The Wrestler.

Good movie.
I would even become a republican if that ment I could bang Marissa

It was good... I've seen better dramas.

yup, and many also don't have medical insurance, so rack up high medical bills...
there's a site that had a video roundtable interview with a bunch of former pro wrestlers talking about the movie: Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, etc. but I can't remember the site for the life of me...

I watched a documentary a while back where they followed a guy named Tony Atlas who used to be a huge name in wrestling ( I haven't watched it since the 80s when I was a kid, but he was pretty big back then). In this movie he was broke and living in a tiny little apartment and wrestling at little shows in school gyms or wherever in front of maybe 50 or 100 people. There were a bunch of guys who I recognized from the 80's who were all in the same boat. At one point they were going to do a show at a gym and it got shut down because there was no legal promoter so Atlas spends the day jumping through some hoops to get a special promoters license so the show can go on. Eventually he does, but they have to move the venue and the end up putting on the show for about 30 people.

It was kind of sad. These guys were pretty short sighted when they were making big money and it looks like a lot of them were never able to make the transition into a normal life afterward. You hear a lot of stories of drug overdoses and suicides and stuff like that.

Easily in my top 10 movies of all time.

I remember that, it was actually an episode of MTV True Life: I'm a Professional Wrestler from back in '99 when pro wrestling was going through a huge boom period. It was when WWE developed the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin character, WCW had the NWO and Goldberg, and both companies were doing huge ratings on Monday night TV every week.

Oddly enough, Tony Atlas is back working with WWE again, working as an on screen manager and also doing public appearances for the company. I think Vince McMahon has a soft spot for Atlas, because every time he is down and out McMahon comes to the rescue and gives him a job.

I think the whole pro wrestling business in general is in for some tough times ahead, as they are having a really tough time developing new stars. Back in the day a collegiate amateur wrestler, a college football player that wasn't quite good enough for the NFL, or any of a number of other high level athletes ended up gravitating to pro wrestling to make a living when they had no other options. Now those same guys have the option to train and try to make a living in MMA, and it really shrinks the talent pool to try and develop new pro wrestling stars...

"The world don't give a shit about me"

Great movie.

Pretty cool Indy Film. The Director's best film is still Requiem for a Dream. The author of the story still incredible even if dead for the unknown "The Room"

Damn, who was he?

That's right, it was one of those MTV things. Sometimes they have some pretty cool stuff on True Life.

Have you read any of the books about pro wresting? I haven't and was curious if they are worth the time. I haven't watched it since I was about 15 and that was when Hogan and The Macho Man and Jake The Snake were big, but it is an intriguing business and the people that do it for a living and their lives are often fascinating.

one of my fave movie this year aside of slumdog millionaire and district 9

Although its story consisted of several tired formulas stitched together what made that film work was the kickass performance of Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei.

There is also a pretty good, and somewhat sad, documentary called "Beyond The Mat"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Mat

I used to do the website for Randy "Macho Man" Savage.

The old school guys definately did not plan for the future.

Mickey Rourke looks like a sack of vomit now, but I already have this on my must see queue. It's a shame what he's done to himself, but I guess it worked to his advantage for this flick.