Loading…Loading…Loading…We value your privacy
We use cookies and ads to keep CinEvo free. You can accept or decline personalized ads.
10 years before the debut of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 1979, Bill Viola and Frank Caliguri dreamed up a contest pitting barroom bigmouths against wrestlers, martial artists, boxers, bouncers and brawlers, billed as no-holds-barred new type of competitive fighting. When the fights succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, they were swept up in a chain of events that ended in the first mixed-martial arts ban in the nation. “Tough Guys” chronicles the inception of Caliguri and Viola’s first bouts and the colorful, crazy cast of fighters who made them a hit as well as the politicians who brought it all crashing down. The film brings to life a moment when the national martial arts craze was building to a crescendo as the economies of Pennsylvania steel towns were plummeting to levels of unemployment never seen, breeding desperate men looking for a chance to prove their worth and make some money in the ring.
September 15, 2017
Warrior Poets, Fictionless
5 people
Bill Viola
Himself
Acting
Frank Caliguri
Himself
Acting
Dann Carr
Himself
Acting
Jacquet Bazemore
Himself
Acting
Jimmy Cvetic
Himself
Acting
1977
2022
2021
2016
2017
2008
2016
2010
2019
2015
1977
2023
2020
2018
1988
2022
2019
2012
1980
2011
2022
1996
1968
2013
2014
2015
1942
2014
2002
2023
2005
2017
2015
2022
2016
2017
2020
