In a time when pro wrestling for women was illegal all over the United States, a small town single mother embraces the danger as she dominates America’s most masculine sport and becomes the first million dollar female athlete in history.
Chuck says:
I love old movies from the 30’s and 40’s and as strange as it seems, you can say I grew up on them. Living in Kankakee, Illinois during the 70’s and 80’s, there were only a few channels we could pull in through our antenna. When my father wasn’t watching yet another documentary on World War II on PBS, he had on WGN-TV out of Chicago. Before becoming a “superstation,” a great deal of their programming were films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. So, I got used to seeing a man and woman meeting and getting married ten minutes later, not hearing anything resembling a curse word and seeing the effect that a gunshot made was simply crumpling over in agony. (I also learned that if you were John Wayne, bullets seldom had any effect on you at all.)
I still love those movies, but they are a certain era, a time of innocence and simplicity indicative of that age. Ash Avildsen’s “Queen of the Ring” would be right at home during that time period. Rudimentary, melodramatic and innocuous, Joan Crawford and John Garfield would have been right at home in this unintended throwback, a film woefully out of step with today’s cinematic sensibilities. To be clear, I’m not advocating that all new releases should be made with the raw sensibility of a Martin Scorsese gangster epic. However, a filmmaker’s approach should be reflective of its subject matter or run the risk of coming off as disingenuous.
“Queen’s” subject is a fascinating one that likely isn’t known to many. A single mother, eager to shake the dust of the small Kansas town she grew up in off her feet, Mildred Burke (Emily Bett Rickards) is in search of an avenue out. She finds it in Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas), a professional wrestler she sees in a traveling show. Persistent to the point of irritation, she convinces him to train her. Once in the ring, she blossoms into a charismatic performer, one that draws crowds of men eager to challenge her, women who long to be like her.
Wolfe soon realizes that the only thing better than having one woman wrestler on his circuit is to have many. Before you know it, he has 29 female grapplers under contract, touring the nation during the late 40’s and early 50’s, leading to the formation of the World Wrestling Federation.
It’s a potentially fascinating story that deserves a more measured, realistic approach. The business and personal relationships that develop between Burke and Wolfe lack the complexity they deserve, the issues that develop in both arenas dispensed with quickly and conveniently. The dynamics between the women are glossed over as well, while the relationship between Burke and Wolfe’s son Bill (Tyler Posey) is treated as just so much soap opera fodder.
Burke and Wolfe’s story is a sprawling one, spanning decades and involves complex legal issues as it touches upon the themes of sexism, racism and the growing power of the media. There’s enough material here for a mini-series, which is what this story deserves. However, in an effort to cram twenty years of material into a two-hour feature, far too much is omitted or underdeveloped, the script a collection of ideas rather than a fully developed story. The simplistic dialogue only underscores its incomplete, rough nature.
While Rickards is winning as Burke, she simply isn’t up to the task of salvaging this one alone. To be fair, I can’t think of anyone who could. As a result, “Queen” has the look of a contender, yet simply doesn’t have the requisite composition to compete.
2 Stars
