Queen of the Ring: Hurawatch

Queen of the Ring: Hurawatch

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Wrestling pics are trending. Fans previously enjoyed the highly underrated film The Iron Claw about the Von Erich brothers and their tragic life — it came out last year. Now, I would like to praise Ashley Avildsen's old-fashioned and wonderfully entertaining biopic about Mildred Burke. Do not worry if you have never heard of Burke before because this film is set to change that for you — in case the truth is, Burke doesn’t seem to be a household name, and Burke, the first female athlete in the world to earn a million dollars, is missing out on that recognition and attention. Burke was born in November 1923, so she was a three-time women’s world champion (since the 1930s for the 1950s), a period during when women’s wrestling was not even legal in a majority of the country. Burke’s story is just begging to be captured on film, and the 39th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival featured it as the opening night film. To my delight, Queen of the Ring tells her story effectively.

The film features Emily Bett Rickards (Arrow) in a career-launching role as Burke, which is inarguably a tough first impression as we catch her portraying an unmarried teenage mother in a Kansas diner who works under the management of her mother (Cara Buono). But for Millie, who has some of the most astonishing musculature one can possess, the dreams stem from the ability to become an entertainer. And since she can neither sing nor dance, wrestling seems to be her an ideal escape route from the backwoods.

The movie is based on Wolf’s promotion (portrayed by a charming Josh Lucas) who brings along his traveling wrestling carnival to town. And it's precisely when he shows up that she decides to make the most out of her opportunity when she boldly asks Wolfe to set up a match between herself and one of his male wrestlers. To Billy's surprise, he was initially cynical and let her compete for her own amusement, but after she beats her much bigger opponent, he quickly gets persuaded. From that point onward, Wolfe’s belief comes to life when he starts supporting her and he gets to watch as his protégé shatters records wrestling men at carnival shows across the Midwestern states.

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Throughout the journey, she and Billy take a liking towards each other and get married. Unfortunately, the union does not last, because he starts to sleep with many of the female wrestlers he has hired. She consents to the marriage as a contract, and has a passionate relationship with his son G. Bill (Tyler Posey, Teen Wolf), who has been her admirer for a long time.

In one of the festival’s earlier press conferences, Avildsen as writer-director noted with a little remorse that the tale was better suited to a miniseries format and that an hour of the film was trimmed off. It's clear to us that this was an apparent issue, as Queen of the Ring struggles with a fragmented structure that ironically gives the impression that it's longer than its actual duration.

As additional characters are introduced, such as Francesca Eastwood portraying Mae Young, along with Elvira Snodgrass played by Marie Avgeropoulos, June Byers becomes Kailey Farmers’ real-wrestler character making her impressive screen debut with Nell Stewart played by Kelli Berglund, Gladys Gillem is portrayed by Deborah Ann Woll alongside Babs Wingo Damaris Lewis as part of a trio of Black female wrestlers, it becomes apparent that the narrative is quite choppy. Rather, you will likely be struggling to keep up with the intertwining romantic and business plot lines that at times seem random.

Fortunately, the captivating story and its near flawlessly executed cinematic representation, despite certain over-the-top dramatizations, do not result in any significant harm. The wrestling scenes in particular are very gritty, with cast members like Rickards putting such intense physical effort into their roles that one could assume copious amounts of offscreen nursing care must have been administered. The filmmaker does seem to inherit his father John's talent for directing combat scenes; his father directed the original Rocky and three Karate Kid films. Moreover, one of the stars from that series, Martin Kove, plays a colorful supporting role here.

Even with the film's low budget, it looks wonderful, thanks to Andrew Strahorn's lovely, sepia-tinged cinematography and Sofija Mesicek's meticulously crafted costumes, which effectively represent the film's time period. In addition, the film maintains strong cohesion through powerful performances from the supporting cast like Adam Demos portraying Mildred's loyal friend who would later rise to fame as Gorgeous George, Walton Goggins as crafty rival promoter Jack Pfeffer, and young heartthrob Gavin Casalengo from The Summer I Turned Pretty who plays Mildred's son.

However, it is Rickards, who manages the physical and emotional intricacies of the character exquisitely, that brings life to the film.