Broken Noses *** (1987, director Bruce Weber) – Classic Movie Review 11,658

Famed stills photographer Bruce Weber’s 1987 film directorial début Broken Noses is a beautifully shot feature documentary study of young boxers as they train, hang out and prepare for battle at the Mount Scott Boxing Club.

The movie concentrates on lightweight Andy Minsker (a lookalike for a young Chet Baker, whose trumpet solos dot the film), a boy whose surface machismo and strength is undermined by the probing camera, providing moments of affecting emotion, such as when he hesitantly reads from Richard II.

Broken Noses is a glossy and trendy visual delight.

Broken Noses, documentary by Bruce Weber, 1987.

While Weber was photographing the Olympic hopefuls for Interview Magazine in 1984, he met Andy Minsker, a young boxer from Oregon, and started interviewing him on camera. He decided to continue the story in Broken Noses, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at Sundance in 1988.

In 1988 Weber directed Let’s Get Lost, a documentary about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.

Weber’s film Chop Suey, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the wrestler Peter Johnson, was released in 2001.

Bruce Weber (born March 29, 1946) is known for his work for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, and in Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone magazines.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,658

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Bruce Weber photo of Matt Dillon in bed.