Preview
  • Smash Hit

  • Race, Crime and Culture in Boxing Films
  • By: David Curcio
  • Narrated by: Chuck Bowler
  • Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Smash Hit

By: David Curcio
Narrated by: Chuck Bowler
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $10.47

Buy for $10.47

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

David Curcio’s SMASH HIT: RACE, CRIME, AND CULTURE IN BOXING FILMS joins Armin Lear Press’ titles exploring the way key social issues surface in the arts.

Cinema emerged alongside the rules that ushered in boxing’s modern age and the “squared circle” proved the ideal stage for cinematic display. The public had its first taste of the new medium in 1894 through a heavyweight bout, recognized today as the world’s first feature film.

As the two attractions fast-grew into the country’s most popular entertainments, nascent Hollywood studios were quick to spot an opening for a surefire combo. Like a snap-jab to the teeth, the boxing film emerged as a popular genre wherein the fighter assumed his place among the private dicks, rebel cops, and desperate underdogs mired in America’s expanding urban landscape.

Devoting equal time to both mediums, SMASH HIT: RACE, CRIME, AND CULTURE IN BOXING FILMS uses twenty films as the basis of a hard-nosed exploration as to how the genre held a bloody mirror to twentieth century America’s most prominent social anxieties, elucidating two conjoined mediums that serve as bellwether to an ever-shifting cultural zeitgeist.

“David Curcio’s Smash Hit is a first-round knockout filled with strong writing and deep insight.”

-Bob Batchelor, author of Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties and Stan Lee: A Life

"David Curcio's absorbing, fascinating book sent me down a rabbit hole of so many memorable movies....and Smash Hit belongs in the company of the best of them."

-Donald McRae, The Guardian

"Smash Hit is not about the sport of boxing so much as a view of American society in the context of boxing culture, film history, and Hollywood gossip. An entertaining, informative, lively read.”

-Glen Sharp, author of Punching in the Shadows

©2023 Armin Lear Press (P)2024 Armin Lear Press
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Smash Hit

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.