Birch Street Gym is a 1991 short film (25 minutes) directed by Stephen Kessler.
A 74-year-old man named Jack (Harold Gould) muses about aging, and how everything about getting old encourages old people to give up—give up your driver's license, stop going out, and resign yourself to sitting in the sun room of the old folks' home until you die. Jack, however, is determined not to spend his old age withering away, and has found something to do.
He's found a fight club. Specifically, an organized boxing league for old folks, held at the Birch Street Gym. Instead of playing shuffleboard or checkers or sitting on the porch gathering dust, old men come to the gym and, on a regular basis, beat the hell out of each other. It gives them something to do, and it helps them feel vital. Jack is about to fight the league champion, an intimidating fellow named Rocco. But the boxing league is facing a major threat, as the local authorities have found out about it and are threatening to shut it down.
Tropes:
- Acme Products: The gym is located inside a warehouse labeled "Acme Wiping Materials".
- Bittersweet Ending: Jack gives a good account of himself but loses the fight to Rocco by decision. Worse, the authorities are closing down the gym. But he and the others have learned a lesson about living life and not resigning themselves to old age.
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: It's not really so bad as far as retirement homes go. But Jack talks about how everything in a retirement home basically encourages seniors to sit down, give up, and wait for death.
- Cut Himself Shaving: When asked about his black eye Larry says "I ran into a door." It's a pretty transparent lie as the others know about the boxing league.
- Do Not Go Gentle: The main theme, that the elderly should still try to live life to the fullest.Jack: You never lose when you're fighting. You only lose when you stop fighting.
- The Dreaded: Rocco, the league champion, a barrel-chested tough guy. Some of the old folks gossip about how he fights dirty and how he's really only 55 years old.
- Fight Clubbing: An organized boxing league for seniors, to help them resist the temptation to withdraw from life.
- Flashback: Jack remembers when he was playing chess with another resident of the retirement home, only to look up from the board and see that his opponent had fallen asleep. He got so mad he punched the other guy in the face, which is what led another resident of the home to invite him to the fight club.
- Narrator: Jack tells his story in voiceover.
- Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Averted. Rudy, worried about the imminent closure of the gym, talks to a fighter named Sandy and says "You were a lawyer." Sandy replies "I was a tax lawyer!"
- Title Drop: Rudy, the owner, talks about how he's worried that the authorities will shut down the Birch Street Gym.
