Over the years, indeed over the decades, we have seen numerous boxing films get made; some of them non-fictional and paying homage to the greats of the ring. So far, here in 2025, there has been (to my knowledge, perhaps you can educate me) just one film made that pays tribute to the fighter, the man legendary trainer Angelo Dundee often said was “the finest human being ever put on this earth.”
Corey Wallace in ‘The Joe Louis Story’
Joe Louis is the fighter/man/legend, and the only film that has thus far been made in his likeness is the pretty superb (but low-budget) 1953 flick entitled ‘The Joe Louis Story.’ Starring real-life fighter Corey Wallace, the movie is a darn fine watch, and the film uses actual footage of Joe’s big-fight moves and shakes.
Spike Lee’s Joe Louis Movie Plans
But today, with so many of us, now older and wiser, being able to fully appreciate how much Louis meant, not only to his chosen sport, but to the entire world, it’s time for a full-on, high-budget tribute to “The Brown Bomber” and all he meant and still means to the planet. And great director Spike Lee remains resolute in getting his promised project off the ground.
Lee, who has given us plenty of magnificent movie magic throughout his career, promised the late, great Budd Schulberg that he would follow through and get his Joe Louis film made. An Spike is back on track with what could be seen as his most important and most inspirational project.
Lee, who once co-wrote with Schulberg, promised Budd on his deathbed (the literary genius passed in August of 2009) that he would “get this made.”
Remembering ‘The Brown Bomber’ Today
And “this” could prove to be one of the finest boxing films ever put out to the world. Lee, who told The L.A. Times that his passion for the film, which will largely focus on Joe’s rivalry/turned friendship with Germany’s Max Schmeling, is something that means a heck of a lot to him, perhaps even more so now that he is aged 68. Lee, who appeared in the must-see ‘When We Were Kings’ from 1996, says with sincere regret in the masterpiece how young people don’t know their history; how they do not know who Muhammad Ali was, or Jackie Robinson, or JFK, or Malcolm X, or Martin Luther King.
With his new film, we can rely on Lee to further educate today’s youth on who Joe Louis was, and what he meant/means; and always will mean to the world. The great quote about Joe, from writer Jimmy Cannon, that says, ever so accurately, that Joe “is a credit to his race, the human race,” will reach young minds when Lee’s film comes out.
