Name _____________________
Modern U.S. History
Mr. Kraft
The Great Depression
Cinderella Man
Character Clarification:
Jim Braddock – Russell Crowe
Mae Braddock – Rene Zellweger
Jay Braddock (oldest son) – Connor Price
Howard Braddock (youngest son) – Patrick Louis
Rosie Braddock (daughter) – Ariel Waller
Joe Gould (manager / trainer) – Paul Giamatti
Lucille Gould – Linda Kash
Mike Wilson – Paddy Considine
Sara Wilson – Rosemarie Dewitt
Max Baer – Graig Bierko
Sporty Lewis (sports reporter) – Nicholas Campbell
James Johnston (boxing promoter) – Bruce McGill
Questions:
1. What is the date and place of the first fight?
2. What is the home state of Jim Braddock?
3. How does Jim Braddock try to find work every morning once the Great Depression began?
4. What is the reason that Jay Braddock gives his dad for stealing the meat from the butcher?
5. Although Jim’s hand is hurt, why does he tell Joe Gould that he has to fight?
6. Why is Jim Braddock’s boxing license revoked (taken away)?
7. Why is Mae Braddock worried for her family when Jim Braddock comes home with a broken hand from boxing?
8. What was Mike Wilson’s job prior to the Stock Market Crash of 1929?
9. What are Mikes Wilson’s opinions of Hoover and FDR and what does Jim Braddock say in response?
10. What do Mae Braddock and the kids do in order to heat their apartment after the electric has been turned off?
11. Why does Mae Braddock send the kids away?
12. How does Jim Braddock get money to turn the electric back on in his apartment in order to provide heat for his
family?
13. How does Jim Braddock get a fight if his boxing license has been revoked?
14. Why is Jim Braddock planning to fight on an empty stomach?
15. What is the main food that the Braddock family eats?
16. Why does Joe Gould “front” Jim Braddock money and how does Joe Gould get the money?
17. What does Jim Braddock mean when he speaks to his wife about restarting his boxing career and he says “at
least I know who is hitting me”?
18. Who does Jim Braddock fight in his first fight after his boxing license has been renewed, and what is the result?
19. Who does Jim Braddock fight in his second fight after his boxing license has been renewed, and what is the
result?
20. Where is Mike Wilson staying when he gets killed and how does he get killed?
21. How is Mike Wilson buried at his funeral and why do you think he was buried in this manner?
22. What is Jim Braddock’s reason for paying back his relief money?
23. What question does Sporty Lewis ask Mae Braddock at the press conference before the title fight?
24. Why does James Johnston show Jim Braddock the film of Max Baer’s fights before the title fight?
25. What is Jim Braddock’s nickname and who gives him this name?
26. What is Max Baer’s comment to Mae Braddock that causes her to become “upset”?
27. Why are so many people at Church on the day of the fight?
28. How are people following the fight who are not at Madison Square Garden?
29. What is the result of the title fight between Max Baer and Jim Braddock?
30. What did Jim Braddock do with the money that he got from the title fight?