True Story Movies That Lied To You

Ron Howard's 2005 biopic Cinderella Man wasn't too off the mark when it came to the central story of pugilist James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe in the movie), a heavyweight champ who defeated Depression-era odds to come back from bitter defeat and financial distress and win the belt from Max Baer. However, the movie also turned his in-the-ring nemesis into a more cinematic villain than he was in real life.

While it's true that Baer did cause a gruesome death with his devastating fists, the way the film portrayed him as a miscreant who gloated about his coffin-ready conquest(s) wasn't accurate. His son, Max Baer, Jr., was reportedly enraged by the scoundrel his father was portrayed to be (by Craig Bierko) in the movie, saying, "The portrayal of my father in Cinderella Man couldn't have been more wrong and inaccurate. They turned a good-hearted, fun-loving, friendly, and warm human being who hated boxing into Mr. T from Rocky III with no redeeming characteristics."

Baer's own words about the incident indicate that the attitude he was portrayed to have—he was shown in the movie boasting about putting men in early graves—was exactly the opposite of how he reacted to the death of Frankie Campbell in real life. He once was quoted to state, "Nothing that ever happened to me—nothing that can happen to me—affected me like the death of Frankie Campbell." He actually ended up raising money for Campbell's widow and son after his death and is said to have had frequent nightmares about the loss.

Also, the idea that he would brashly take credit for the later death of Ernie Schaaf, who actually died months after his bout with Baer, seemed to be a sore spot for family members of the victim's side as well. Schaaf's sister-in-law was quoted as saying that the movie "even showed Ernie being dragged to the side and saying that was from the Max Baer fight. It isn't; it's from the [Primo] Carnera fight. That's when I really got upset." The film's most crushing blow, then, was to make Baer seem like a heartless foe when in reality, he was actually quite emotionally affected by what happened at his hand and certainly didn't lay claim to that which did not.