''Dempsey'' is a 1983 television film based on the life of the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

boxer Jack Dempsey that starred Treat Williams and Sally Kellerman.

Plot

Jack Dempsey starts out fighting in bars for half the take. He wins his first professional fight. After a later bout, he and his manager are held up at gunpoint and robbed of the purse. He sees the thieves later and beats them up to recover the cash. Jack meets Maxine Cates, but goes to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to box. After a bout with John Lester Johnson is a draw, he breaks with his manager and goes back to Salt Lake City and marries Maxine. After money disputes with her Maxine leaves, and Dempsey goes to San Francisco. Kerns becomes his manager. He wins fights, goes to New York, and divorces Maxine. He beats Jess Willard by a TKO and becomes heavyweight champ. Dempsey goes to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

to make films and gets sued for non-support by Maxine. He fights

Luis Firpo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

and is knocked out of the ring, but still wins. He is sick (perhaps poisoned), but still fights Gene Tunney and loses a decision. On September 22, 1927, he fights Tunney again. Dempsey knocks Tunney down, but the count doesn't start until Dempsey goes to a neutral corner. This gives Tunney time to recover and get up when the count reaches 9. In this famous "long count" fight Tunney wins by decision.

Cast

* Treat Williams as Jack Dempsey * Sally Kellerman as Maxine Cates * Sam Waterston as "Doc" Kearns * Victoria Tennant as Estelle Taylor * Robert Harper as Damon Runyon * Jimmy Nickerson as Gene Tunney * Clay Hodges as Jess Willard * Eli Cummins as

* Bonnie Bartlett as Celia Dempsey * John McLiam as Hyrum Dempsey * Peter Mark Richman as Tex Rickard * Jesse Vint as Bernie Dempsey * James Noble as Gavin McNab *

John Lehne John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

as Gene Normile *

Cliff Emmich Clifford Joseph Emmich (December 13, 1936 – November 28, 2022) was an American film, stage and television actor. He appeared in over 90 films and television programs, and is perhaps best known for playing the character of Chicago in the 1973 fi ...

as Otto * Michael McManus as Babe Ruth *Mark L. Taylor as Price

References

External links

* 1983 television films 1983 films American boxing films CBS network films Films set in the 1910s Films set in 1927 Films set in the 1930s Cultural depictions of Jack Dempsey Cultural depictions of Babe Ruth Films scored by Billy Goldenberg Films set in Los Angeles Films set in New York (state) Films set in San Francisco Films set in Utah Films directed by Gus Trikonis 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{US-tv-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links