Below The Belt Review

Review: “Below The Belt”

By Ashley Matthew

                “Below The Belt” is a 1980 film. The film is rated R and tells the story of a waitress from New York named Rosa Rubinsky (Regina Baff) who is discovered by a wrestling promoter, Bobby Fox (John C. Becher) after beating up a co-worker who makes a pass at her. The film shows an excellent cast including professional wrestling legend, Mildred Burke.

                When Rosa decides to become a pro wrestler, she receives training from Mildred Burke and begins to bond with another girl at the training facility while struggling to maintain a relationship with her boyfriend, Terry Glantz (Frazer Smith) who is a radio DJ. Eventually, Rosa improves as a wrestler and after a break-up with her boyfriend, starts traveling with other female wrestlers. However, she soon discovers that the wrestling world isn’t all glitz and glam as she sees her fellow wrestlers struggle with self-harm and relationship issues.

Rosa also endures a frightening car accident with her fellow wrestlers in one scene.  Eventually Rosa and Bobby Fox finally convince Rosa’s rival, “Terrible” Tommy J. Dukes (Jane O’Brian) to compete in a match against the redheaded rookie. The film ends with Rosa wrestling her first match against Tommy, emerging victorious and starting what seems to be a very big career in the sport of professional wrestling.

                The cast was well-chosen. The character of Tommy was done perfectly by Jane O’Brian, who portrayed the character as a strong, tough heel. Regina Baff plays her character well also, portraying Rosa as the shy yet short tempered underdog who grows into a confident lady wrestler.

The film also showcases classic women’s wrestling as well as focusing on the behind the scenes hardships that wrestlers face, a rare thing for fans to see as they really only observe the entertainment that comes from a wrestling show.  The film also contains a lot of music. The only thing that really disturbed me is that they make Rosa’s wrestling gimmick out to be “The Mexican Spitfire” even though she is Polish. It made her character a bit unbelievable as she could not pull off the gimmick of being Mexican due to the actress clearly not being of that ethnicity.

However, Below The Belt is a great film for those who want to enjoy a classic wrestling movie. It’s also a great choice for fans of women’s wrestling.