Wikipedia has a list of somewhere around 500 professional wrestlers who died before the age of 50. Four of the wrestlers on that list were brothers from the Von Erich family, who found fame in the 1980s and ‘90s, carrying on the legacy of their father, Fritz Von Erich. Their story is told in The Iron Claw, the title referring to the finishing move made famous by Fritz and passed down to his sons, that basically consisted of grabbing an opponent’s head and squeezing really, really hard.
That’s not the only thing Fritz passed down, though-- that iron claw also describes the death grip the man had on his children as he essentially forced them all into a life of wrestling, although it appears only one of them had his sights set on anything else. They all wanted to follow their father, to bring glory to the family, because, we can infer, they were more or less brainwashed by Fritz’s drive and ambition. At one point, Fritz explicitly tells his sons he never wanted them to follow him into wrestling, and then almost without taking a breath, he tells one of those sons he must follow the others into wrestling.
Most of the movie takes place in Texas in the 1980s, as the sons rise through the pro wrestling ranks, and one thing director Sean Durkin does magnificently is to evoke that specific time and place. He leans into some cinematic cliches, particularly in using overly familiar music from the era and familiar narrative tropes, but he seems to know exactly what he’s doing with those, and his camerawork and editing have a real energy, whether we’re gliding through crowds at a party or outside an arena, or whether we’re right inside the ring with the Von Erichs slamming off the ropes.
We all know by now that pro wrestling is scripted, but its pain is by no means fake, and neither is the damage a father can do to his children while chasing his own unfulfilled dreams.
The Iron Claw is in theaters.
