Gladiator - The Movie Essay example -- essays research papers

The main character of the movie ‘Gladiator’ is a poor teenager Tommy Railey. Tommy, a newcomer to a tough Chicago inner city high school, becomes a boxer to pay off his fathers gambling debts. At first he works in a dinner to earn money. Later he decides to fight for money so that he can pay off his father quickly. Although boxing is a dangerous sport, fighting helps keep him off the streets and out of violent gangs. It is also a way for Tommy to earn money, sublimate anger towards his absent father and numb the emotional pain of a broken home. Unluckily, Mr. Horn, a nefarious businessman exploiting hungry boxers like prize pigs for his illegal matches, controls Tommy. Consequently, enraged Tommy earns enough money and defeats Mr. Horn’ s standards by wining his freedom, and beating him in a fight. Tommy, a very gifted young man, adamantly takes the anger he has inside and uses it to achieve his goals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On his first day at school, a gang of thugs confronts Tommy. Tommy later finds that the gang members are his classmates who push him around in class. Tommy’ s father was a gambler and hung around with people that were up to no good. Therefore Tommy focuses on school and aspires to attend college some day. On his first day at school he shows knowledge of meaning behind Mark Twain’s literature, leaving his classmate thugs shocked. The same day Tommy befriends a classmate. She appreciates his wisdom and hires him to wash dishes in her parent’s dinner. The dinner is located in the neighborhood, and is frequented by the thugs who rule the streets of the area. They fight the other students around the area on regular basis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In another scene gang members surround Tommy on his way to work. Tommy fights back and punches two of them later to be stopped by an older man. The man tells off the thugs and follows Tommy inside the dinner. The man is a Mr. Horn’s recruiter and the gang member’s work for Mr. Horn. Mr. Horn is a former boxer turned businessman who organizes illegal boxing matches. At the dinner the man sits by Tommy and makes him an offer he cannot refuse. He explains that since the thugs he just beat up seem weaker then him, he could fight against them and earn quick cash. Aware of his father’s debt, Tommy hopes to pay it off as soon as possible so he takes on the job and commits to one fight that even... ... nothing else but boxing. Consequently, Tommy decides to tell Mr. Horn that he will not fight anymore. In spite of his decision Mr. Horn reminds Tommy that he owns him. Furthermore, Mr. Horn schedules a fight between Tommy and Lincoln that evening. At first Tommy refuses to fight his best friend, but accepts to do so only because Lincoln has to earn money to support his wife and child.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the fight Tommy cannot hit his friend therefore the judges had stop the fight. Mr. Horn is very disappointed as he marched the platform and knocks out Lincoln to the ground. Tommy offers a fair fight with Mr. Horn in exchange for his freedom. Mr. Horn is an experienced Gladiator, a fighter without boxing gloves. If Tommy loses the fight Mr. Horn will still own him. That day Tommy beats up Mr. Horn without boxing gloves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tommy had built up anger over the years, because of his family situation. His attempt to settle his father’s debts was successful. He used his anger to defeat all the odds against him. He came to a Chicago ghetto a good boy and became a better and stronger man. This is a classic plot of a good man overcoming evil.