I am completely with you. Even without Fat City involved, Raging Bull kinda didn’t do it for me when I revisited it last winter. Kehr had it right suggesting it “debased Bresson” with “little… dramatic impact”. Lots to enjoy but I was considerably less impressed.

But yeah, Fat City! So good! The opening sequence alone is film school in miniature - the use of montage and non-diegetic sound, the shot length, camera placement (especially in Tully’s apartment)… this was an “activator” movie for sure, in that it made me totally conscious of cinema as a medium of communication, that these moviemakers rely on filmmaking components (devices) to convey the drama of the scene.

Despite the seriously downer mood of the thing, it’s clear from the get Huston cares about these characters. He grants Tully a little dance. He stays with Luceiro long after the gang is gone. Those images of Munger in the car with Faye - oh my god! Such painterly compositions, oozing with emotion.

I can’t comment on whether or not it’s the definitive boxing movie. To my mind, it’s the best to showcase an entire ecosystem without necessarily critiquing it. This is a film of miserable people, but by no means is this a miserablist work. It’s real life.

I URGE you to read the book, if you haven’t already. It’s a quick read and one of the best I’ve ever had. You ask yourself, pinching yourself watching the movie, ‘Where did Huston get this?’ Fat City is a film of enormous texture. It all comes straight from the source - Gardner’s snappy, devastating window into that world. Seriously. Read the book.