Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring, Powerful...A darker "Hoop Dreams"
Review: This film really inspired me when I saw it. My hobbie is an actor and lets face it I complain alot about things that revolve around it. When I see what these kids did and will do for their hobbie. I feel vain and ashamed. "On The Ropes" follows a coach and three boxers to fighting in the golden glove tournament. Along the way they face the reality of their enviorment( The Bronx), their own identities and events around them they can't control. This documentry has the power of such sports documentries as "Hoop Dreams" and "When We Were Kings" but sadly doesn't have such a glorious ending. One of the best documentries to come out in awhile. Watch this film and be lucky on the fact that you can do the things you want without outside troubles.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!
Review: This is a great DVD that captures the lives and stories of 4 people, 3 fighters and a trainer, trying to chase the brass ring in boxing, and life. A wonderfully gripping story that mainly focuses on the life of still active middleweight George Walton. You root big time for the 4 as they struggle to leave the tough Bed-Stuy NY neighborhood they live in. The only complaint here is that the DVD cuts off a nice bit at the end of the originally aired story that follows the reunion of George and his girlfriend, now (real life) wife, after her release from prison. This also deleats the 'where are they now?' updates. Great stuff though!
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but negative stereotyping
Review: This is a pretty good documentary, although it's very typical and predictable. It's entertaining to watch, but it's a little bit like the guilty pleasure of watching a car accident. I wonder why so many documentary's are about underprivileged people who can't seem to escape from their poverty induced victim life. I'm not sure what the point of another hard knocks life film is, unless it shows that transcendence is possible. In the case of this film, the depressing stereotypes have only been perpetuated. Personally, I prefer documentaries like When We Were Kings, Shadow Boxers, and Hoop Dreams - films that show us truely inspireing characters we have never seen before. Characters who prove that it is possible to confront your demons, whatever they may be, and win!
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOXING MOVIE
Review: this is the best boxing documentry since when we where kings this is high up there as one of the best boxing movies ever.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is about a lot more than boxing...
Review: This movie is about the human spirit. It's about four distinctively different people playing the cards that have been dealt. One of the best documentaries I have ever seen. If you like Hoop Dreams, you'll love this movie. Soundtrack is excellent, by the way. The music supervisor did a great job with the music. Every film should have music like this.
Rating:
Summary: Champion documentary
Review: This superbly crafted narrative documentary entertains as it informs, revealing the struggles of three young boxers and their trainer, all trying to rise above the circumstances of a tough neighborhood, their inner demons and self-doubts, and the pressures to exist and to succeed in the face of their dreams. Remarkably constructed, this documentary plays like a fiction film. The characters, each flawed and heroic, tell a powerful story of the human spirit, for which their sport, boxing, a familiar vehicle for such dramas, stands less as a symbol of our common fight to survive and to overcome and more as a way, a faith. Still, you can find some great boxing footage here, both in the gym and the ring. Watch out for the second round of Noel's Golden Gloves opening match! But that's just it. At the end of this film, these characters are just that: Noel, Harry, etc,: human beings. People you care about, who are fighting that which oppresses them, from within and without. Their stories are amazing and exceptionally well-told. This stands beside Hoop Dreams. Highly recommended.
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