67. Untold: Deal with the Devil

Explicit content warning

07/22/22 • 45 min

We're back and chatting about yet another excellent episode of Netflix's Untold series. This time, we enter the purgatory to discuss the insanely tumultuous highs and lows of Christy Martin's boxing career and personal life in Deal with the Devil. The title itself is quite revealing: it overtly hints at the Faustian bargain Christy made by marrying her wickedly abusive/controlling real-life trainer/promoter/coach Jim Martin. It also obliquely acknowledges the fact that she not only entered into a partnership with this devilish figure, but that she "dealt" with him: even surviving Jim's very visceral attempt to take her life.

Christy Martin's story is truly one-of-a-kind. Hailing from a small, backcountry mining town in West Virginia, she becomes a worldwide phenomenon after a bludgeoning, broken-nose performance on a Tyson card at MGM Grand. Soon, she's being picked up by late-night TV shows, placed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and promoted by Don King. She also ends up playing a homophobic heel (despite being a closet lesbian), becoming addicted to cocaine, and getting into a life-or-death scuffle (replete with stab wounds, gun shots, and battered skulls) with her furious husband/boxing coach.

Described as having a stone chin, Christy's resilience and stamina is unrivaled. She is a fighter in every sense of the word and this episode is a testament to the wild, admirable, and unbelievable story of her life: both inside and outside of the boxing ring.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

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66. Driven (2001)

Driven is a notoriously (and criminally) maligned, high-octane car wreck of a movie you have to see to believe. Tracking the CART open-wheel circuit, Renny Harlan’s adaptation of Sly Stallone's bloated script delivers ADHD-addled thrills from start to finish. This thing peels out at 200+ mph and refuses to let you breath or think — only pulling over to recharge at a few well-timed soapy, melodramatic pit stops.

If you're down for a flashy, jam-packed spectacle of gonzo, over-the-top filmmaking with little emotional or narrative credibility, hop right in! This is the celluloid equivalent of an amphetamine-infused deep-fried Twinkie — reimagined on screen. Sure, it's aesthetically grotesque and undeniably unhealthy. But it's also seeping in salaciously delicious goodies.

Join your fellow Underdogs and our special guest, Michael of the Screen Nerds Podcast, as we celebrate Driven’s absurdly kinetic editing style, Gina Gershon’s sassy denim-donning revision of the femme fatales, Stallone’s pouty-eyed moues, the soundtrack’s smooth jazz flourishes, and Harlan’s over-embellished dissolves.

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68. Untold: Caitlyn Jenner

Welcome to our final episode on Season 1 of Netflix’s amazing Untold series. This round, we discuss perhaps the most famous subject in the entire anthology: Caitlyn Jenner. Before listening, however, we want to note that the gender dynamics and politics in this episode get unusually complex. We have no issue referring to individuals in whatever manner they prefer. Diversification and differentiation in gender, sexual orientation, and identity are values we fully support. That said, Caitlyn Jenner is a unique case that deserves to be treated on unique terms. Caitlyn herself “deadnames” / refers to her former self as Bruce. She speaks of the past iteration of herself as if he were a separate individual/identity/self — providing intimate insights into Bruce’s inner subjective life while also noting a sense of current alienation from that identity. Our goal was thus less worried about upholding popular dictums or norms so much as respecting the example set by Caitlyn herself. If acceptance is the willingness to treat everyone as they wish, Caitlyn’s particularized identity deserves to be recognized as she defines it — fashionable or unfashionable as her own choices and gender classifications may be. Even so, during the editing process, I noticed a few pronoun mistakes within these parameters. These were mere performative lapses — on-air mistakes. Nothing more, nothing less. We apologize proactively. Pronoun politics aside, Untold: Caitlyn Jenner offers a fascinating character study of a multidisciplinary personality and exceptional soul — a closeted trans woman, a meat & potatoes former midwesterner with a conservative Christian upbringing, a former Athlete of the World. That’s right — Bruce Jenner’s epic Gold medal decathlon performance during the 1976 Montreal Olympics won him the title to trump all titles. Unless, one argues being awarded Athlete of the Year for the courage of coming out as a trans icon is a superior accolade. Both are pretty remarkable, and worthy of our admiration and attention.