''Diggstown'' (known as ''Midnight Sting'' in the UK and Ireland), is a 1992 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Steven McKay, based on the 1978 novel ''The Diggstown Ringers'' by Leonard Wise. It stars James Woods,

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, He had his stage debut at the age of 17, in a school production of '' You Can't Take It with You.'' Shortly after he successfully ...

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...

, Heather Graham, Oliver Platt and

Randall "Tex" Cobb Randall Craig "Tex" Cobb (born May 7, 1950) is an American actor, martial artist, and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Widely considered to possess one of the greatest chins of all time, Cobb was a brawler wh ...

Plot

After being released from prison in Winfield, Georgia, con man Gabriel Caine gets to work on his next scam. Caine and his partner, Daniel Patrick O'Shannon "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, travel to a small town near the prison: Diggstown, a city obsessed with boxing. Someone named John Gillon owns almost all of Diggstown. He is the former manager of Diggstown's once-famous

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Charles Macom Diggs, the man for whom the town is named. Upon hearing that Diggs once knocked out five fighters in one day, Fitz says he knows of a fighter who could knock out any ten in one day: Honey Roy Palmer. Gillon bets $100,000 that no one can best ten Diggstown boxers in one day. Caine volunteers to finance Fitz's bet, and the con is on. Caine seeks out Palmer, a 48-year-old

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

supervisor. Palmer reluctantly agrees to participate and starts to train for the fight. Caine and Gillon agree to various conditions of the bet, with “one day” being 24 full hours and “Diggstown fighters” being able to come from any surrounding area of Olivair County. A loan shark backs Caine's bet. As his manager, Gillon drugged Diggs during a fight so that Gillon could collect on the opponent's long odds. Diggs suffered irreversible

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

as a result. Aided by Emily Forrester, sister of Caine's ex-cellmate Edward "Wolf" Forrester, Gillon has more than $1.5 million in assets. Caine tricks him into risking all of it. Now it is up to Palmer to defeat all 10 of Diggstown's men. They begin with: * Buck Holland, whom Palmer beats. * Slim Busby, who was bribed by Caine to take a dive. * Billy Hargrove, who is beat. * Sam Lester, who is secretly given a laxative before the fight and eventually runs from the ring. * Hambone Busby, who, like his brother Slim, was bribed to take a dive. Gillon, however, threatens to kill Slim, unless Hambone wins. Hambone fights, but is defeated. Slim is later found murdered. Palmer's next fight is with Sonny Hawkins, who is dispatched. Robby Gillon, the son of John, approaches the ring next, but then backs out under instructions from his father. His cowardice is regarded as a forfeit. Frank Mangrum loses to disqualification after kicking Palmer in the groin and hitting the referee. Palmer then knocks him out. Tank Miller, another fighter, is next. Palmer beats him. That brings up Diggstown's best man, Hammerhead Hagan, the only fighter ever to actually beat Palmer during their professional careers. He is brought in as a surprise ringer. Gillon moved him in as a county resident before the bet rules were established, meaning that Hagan can legally fight. The bout is one-sided. Palmer is exhausted, but gets new motivation after seeing Diggs, who is sitting ringside, move his hand slightly (which he interprets as a show of support). Caine, not wanting to see his friend die, attempts to

throw in the towel A corner retirement or corner stoppage – abbreviated "RTD (Retired)" by BoxRec – are terms used in boxing to describe a fight that ends when, during any rest period between rounds, a boxer refuses to continue or their corner pulls them out, ...

, but Palmer catches it and throws it back. Palmer rallies to knock out his opponent. Palmer, Caine and Fitz begin to celebrate. They are cut short by Gillon, who notes that Robby never entered the ring -– therefore, only nine fights transpired. The true tenth fighter is then introduced: Minoso Torres, who ruled the boxing underground in the prison from which Caine was released. No one ever defeated him. Palmer is no match for Torres. However, Caine eventually whistles at Torres, gets his attention, straightens his tie and does a thumbs-down gesture. Torres drops his gloves and invites Palmer to hit him, hitting the canvas, knocked out. Caine was expecting such a trick from Gillon and bribed Torres long before for a moment like this. Gillon loses everything. He eventually snaps and pulls a gun. Palmer grabs Gillon and prepares to deck him. Instead, he turns to Hambone, claiming, "My hands hurt. You want to do this?" Hambone obliges and delivers Gillon a knockout blow.

Cast

* James Woods as Gabriel Caine *

as "Honey" Roy Palmer *

as John Gillon * Oliver Platt as Daniel Patrick O'Shannon "Fitz" Fitzpatrick * Heather Graham as Emily Forrester *

as Edward "Wolf" Forrester *

Thomas Wilson Brown Thomas Wilson Brown (born December 27, 1972) is an American actor, who began his career at the age of 11 by playing "Augie" in the western film '' Silverado''. Career The son of a cattle rancher and rodeo queen, Brown received his first role by ...

as Robby Gillon *

Jim Caviezel James Patrick Caviezel Jr. (; born September 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor who played Jesus Christ in ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS series ''Person of Interest'' (2011–2016). He ...

as Billy Hargrove *

Wilhelm von Homburg Norbert Grupe (born August 25, 1940 – March 10, 2004), better known outside Germany by his stage name Wilhelm von Homburg, was a German boxer, actor, and professional wrestler known for his villainous supporting roles in various high-profile fi ...

as Charles Macum Diggs

Production

Filming for ''Diggstown'' took place in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, as well as in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars, calling it "amiable," but complains "the script is contrived". Vincent Canby of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it Ritchie's most entertaining film since the mid-1970's, and praising the cast. ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' said the cast livened up "what could have been an overly cute entertainment".

Box office

The film flopped at the box office, making $4.8 million in its theatrical run, well below its $17 million budget.

References

External links

* * * {{Michael Ritchie 1992 films 1992 comedy-drama films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s sports comedy-drama films American boxing films American films about gambling American sports comedy-drama films Films about con artists Films based on American novels Films directed by Michael Ritchie Films scored by James Newton Howard Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Montana Films shot in Sacramento, California Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films