Have Your Redbelt Criticisms Refuted Here

@ tava0009: Chet Frank (Allen’s character), while no doubt largely oblivious to Jerry Wise’s scheming, was complicit in his cheating of Terry. Remember, he was a drunk. He was incapable of keeping a schedule, indicating that he’d be lost without Wise’s management. He would have had nothing but good intentions toward the man who saved his ass (he wasn’t a villain, like his manager), had no idea about the hot watch, but when Wise told him to dump the guy he would most certainly have followed his advice. Most probably he was fed some lies about Terry being in trouble with the law, as that’s what Wise does – lies to people. Nonetheless, Frank must have known he was doing the wrong thing by Terry, but was too tainted and impotent to do the noble thing at his own expense. Everything about his characterization suggests this. He was a puppet manipulated by Wise.

@ jallen99: Like RVMBlue said, this is why the numbers were disconnected: Frank’s wife fully intended to go into business with Terry’s wife, until Wise told them to drop them like a hot poker, which they duly did.

His wife did not fake the disconnection of the numbers. She was not in on anything at that point. She would have got involved when everything seemed the most hopeless (owing loan sharks money she can’t repay). No doubt she went to her brother for help, which he provided through his business connection with Wise.

@ john-penfold: Insightful stuff, sir. You're clearly a true cinephile.

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It's a movie, people! It's not, nor is it meant to be, real life!

You make a solid arguement, Admiral, but I respectfully disagree. I don't see everything as an elaborate plot.
In my opinion, Mike and Chet's meeting was not a con. There is no way anyone can set up a fight and insure the outcome - I mean, not a barfight. I can't see someone saying, "OK, you need to pull a knife on this guy and cut him up some, but not so bad that he can't fight professionally for me next week. Oh, and don't worry about what happens when he beats you, he is too honorable to turn your knife on you." Just implausable, imho. Rather, I think the movie producer (Joe Montagna) was getting into producing the MMA stuff and naturally knew Bruno and hung out there, quite possibly introducing Chet to a new scene. I cannot believe there is any way they knew Mike would be there.
This leads to the greater point: I just do not believe Mike, or any particular fighter, was important enough for them to set up an elaborate con. I think perhaps you are reading too much into the 'Mamet-ness' of the movie. I loved House of Games, but this isn't that same world. These guys never needed Mike; they used him because he was on hand. Remember how quickly he was replaced in the undercard fight. He was just "a monkey in the ring", as so deftly put by Ricky Jay.
I think Mike fell in to the situation. He was tangentally connected to the brothers (forgive me for forgetting everyone's names). They were putting on the MMA show with Chet's producer, so Chet hung out at that bar. He meets Mike and, as is very very common, the fake tough guy is attracted to the REAL tough guy. The whole thing is an indictment on "Hollywood", i.e. - on that which is fake. Chet is a fake tough guy. He makes it look like he is generous by handing out watches. His wife & her friends go all gaa-gaa over some woman they just met, and just as quickly discard her. Mike is a co-producr one day and just some mook off the street the next. The producer and the fight promoter and the actual fighters use people like props.
As for Mike's wife being in on the con, I again don't agree. She got big big eyes, thinking she was runing with the Hollywood crowd, and like her brothers she was greedy and willing to sell out to make $$$$. I imagine Bruno came to her after Mike threatened suit and said, "Hey, your old man is costing the family cash. We need to shut him up." She gave him the shell casing and ratted him out, figuring it would get Mike to play ball. Remember her speech about how her family makes money? She was trying to corrupt Mike, much in the same way that Robert the Bruce's father tried to corrupt him in "Braveheart" (sorry, just rewatched that one this weekend). It didn't work on Mike, but the enormity of it drove Joe to dispair. It sounds melodramatic, but it can and does happen.
I know Mamet is multi-layered, but I honestly think you are reading into it. It was convenient for these people to screw Mike over, so they did. They wanted to look cool, so they gave him a gift and a title. Both were worthless. The wife took a fabric class and is momentarily into it; then drops it for the next fad, but not before making a young woman think she might be in the fast lane. The phone numbers weren't fake per se; in the movie they were all working lines. But the "fabric lady" was not on the VIP list of people getting past the answering service. I imagine this is completely common in Hollywood.
I think the whole point is about responding to that kind of corruption. Do you jump in and be a part of it, or do you hold yourself above it and suffer the consequences? Mike wouldn't play ball, even after getting screwed. His wife got sucked in, and she turned into a harpy. The brothers saw their angle and played it, giving up their honor and the right to be the true sucsessor of the Red Belt. The corruption wasn't a con; it was just, sadly, pandemic.

Just my (overly long) 2 cents.



1. Being moody.
2. Being bad at maths.
3. Being sad.

You are right, you don't get to be a co-producer just like that, but that has never stopped a Hollywood person from telling a starstruck person a little fib to get him to help out a bit more.

Chet's fight in the bar could not have been a set up. It would assume that a big star like Chet (think Bruce Willis) was waiting to get a call from someone, telling him to drop everything and go to some dive bar that night and pick a fight, so he can get saved by a random guy, setting in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to... wait for it... some guys stealing an idea on how to rig a MMA undercard.

The risk versus reward would be way too small for a guy like Chet Frank.