Fat City

film by Huston [1972]

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July 20, 2026

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Fat City is a 1972 film directed by John Huston, based on Leonard Gardner's novel. It tells the story of small-time boxers and their struggles in Stockton, California. The film marked a significant comeback for Huston as a director and was critically acclaimed. It stars Stacy Keach as a washed-up boxer, Susan Tyrrell as his girlfriend, and Jeff Bridges as a younger fighter. The film draws on Huston's own past experiences as a boxer. The phrase "fat city" itself is U.S. slang for a very comfortable situation in life.12

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John Huston
Last films
Fat City, an adaptation of Leonard Gardner’s novel about small-time boxers, significantly reversed Huston’s fortunes as a director and was one of 1972’s most-acclaimed motion pictures. Here Huston had a chance to draw upon his experiences as a boxer in California five decades earlier, and…
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Fat City, an adaptation of Leonard Gardner’s novel about small-time boxers, significantly reversed Huston’s fortunes as a director and was one of 1972’s most-acclaimed motion pictures. Here Huston had a chance to draw upon his experiences as a boxer in California five decades earlier, and…
Read More

boxing
Boxing in art, literature, and film
… production of 1956); John Huston’s Fat City (1972), which captured the unglamorous world of small-time boxers; Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980), based upon the life of the fighter Jake La Motta; Sakamoto Junji’s Dotsuitaru nen (1989, Knockout), based upon the autobiography of young welterweight Akai Hidekazu, who suffers brain damage…
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… production of 1956); John Huston’s Fat City (1972), which captured the unglamorous world of small-time boxers; Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980), based upon the life of the fighter Jake La Motta; Sakamoto Junji’s Dotsuitaru nen (1989, Knockout), based upon the autobiography of young welterweight Akai Hidekazu, who suffers brain damage…
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