Hollywood and professional wrestling have a storied history of crossover, from Hulk Hogan to Andre the Giant, John Cena to Dave Bautista. Most successful has been Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who just returned on “Monday Night Raw” to tease a potential match with WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Meanwhile, The Rock’s “Baywatch” co-star Zac Efron is suplexing the silver screen in the haunting new A24 biopic “The Iron Claw,” which released in theaters in late December for a final Oscar push and was named one of the Top 10 Movies of the Year by the National Board of Review.
The movie is wonderfully nostalgic for fans of professional wrestling, particularly of the old territory days before the nationwide expansion and consolidation by then-WWF chairman Vince McMahon. It’s also a heartfelt drama that’s masterfully directed like Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” (2008), but far more accessible than Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” (2014) in tackling tragedy.
Set in Texas in 1979, the film opens with WCCW owner Jack “Fritz” Von Erich raising his sons with the dream that one of them will someday become the NWA Heavyweight Champion. Turns out, most of his sons predecease him: Jack Jr. drowns at age 6 and David dies of enteritis at age 25, while Mike, Chris and Kerry commit suicide at ages 23, 21 and 33 (oddly, Chris isn’t in the film), leaving Kevin (Efron) as the last surviving son, fearing “The Von Erich Curse.”
Like Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo portraying Mark and Dave Schultz in “Foxcatcher,” Efron proves once again that Hollywood hunks can shift gears from romantic leads to stud grapplers. On the surface, Efron is obviously chiseled, but his performance dives far deeper for an intimate relationship with girlfriend Pam (Lily James), innocently admitting that he’s a virgin, then later confiding his unique grief, “I used to be a brother.”
Efron creates a believable brotherly bond with his co-stars, including Harris Dickinson as David, who passes him over to become champ due to better mic skills; Stanley Simons as Mike, the young brother who gives up a music career only for a ring injury to induce a state of toxic shock; and Jeremy Allen White, who moves around surprisingly well inside the ring while grappling with familiar themes of sibling suicide like his chef in “The Bear.”
Their grieving parents are fittingly played by Holt McCallany and Maura Tierney, the former having played Mike Tyson’s trainer Teddy Atlas in the HBO film “Tyson” (1995) and the later having played the stepmom to a struggling drug addict in “Beautiful Boy” (2018). Shoutout to the supporting cast portraying Bruiser Brody, Gino Hernandez, Harley Race and the Fabulous Freebirds, though Ric Flair’s casting has received much criticism on social media.
Director Sean Durkin orchestrates authentic in-ring action, but his prowess is best on display outside the ring. In one scene, their mother does a double take as a brother’s ghost watches over her from the staircase. One particular shot blew me away as a locker-room mirror shows a symbolic reflection of the father coming between the brothers. You see, the real “iron claw” isn’t just their father’s finishing move but also the grip he holds over his sons.
The result is arguably the saddest movie of the year, but one that actually could have been sadder if Durkin’s script didn’t cut out an entire brother, Chris Von Erich. The filmmaker has said that the film couldn’t withstand another tragedy, worrying that audiences wouldn’t stomach an additional suicide, but it’s an insult to the family’s memory to erase a brother entirely. The film is already filled with tragedy in chronicling a curse; why not go all the way?
This choice is the only reason I made “The Iron Claw” an Honorable Mention on my Best Movies of 2023. If you somehow can table that flaw, removing the true events to simply view it as a film, “The Iron Claw” is easily one of the best-made movies of the year. Filmmaking doesn’t get much better, so while A24 is mostly pushing “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” this award season, I’d be thrilled if Efron earned an Oscar nomination.
Just bring a box of tissues as the film reminds us that brotherly bonds are eternal long after life’s bell rings.
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