an executive producer. In a curious twist, DavidORussell wound up nominated for Best Director against Aronofsky (nominated for ''Film/BlackSwan'') at the 2011 AcademyAwards.

An acclaimed 2010 film by director DavidORussell, based on the life of Lowell boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, a major figure in international boxing from the late 1990s until his retirement in 2003.

* BreakTheHaughty: Dicky calls Charlene out on how she acts high and mighty around everyone just because she went to college, even though she never graduated and she's just as much in the gutter as they are.
* BrokenPedestal: Dicky is this for younger brother Micky. The movie gives an almost lampshading near the end of the film.

* {{Catfight}}: Between Charlene and Micky's seven sisters; a fairly realistic version.

* ChewingTheScenery: Bale as twitchy attention-seeking Dickie.

* DoubleStandard: If Alice's husband George was throwing pots at ''her'', it would probably not be played for laughs, nor would his character ever be capable of audience sympathy.

* EightiesHair: My God, the sisters...

* {{Fanservice}}: For the girls, shirtless and sweaty Micky; for the fellas, Amy Adams in BlackBraAndPanties. A good time is had by all.

* JerkAss: EVERY female character except Charlene (well, his daughter wasn't bad either), and Dickie.

* OpposingSportsTeam: Shea Neary is, in his very brief screentime prior to the fight, established as an unsportsmanlike JerkAss. He cements it by refusing to touch gloves with Micky, which is [[SeriousBusiness more than just a snub in boxing.]]
* ParentalFavouritism: Alice focuses her attention on Dickie, which Micky resents.
* PlayingAgainstType: AmyAdams.

* RedOniBlueOni: Dickie and Micky.

* TropesAreNotBad: Many of the sports film cliches are played very straight but They are done so well that They can be taken seriously.
* TroubledProduction: Amazingly averted. This only bears mention due to Christian Bale's bad temper and David.O.Russell's infamous anger issues and attempts at violence.

* ButItReallyHappened: Bale seems to be overdoing it, and Wahlberg seems to be underplaying it. Then at the end we see footage of the real people they're playing and we find out their performances were in fact spot-on. In an interview, the director David O'Russell claims that he had to actually tone down Micky's sisters, as he was afraid people would think [[RealityIsUnrealistic they were too over-the-top.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: DarrenAronofsky was originally attached to direct.

* OnlySaneMan: Micky, and to a lesser extent, George.

* OnlySaneMan: Micky.