SMASH HIT Spotlights Boxing in Films

David Curcio Hits Hard on Social Issues within Classic Movies

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES, September 20, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- 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. Karen Barbera’s DUKE ELLINGTON: THE NOTES THE WORLD WAS NOT READY TO HEAR illuminated the historical significance of the Duke’s Black, Brown and Beige; Peter Rowe’s MUSIC VS THE MAN, told the stories of musicians going head-to-head with the law – often in response to social injustice.

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


About the Author
David Curcio has written articles and reviews on boxing, film, and art for websites and magazines including Ringside Seat, the Film Noir Foundation, Bookslut, HorrorBuzz, and The Arts Fuse. He also writes a regular column on boxing and cinema for the website The Fight City. His essay on Second-wave feminism in the work of British author John Wyndham was featured in the coffee table book Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950–1985.

About the Cover
The cover features Primo Carnera, Myrna Loy, and Max Baer in a still from The Prizefighter and the Lady, a 1933 MGM film for which screenwriter Frances Marion was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

About Armin Lear Press
Armin Lear Press released its first book in May 2020 and has published 64 books as of this date. The number reflects the acquisition and issuing of second editions of the 5 top sellers for New Horizon Press, which closed its doors February 2021. Its founder has 32 years of publishing experience, and an executive editor with 25 years of publishing experience. The company headquarters is near Boulder, Colorado with a production office in Arlington, Virginia and a design team based in Connecticut. Armin Lear is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and distributes its books worldwide in English through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, with selected titles also available in Spanish, German, and Hebrew.

TITLE: Smash Hit
SUBTITLE: Race, Crime, and Culture in Boxing Films
GENRE: Culture/Pop Culture
AUTHOR: David Curcio
PUB DATE: September 20, 2023
PAGES: 426
ISBN (HC): 978-1-956450-81-1; $35.00
ISBN (PB): 978-1-956450-80-4; $24.95
ISBN (EB): 978-1-956450-82-8; $9.99

Judith A Bailey
Armin Lear Press
jbailey@arminlear.com