Like the title Iron Claw, this film’s grip on the audience just won’t let go. Based on the von Erich brothers true story, they were the real deal in early 1980’s Texas. Pro Wrestling might be staged entertainment, with outcomes pre-ordained, but Writer/Director Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy Mae Marlene) shows the physical punishment and athleticism was all vividly real. He delivers a well-researched treatise on this incredible family of trained athletes and the business. We know how well these parts are being played since this critic started his broadcast career as a TV wrestling announcer and interviewer in that era.
The story centers on the brothers, Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry, (Jeremy Allen White) and David (Harris Dickinson) who all dedicate themselves to bringing home the Heavyweight Championship Belt for their hard-driving Dad and former Wrestler Fritz, (Holt McCallany – TV’s Foundation, Mind Hunter). To prep for their roles, Efron, White and Dickinson hit the gym big-time 5 months to transform their bodies into the muscle-bound, sculpted behemoths that fly off the ropes and slam the mat. They also model the mullets and hair-helmet hairdo’s of the late 70’s.
The recreation of the TV promotional bits that pro wrestlers have perfected as improvisational theater make this film a cut above of what is generally regarded as low brow entertainment. In the film, Dickinson as son David is good on TV, so Fritz makes him the family Golden Boy above Kevin, the eldest. The taunts and challenges delivered to the camera are an integral part of drumming up “heat” and ticket sales for the grudge matches.
Dad, Fritz, wrestled in the 50’s as a heel, better known as a “bad guy” with a supposed Nazi past who used the “Iron Claw” to grip an opponent’s head as a a big finish to end a match. His real family name was Adkisson. Over the years, other wrestlers like Killer Kawalski and Baron von Raschke, “The Beast of Berlin” copied Fritz in using their own version of “The Claw.”
The action scenes in the squared circle are some of the most exhilarating and exciting sports sequences ever produced about wrestling. We wonder if Kevin’s leap off the top rope is as absolutely terrifying for Efron as it was for us watching him do it. Efron and the cast credit wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. (who also plays The Sheik) for sharing and teaching the techniques he uses in the ring. Cinematographer Mátyás Erdély sweeps the camera and racks focus to add even more impact to the mayhem, getting right in on the moves.
McCallany as Fritz is stellar as the unforgiving Dad demanding whatever it takes for perfection from his sons. The boys fear, but still revere, their strict elder, but it’s brotherly love for each other that is the heart of the film. McCallany’s Fritz loves his sons, but always favors the one he believes has the best shot at bringing home the Belt. It’s a clear form of abuse, but he also rides roughshod over his wife Doris (Maura Tierney) as well as youngest Mike (Stanley Simons) who loves music more than wrestling causing friction when Dad makes him get in the ring.
Jeremy Allen White also transforms into a dynamo. His Kerry was primed to go to the 1980 Olympics until the U.S. boycott over The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. That’s when Frtiz decided Kerry should join his brothers in the ring. White is bulked up and amazing in the ring.
Kevin is the voice of the story. Efron characterizes him as a talented athlete, but with vacant, almost dim witted eyes. It’s Kevin who completely buys into the notion that the von Erichs were cursed. Tragedy after tragedy befalls the brothers, including an undiagnosed medical emergency and multiple suicides bringingt unrelenting grief to the family. But there was more. There were actually 6 brothers, one who dies as a child and another who is entirely redacted from the family. Kevin, who is now 66 is the only brother left.
Amidst the sadness there are glimmers of joy, Kevin’s relationship and marriage to Pam (Lily James) chief among them. Kevin had no idea how to woo, so Pam, in some tender and sexy moments, guides their courtship. And you see their love for each other as the brothers work, train, play, laugh and cry together throughout the film.
The von Erich’s lore may have largely been forgotten, but you’ll find out in post script that this family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Sean Durkin shows real appreciation for the physical artistry and sideshow promotion he watched as a boy. His film is more than a story of love and loss. It’s about a family’s bond that was stronger than an Iron Claw.
A24 2 Hours 10 Minutes R
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