The Iron Claw

Plot

In 1979, World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) is owned by retired professional wrestler Fritz Von Erich, who once dreamed of winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Fritz has five sons with his wife Doris, from oldest to youngest: Jack Jr., who died as a child, Kevin and David, who both wrestle in WCCW, Kerry, an aspiring discus thrower, and Mike, an aspiring musician. Kevin, the current Texas Heavyweight Champion, starts a relationship with a woman named Pam and tells her about the "Von Erich curse" that killed Jack Jr. as a child, supposedly brought on by Fritz changing his last name from Adkisson to his mother's, whose family had suffered constant tragedy.

Kevin wins a non-title match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race by disqualification, putting himself in the lead to challenge for the title. However, Fritz is disappointed that Kevin took a long time to get up after taking a vertical suplex directly on concrete, but is delighted by David displaying a natural talent for showmanship while cutting a promo. The boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow dashes Kerry's hopes of competing, and he moves back home, where Fritz also asks him to become a wrestler.

By 1983, Kevin, Kerry and David go over the Fabulous Freebirds to win the Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and Fritz volunteers David over Kevin to work current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. Kevin and Pam get married, and he reveals to an ill David at the wedding that he will soon be a father. A week before his match against Flair, David dies of enteritis while touring in Japan. Both Kevin and Kerry volunteer to work Flair in his place, but Fritz lets a coin flip decide, resulting in Kerry being the one to face Flair—going over him and winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Although Fritz is overjoyed, a drunk Kerry goes out for a motorcycle ride and loses his right foot in an accident.

Fearing the curse, Kevin has his newborn son, Ross, legally surnamed Adkisson. Kevin begins training Mike, who badly injures his shoulder during a match and goes into a toxic shock-induced coma during surgery. Mike narrowly emerges from his coma with noticeable brain damage and is no longer able to play the guitar, leading him to commit suicide. A grief-stricken Kevin starts to distance himself from Pam and Ross, fearing the "curse" will affect them too. Nonetheless, he works Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but is disqualified when he ignores the referee and grapples Flair with the signature Von Erich "Iron Claw" move for too long.

Cast

Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, the second-oldest son

Grady Wilson as Young Kevin

Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich, the fourth-oldest son

Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich, the third-oldest son

Valentine Newcomer as Young David

Maura Tierney as Doris Von Erich, Fritz's wife and the mother of the Von Erich brothers

Stanley Simons as Mike Von Erich, the youngest son (a composite character based on Mike and Chris Von Erich)

Michael J. Harney as Bill Mercer, a professional wrestling commentator

Holt McCallany as Jack "Fritz" Von Erich, the family patriarch, former wrestler, and WCCW owner

Lily James as Pam Adkisson, Kevin's wife

Maxwell Friedman as Lance Von Erich, a unrelated wrestler billed as a member of the family

Brady Pierce as Michael Hayes

Aaron Dean Eisenberg as Ric Flair

Kevin Anton as Harley Race

Cazzey Louis Cereghino as Bruiser Brody

Chavo Guerrero Jr. as The Sheik

Ryan Nemeth as Gino Hernandez

Production

Development

Sean Durkin had a long-term aspiration to create a film based on the Von Erich family. He was a fan of professional wrestling during his youth, and he was personally saddened by the string of Von Erich family deaths. In 2015, he began research for the film's initial screenplay. Chris Von Erich, the youngest member of the family, was not included in the screenplay because, according to Durkin, "it was one more tragedy that the film couldn't really withstand". Chris died by suicide in 1991, a year and a half prior to Kerry Von Erich, and he was the fourth family death (after Jack Jr., David, and Mike). Elements of his life and suicide were added to Mike's character.

In June 2022, the film was announced to star Zac Efron and to be produced and distributed by A24. Later, it was also developed by House Productions, with the support of Access Entertainment and BBC Film. In September, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson were announced as joining the project to portray the Von Erich brothers, alongside Efron. One month later, Holt McCallany and Lily James were cast, and Juliette Howell, Angus Lamont, Maura Tierney, Tessa Ross, Derrin Schlesinger, and Harrison Huffman were confirmed as producers. In November, Maxwell Jacob Friedman was cast and was later credited as an executive producer.

Filming

Principal photography began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in October 2022, and it lasted six weeks. Instead of filming the wrestling scenes in multiple edited sequences, however, the cast performed full-length, one-take wrestling matches, in front of a live audience, which was held in a furniture store that was converted to appear as the Dallas Sportatorium. Chavo Guerrero, who portrays The Sheik, also acted as the film's primary wrestling consultant. Guerrero also spoke to the cast about premature deaths in professional wrestling, including that of his uncle, Eddie Guerrero.

The film received special dispensation from SAG-AFTRA, to continue production and promotion during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, subject to the acceptance of certain conditions and stemming from A24's positive relationship with the union.

Music

Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire composed the film's score. Parry and Laurel Sprengelmeyer also wrote an original song for the film, "Live That Way Forever".

Additionally, the film features songs such as "Don't Do Me Like That" by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver, and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. "Tom Sawyer", which served as Kerry Von Erich's entrance music from 1981 to 1983, was also featured in the marketing for the film.

Release

The Iron Claw premiered at the Texas Theatre in Dallas on November 8, 2023, hours after the end of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike; and it was attended by Kevin Von Erich, who had recently returned to Texas after moving to Hawaii more than 20 years earlier, alongside Bill Mercer, Marshall Von Erich, Ross Von Erich, and Trish Stratus. The film was released, in the United States, on December 22 by A24, and premiered in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate on February 9, 2024.

The film was released for digital platforms on February 13, 2024, and for Blu-ray and DVD on March 26, 2024.

Reception

Box office

The Iron Claw grossed $35 million in the United States and Canada and $10.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $45.2 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Iron Claw was released alongside Migration, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Anyone but You, and was projected to gross around $6 million from 2,774 theaters in its four-day opening weekend. The film made $2.5 million on its first day, including $640,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $4.9 million, finishing sixth at the box office. In its second weekend the film made $4.6 million, finishing seventh at the box office. The following weekend it made $4.5 million, a drop of just 3% and finishing eighth.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 275 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Powerfully acted and profoundly sad, The Iron Claw honors its fact-based story with a dramatization whose compassionate exploration of family ties is just as hard-hitting as its action in the wrestling ring." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 55 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the best ever for an A24 title, while PostTrak reported 91% of filmgoers gave it positive score, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend the film.

The New Yorker's Richard Brody wrote The Iron Claw "is as exuberant as it is mournful, and the high spirits of performance and achievement are inseparable from the price that they exact". Adam Nayman of The Ringer called it "a sports movie with genuine existential heft", and The Atlantic's David Sims commented "it is the kind of big, weepy, macho film that just doesn't get made much anymore, a soaring power ballad that should prompt a lot of loud sniffling in the theater." David Fear of Rolling Stone noted the film establishes from the outset that "the physical violence in the ring will be nothing compared to the psychological carnage happening outside of it".

The cast received widespread praise. David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote of Efron's performance: "The lost, needy look in his eyes, especially when he's around his father, makes him seem like a frightened lad playing adult dress-up...Efron gets at what drove Kevin: discipline, love, and fear. He anchors the movie". Of White, Fear added, "The Bear has already sold many folks on the fact White is not only a hell of an actor, but can do a lot with silences, pauses, those peepers, and a kind of simmering soulfulness. This movie should convince whatever few naysayers are left that he's the real deal."

David Sims commented, "To wrestling nerds, the Von Erichs have a titanic legacy, and Durkin does his best to represent that by exploring the sport's crunchy, amateurish pre-corporate age, when regional live events were the big moneymakers and television was largely ignored." Writing for RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire said "the sequence in which the Von Erichs discover the song that would become their anthem—the iconic 'Tom Sawyer'—is a montage that moves with a verve that's reminiscent of Scorsese's muscularity".

Reaction within professional wrestling

In October 2023, Marshall Von Erich, Kevin's son, praised Guerrero's role as a wrestling consultant, highlighting the accuracy of the film's wrestling sequences and complimenting Efron's performance. Kevin Von Erich also positively highlighted Guerrero's contributions, stating, "He did a great job, pushing [the cast] and getting them ready. It is a lot more difficult than it looks, and they did so well." Von Erich met Efron and endorsed both his portrayal and the overall film, which Efron later stated was "the most important review". Von Erich stated that his niece Hollie, Kerry's daughter, was moved when she saw McCallany, who plays her late grandfather Fritz, on set, but believed the film inaccurately portrays Fritz as coming off "pretty rank".

Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, who lived and worked in Texas during the events of the film, lauded the performances of the film's cast but noted the film's plot contained several historical inaccuracies and depicted many events in an incorrect chronology. Meltzer also opined that the film struggled to correctly depict the Von Erichs' mass popularity at their height. Additionally, Meltzer noted that some members of the professional wrestling community heavily criticized the exclusion of Chris Von Erich from the film, but agreed that the inclusion of Chris would have prolonged the length of the film greatly. Meltzer panned Aaron Dean Eisenberg's imitation of Ric Flair, suggesting that it was the weakest aspect of the film.