By the time I was watching Goldberg’s unbeaten streak or Rock vs. Austin, the Von Erich family were already legends. The world of wrestling owes a debt to this family, who gave every bit of themselves to make the sport as popular as possible. The Iron Claw documents their legend, in all its championship glory….and cruel, cruel tragedy.
In the 1980s, the sport of Wrestling Entertainment was rapidly rising in popularity. In Texas, longtime participant Iron Claw, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) felt his sons were ready to take his mantle. Oldest Kevin (Zac Efron), set the bar high early, barefoot wrangling and jumping off ropes to the delight of fans all over the state. But as Fritz thinks, more is better right? So enter Kevin’s brothers: smooth talking David (Harris Dickinson), almost-Olympian Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), and musician Mike (Stanley Simons). Each brother gets their chance to become a World Wrestling Championship star across the United States/Japan. There’s only one thing in their way: the Von Erich family curse, supposedly passed down generations which the boys now have to confront head on.
Martha Marcy May Marlene Director Sean Durkin parallels the boy’s ascent with the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States. Reaganomics at its purest is unchecked capitalism: getting to the top is the only thing that matters. Consequences be damned. What’s the top for the Von Erich boys? 2 things: make it to #1 on Dad’s favorites list (of course he ranks them), and win at whatever manly activity they’re working at. So the boys work. And work. And work some more, perennially putting their bodies on the line to get that championship match with someone like Ric Flair. The Von Erich’s rise is a montage of magic: their ring entrance is electric, David talks a lot of sh*t, Kevin drop kicks, and Kerry flies through the air, while Mike sits at #4 on Dad’s list for a while cause he’s a “girly” musician. But while the family curse is sometimes just some rotten luck like in Kerry’s case of being an Olympian in 1980, most of the time the “curse” is just the consequences of living the most manly, hard life possible. “Don’t need to see a doctor about that blood: it’ll just work itself out.” Plus, the minute Kevin, Mike or any other brother wants to talk about their worries/concerns, there’s Fritz dropping them down the son rankings, or mom Doris (Maura Tierney) saying “that’s not her domain.” So the boys cope the only way they know how: drugs, reckless behavior, or staying silent, hoping someone, anyone they love, might actually care about them.
While this movie is called the Iron Claw, it should have been subtitled The Kevin Von Erich story. Zac Efron is great in this film; maybe the best he’s ever been in a movie. In a world of jacked up, alpha male bros, Efron’s Kevin has to bear the emotional toll of this family curse for the audience, slowly unveiling an emotional depth and empathy he would previously only show to his wife Pam (Lily James). Efron’s got a host of great actors supporting his lead performance: he is but one of the Von Erich brothers. Harris Dickinson is underused but very effective as Daniel, smooth talking his way through promos while having a really natural fraternal relationship with Efron. And then there’s Jeremy Allen White, Carmy from The Bear, carrying that same anguish all over his face in Chicago all the way to Texas. Kerry’s arc is the black mirror of Kevin, as we see the younger brother internalize his struggle more and more as the story goes on. The Iron Claw’s sweet sauce though are Maura Tierney and especially Holt McCallany as the Von Erich patriarchs. Particularly McCallany, who’s swash buckling macho act perfectly encapsulates a Reaganite patriarch – hell bent on national recognition at any cost, including one of his sons. In the end, we really understand the self-destructive, complex generation relationship behind this legendary entertainment family, filled with seemingly equal parts of love and obsession and an inability to understand the difference.
It’s about time the Von Erich’s really got the attention they earned. On the whole, A24 does the family justice, capturing the big parts of their transition from wrestlers to legends. Hopefully the wrestling community will feel like this movie does them right, because if not, Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene might become more autobiographical than he wants it to be.