64 Day Hero: A Boxer's Tale
Black Lives
•
1h 33m
Directed by Franco Rosso • Documentary • 1985 • 92 minutes
In this compelling and thought-provoking documentary, sports writer and novelist Gordon Williams uses archive footage, as well as interviews with family members and friends, to investigate the troubled life of the mixed-race British boxing hero Randolph Turpin.
In 1951, after defeating the American Sugar Ray Robinson for the title Middleweight Champion of the World, 23-year-old Turpin became a national hero. He held the title for only 64 days before losing a rematch with Robinson. Turpin's reign as a sporting hero was over, and the subsequent years of scandal, bankruptcy and humiliation led him to an early death at the age of 38.
Up Next in Black Lives
-
No Maps on My Taps
Directed by George Nierenberg • Documentary • With Lionel Hampton, Bunny Briggs, Chuck Green, Howard "Sandman" Sims • 1979 • 59 minutes
The golden age of tap dancing spanned the first half of the twentieth century, but by the 1950s, the form fell to the likes of rock 'n' roll and modern dance. I...
-
An Apollo Legend
Directed by Brian Storm • Documentary • 2008 • 18 minutes
Decades before American Idol and America's Got Talent captured the attention of millons on TV, the world renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem started hosting its popular Amateur Night, which launched the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Bro...
-
Trouble Sleep
Directed by Alain Kassanda • Documentary • 2020 • 41 minutes
Kassanda’s freewheeling urban portrait follows two young men, Fred and Akin, as they navigate the crowded roadways of Ibadan, Nigeria’s third largest city. Engineering graduate Fred is beginning a new job as a taxi driver, while Akin p...