For awhile it’s too damn talky. I got the premise, now just get on with it. I didn’t find the training sequences that accelerating towards excitement, either. However, we got a lot of busters for personalities. Lee Marvin was one of them you’d never want to cross, he’d chew you out too easily or throw you to the ground. John Cassavetes with his crazed eyes is a twisted sociopath. Charles Bronson is not too smart but a good enough killer. Also good are Telly Savalas, Jim Brown, and a young screw-loose Donald Sutherland. The assignment is a suicide mission to go blow up a holiday chateau occupied by Nazis.

Except I never thought it was much of a suicide risk. The Americans get there and pretty much kick ass, which is great, because deep in my bones I’ve always hated the Nazis like no other. Nazis die here in heinous ways they deserve to die by. The best Americans get out of there a little banged up, but some tough guy tears are had for we lose a few men.

I have to say the last ten minutes of this 1967 <em>The Dirty Dozen</em>, while too ridiculous here and there, is almost a portent to the grindhouse era. Can’t love it as a whole because further down the line we got better versions on this type of movie. The crown jewel of course is Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds,” with its marvelous dialogue, a leap in improvement from some of the wooden dialogue we have here. Robert Aldrich was a good director, but a great director would have cut the fat from the script.

<em>Foxcatcher</em> is gutsy by being slow-moving and observant, as well as quiet for much of the time. Director Bennett Miller—in cold, clinical Kubrickian form—is confident in the strength of the material, that the psychology and gaze at background scenery is fascinating enough to hold us. The implosion of the characters is what gradually pulls us in.\

This true story starts with 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winner Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), who was living on frugal means three years later, eating dollar hamburgers while continuing his training for the 1988 Olympics. Billionaire John du Pont (Steve Carell) beckons him to his estate with the promise he will fund and coach him. Empowering pseudo-wisdom are said from this would-be mentor to protégé that increase this athlete’s self-worth. For the first time, Mark is living the high life. This becomes a study in delusions of grandeur, traversing in the most horrible way.

The billionaire’s estate changes this young man’s mindset when he gets to live around moneyed surroundings. Mark trains with his sight on winning another Olympic gold medal, and American heroism can be vaulted. Du Pont pays out of pocket for the right to be a coach, but he’s a man without an ability to connect to others. Du Pont’s depression eventually sets in, and the quest for gold gets subverted by other dubious pursuits.

Mark’s more self-assured brother David (Mark Ruffalo) is also a professional wrestler. Character actor Ruffalo has played Ruffalo-looking guys for so many years, but here he’s beefier, huskier. David’s also more naturally authoritative to the point he steal’s Mark’s thunder, whom in comparison is just a Simian Ape.

Tatum gives his first great dramatic performance as the fragile ego wrestler. Carell’s performance was the best of his career as the exorbitantly rich Du Pont who is pitiful in the ways he tries to control others but fails. It is also creepy from the beginning as to what an artillery nut he is, and that nobody questions his unhealthy obsessions. Du Pont, desiring to be looked at grandly, gives an instruction speech to his team in one scene while his domineering mother (Vanessa Redgrave) looks on unimpressed, and the more he talks, the more transparently hollow his leadership comes across.

Tragic but fascinating, <em>Foxcatcher</em> is about the emptiness of wealth, the sight of sibling rivalry, and the madness that comes after thwarted expectations. It is the kind of film that puts me in a dark introverted mood afterwards. There are valuable lessons of how chasing the wrong American Dream can destroy you, however, and it’s so clear-cut in its vision that it’s hard to shake from your mind.

Brilliant, moody character study. Foxcatcher is gutsy by being slow-moving and quiet for much of the time, and being confident that the material, psychology and scenery is fascinating enough to hold us. This true story is about 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winner Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), who was living on frugal means three years later, eating dollar hamburgers while continuing his training for the 1988 Olympics. Billionaire John du Pont (Steve Carell) beckons him to his estate with the promise he will fund and coach him. Empowering things are said from mentor to protégé that add to this athlete’s self-worth. For the first time, Mark is living the high life.

I have no idea who director Bennett Miller’s connections are (he made “Capote” and “Moneyball”) but he somehow got permission to shoot the film on an extravagant estate. This is suitable, since this is about a change of a young man’s mindset when he lives around moneyed surroundings. Schultz trains everyday with hard sight on another Olympic gold medal, and boosted because he revered by du Pont. But du Pont’s depression eventually sets in, and the quest for gold falters for the both of them.

“Foxcatcher” daringly summons the essence of a billionaire’s depression and an athlete’s crushed spirit. It is uncommon to get this kind of story put on screen, and so unflinchingly.

Mark also has a brother named David who is a professional wrestler, and he is played by Mark Ruffalo. Character actor Ruffalo has played Ruffalo-looking guys for so many years, but this time he’s beefier, huskier. I wouldn’t have known it was Ruffalo unless if I hadn’t looked at the credits. David, the older brother is naturally more authoritative, and alas, steals his brother’s thunder. Here are two brothers whom are incapable of sharing the same spotlight.

I certainly had the expectation that I was being set up for another inspirational sports fable since virtually all sports movies are inspirational sports fables. I was unprepared for the direction it steered into. The acting is brilliant, and the writing is good enough to be studied in your mind weeks after I’ve seen it.

Tatum gives his first great dramatic performance, he is strong with a fragile ego. Carell’s performance is the best that I’ve seen this year because it is as unique, as hard to capture, as anything I’ve seen in some time. He is exorbitantly rich, yes, but socially he is pitiful. He gives an instruction speech to his team in one scene while his domineering mother (Vanessa Redgrave) looks on unimpressed, and the more he talks, the more redundant and transparently hollow his leadership comes across. Carell, in comedy or drama, can play a man who has never been in love better than any actor in ten years. We just didn’t appreciate it until now.

This is not a true story you should read up on before you go in to see the film. Let it surprise you. There are flaws, yes (Sienna Miller, as David’s wife, doesn’t have much of an opinion on anything, then the “facts” at the end are hastily run past), but it doesn’t deter the overall accomplishments. Afterwards I was certain this is as fine a dramatization of American tragedy that I’ve come across in several years, maybe the finest since “Black Swan” (2010) or perhaps “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (2007). For better or worse, I have been in a dark introverted moods while contemplating the film since. That’s because I’m still replaying the film since I’ve seen it.

134 Minutes. Rated R.

DRAMA / BIOPIC / WEEKEND FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Film Cousins: “Reversal of Fortune” (1990); “Born Rich” (2003); “Capote” (2005); “The Wrestler” (2008).