Whitney Stanley
Cinderella Man
Critical Film Review
History 1700
M, W, R. 8:00
Cinderella Man is an inspiring movie that portrays the life of an American boxer during
the Great Depression. It takes place in New Jersey and New York focusing on one family in
particular. The movie begins with a very well off individual and his family; both being affected
by the Great Depression. This individuals name is James Braddock; with his wife Mae and their
three children, two boys and one girl. They try their very best to stay a strong family throughout
the movie, even though they stuggle through some hard times. I believe this movie does an
outstanding job at portraying the average life of an American living through the Great
Depression. I will break down the movie as it corresponds to the events that took place during
the Great Depression to explain my thesis.
James Braddock, known as Jimmy, is a professional boxer that is known to win his
games and has never been knocked out. He lives a life of glitz and glamour and after winning
his fights he goes home to a lovely wife and children. On one particular night after winning a
fight, Jimmy took home $8,860 dollars. His wife is very supportive of him and she greets him
on the front porch of a beautiful home every night after he has a match. His family has all the
right clothes, including the striking jewelry his wife owns. You can see how happy Jimmy and
Mae are together in their marriage; he is able to support his family beyond the average needs and
his children never go hungry.
The Great Depression was an intense time period for many Americans. It began in 1929
when Herbert Hoover was in presidency and continued into the presidency of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt who was elected in 1933. One thing led to another that caused the economy to be in a
recession. Americans started to spend more money than they were making which caused
consumers to run short of credit. Manufacturers began to slow production because of the large
amount of inventory accumulating, causing the manufacturers to dismiss many of their workers.
Although the economy started failing in 1927, it became evident in 1929 that the economy was
in a recession. “Many Americans went sleepless in 1933 as the nation entered the fourth year of
the worst economic contraction in its history. Times were hard- very hard- and there was no end
in sight.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.)
Four years into the depression and Jim Braddock can barely survive. All Mae has left of
her jewelry is her wedding ring; the extremely nice clothes are gone and Jim and his family now
live in an apartment. All the children sleep in the same room; this room being in the same
vicinity as the kitchen. Jim and his daughter sit down to breakfast and they each get one piece of
ham. On the counter next to them, you can see a stack of bills that are overdue. Jim goes outside
to get some milk to have for breakfast and once again encounters an overdue reminder. He goes
back inside and his daughter says, “Mommy I want more.” Her mother says, “Rosie we need to
save some for the boys.” Jim looks at his daughter, tells her that he is stuffed and can’t eat
anymore and gives his breakfast to his daughter. Before Jim leaves his family for the day to try
and find some work, he says to his wife, “Win or lose my fight tonight I’ll get $50 dollars.” She
says, “That’s great.” Both Jimmy and Mae are so grateful for any amount of money they are
able to earn. Their main focus is trying to support their family and keep their children alive. It
didn’t matter that Jimmy would make $50 dollars compared to the $8,000 he had made in the
past; all that mattered was that they would have enough money to feed their family. All they
could hope for at this time was to survive day by day.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1933 and he gave hope to many
Americans that were longing for relief. Soon after, Roosevelt created a program known as The
New Deal. With The New Deal underway, programs were created such as Social Security and
Medicare. This put a lot of responsibility on the government to insure the safety of each and
every American. Although the American people were put to work with The New Deal, the
program implanted hope into the people’s hearts. Roosevelt was able to understand and
communicate with people from every background. He loved the people and he showed it
through the way he interacted with them. Roosevelt had a very high standing in the society but
that didn’t matter; he was able to correlate with those of his same class or those of a lower class.
Roosevelt was a man with very high intentions but that didn’t mean the Depression was
immediately fixed after Roosevelt stepped into office; it would still take time to restore the
economy of the American people. During Roosevelt’s inaugural speech, he said, “The only
thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.) Not only did the
Great Depression put fear into the hearts of every working man but it put fear into the hearts of
the small and innocent children.
After having an unsuccessful day at trying to pick up a shift of work, Jim comes home to
encounter what had happened that day with his son Jay. After Jim gets home, he is greeted by
his two children who are playing outside. One of his boys says, “No shifts today dad?” His
daughter then runs into her daddy’s arms and says, “Jay stole.” Immediately Jim walks into the
apartment and finds his other boy, Jay sitting on a chair with his arms folded. Jim’s wife Mae
explains that Jay stole salami from the butchers but he won’t say a word. Jim knew he needed to
take Jay to return the salami, so he told Jay to pick it up and they went out the door. They
walked into the butchers and returned the salami. As they were walking away from the store, Jay
explains that his friend had to move to Delaware to live with his Uncle because his parents didn’t
have enough money for them to eat. The little boy had no intention to get in trouble, but he
feared of being shipped away from his family and he wanted to do what it took to make sure his
family would be safe and always stay together. The Father then said to his son, “Well things aint
easy at the moment Jay your right. There’s a lot of people worse off then what we are and just
cause things aint easy, that don’t give you the excuse to take what’s not yours does it. That’s
stealin right? We don’t steal. No matter what happens, we don’t steal; not ever. You got me?”
The little boy nods his head yes. Jim then says, “Are you giving me your word?” Jay tells his
father yes in a sincere but quiet voice; his father proceeds to say, “Go on.” Jay looks at his dad
and says, “I promise.” Jim looks at his son and with all of his heart he says, “And I promise you,
we will never send you away.” Jim then puts out his hand for Jay to shake it, but instead Jay
starts to cry and he gives his Father a hug. Jim picks up his son and as he’s carrying him home
he says, “You got a little scared, I understand.”
I believe at this point in the movie, you are able to feel such a connection with the people
who lived through this time period even though you have never personally experienced it. You
can see the fear and worry this little boy had as he talked with his Father. He never wanted to
admit why he stole the salami but once he talked to his Father about it, comfort came into this
child’s heart. At this particular time in the movie, I was able to see that the Depression wasn’t as
simple as people losing their jobs; it was more than that. People were fighting for their lives and
although the parents would try and have the attitude that everything was ok, Jay was able to see
through that and know that everything wasn’t ok. I would never want to see a child go through
what Jay had to go through during his childhood; always having the fear, am I going to get to eat
today or am I going to go to bed hungry? Will I get to be with my family tomorrow or will I
need to move away to stay alive?
“Roosevelt promised ‘action now,’ and he kept his promise.” (America, A Concise
History. Fourth ed.) As soon as Roosevelt was put into office, Congress was put to work.
Congress passed fifteen major bills that all dealt with four main issues. These issues were:
banking failures, agricultural overproduction, the business slump, and soaring unemployment.
The first issue that Roosevelt and Congress focused on was the banking crisis.
Approximately nine million families had their savings account affected by the stock
market crash; to ensure this didn’t keep happening, many states started to close their banks. One
day after Roosevelt was inaugurated; he announced there would be a “bank holiday” which
meant every single bank in the nation would be closed. During this bank holiday, he called
Congress into a special session in which they eventually passed the Emergency Banking Act.
This act would allow banks to open on one condition; if and only if they had enough funds. This
act was successful because Roosevelt reassured the people that it would work with his first
fireside chat; approximately sixty million people were listening. When the banks opened eight
days later, the amount of deposits exceeded withdrawals, “restoring stability to the nation’s basic
financial institutions.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.) A second act was also passed,
the Glass- Steagall Act, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The
FDIC insured up to $2,500 dollars and now insures up to $100,000 dollars. The number of banks
that were closed preceding Roosevelt’s inauguration went from 4,000 banks compared to the
sixty- one that were closed in 1934 while Roosevelt was in presidency.
“Roosevelt considered effective agricultural legislation ‘the key to recovery.’” (America,
A Concise History. Fourth ed.) Because there was so much food being produced, the prices were
lower than usual. To fix this issue, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) set up an “allotment
system” for: wheat, cotton, hogs, rice, tobacco, and dairy products. If a farmer agreed to cut
his/her production, this act would provide a cash subsidy to the farmer. These subsidies would
come from a tax that was put on the businesses who were handling these merchandises. The
New Deal representatives anticipated that this would raise the prices as the production fell,
causing an “economic recovery.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.) The act had one
problem; the subsidies were not evenly allocated. They were mainly being distributed to the
owners of large and medium sized farms. When the farmers of these large and medium sized
farms would cut their production, they would frequently lessen the amount of land that they
would rent to sharecroppers. Most of the sharecroppers were black, forcing them to move into
the cities.
To handle the issue of the business slump, the National Recovery Administration (NRA)
was established. They would deal with six hundred industries, both small and large companies.
They structured themselves to agree on a code of prices and production quotas. These codes
prohibited, “child labor and set minimum wages and maximum hours for adult workers.” The
codes also “guaranteed workers the right to organize and bargain collectively ‘through
representatives of their own choosing.’” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.)
Millions of American families were unemployed at this time and because of that
Roosevelt asked Congress to deliver some sort of relief for these people. Congress established
the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which was led by Harry Hopkins. After
FERA had been established for two years, they had distributed $1 billion dollars. Although this
provided relief for many people and families, Roosevelt and Hopkins still had some concerns
about those who would mistreat the system. Hopkins said, “I don’t think anybody can go year
after year, month after month, accepting relief without affecting his character. . . . It is probably
going to undermine the independence of hundreds of thousands of families.” (America, A
Concise History. Fourth ed.)
By the time Congress recessed in 1933, all four of the issues had been resolved, just as
Roosevelt had hoped for. Although no one has a specific date for the end of the Depression, it
has been said that World War II was also a major contributor in boosting America’s economy,
with the demand for weaponry, air/ sea craft, and ammunition. “Few presidents had won the
passage of so many measures in so short a time.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.)
Thousands of citizens showed their gratitude to Roosevelt with these words, “He gave me a job”
or “He saved my home.” (America, A Concise History. Fourth ed.)
Jim Braddock went on to face more struggles through the years of the Great Depression.
After boxing one night, the owners de commissioned him because of the poor show he put on; he
had a broken hand and was fighting on an empty stomach so he wasn’t fighting like the boxer
that he used to be. His wife finally sent the children away one day as Jim was out looking for a
shift to pick up. He came home and was outraged that Mae would make that decision without
him. They were so behind on all of their bills, they couldn’t even feed their children anymore.
Jim finally realized that an extreme measure had to be taken if he ever wanted to have his family
back home again. He decides to go down to Madison Square Gardens to a place where the
owners of the boxing ring are all having a drink. He goes into the room and after explaining his
situation to them, they all give him their change or a couple of dollars and he is able to get
enough money to pay his heat bill and bring his children back home.
Eventually Jim Braddock is offered one more fight, but only one. Because of his victory
during this one fight, he is paid to train and eventually gets one fight after another. Jimmy was
being interviewed and a reporter asked him, “You couldn’t win for nothing, what’s different
now?” Jimmy says, “This time I know what I’m fighting for.” Another reporter says, “What’s
that?” Jim says, “Milk.” James Braddock goes on to win the Madison Square Garden Bowl.
His whole motivation was for his family and every other American struggling to stay alive.
Throughout the movie, Jim expresses the faith that he has in Roosevelt. He had confidence that
Roosevelt would help them get out of the Depression and he did. Jim went through a countless
number of struggles that many Americans faced during the Great Depression but through his
determination and courage in the American people, himself and the government, he was able to
overcome each and every one of them. This is why I believe Cinderella man described The
Great Depression in such depth. You could feel the emotion of these characters. They not only
showed the rough times but they showed how America pulled through and made it during such a
grueling time in history known as The Great Depression.
Bibliography for Cinderella Man:
Henretta, James A., and David Brody. America, A Concise History. 4th ed. Boston, NY: 2010
Southern Illinois University Museum Web Site. 1999.
http://www.museum.siu.edu/museum_classroom_grant/Museum_Explorers/school_pages/bo
urbonnais/page6.htm