New Movie Reviews: Iron Claw (2023)

 Written by: Danny Albers 

You don’t need to be from Texas or a fan of wrestling to appreciate the sports biography film Iron Claw. The film tells the tragic story of the Von Erich’s, a family full of wrestlers who starred in the Texas promotion WCCW and NWA in the late 70’s and early 80’s. A family full of 6 brothers would only have 1 make it past 35. The main character, Kevin Von Erich, is played by Zac Efron who bulked up substantially for the role. As did his co-star Jeremy Allen White who plays Kerry Von Erich. The movie is directed by Canadian film director Sean Durkin. Iron Claw is by far his most successful release to date. Let’s take a look at the movie and break down our thoughts of some of the events that happen in it. 

Synopsis 

The movie begins with a cinematic close up to Fritz Von Erich wrestling inside the ring. Afterwards, he gets in the car with his kids, and tells his wife not to be concerned about financial struggles because if he focuses on being the best, then the money will come in soon and they will be fine. Watching closely to his father is a young Kevin Von Erich, who years later is wrestling in the same arena (the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas) as his father. His father is focusing on getting Kevin elevated in the company, who’s currently the NWA Texas Champion, and his brother, a debuting David Von Erich as Kevin’s tag team partner. He’s pushing Mike Von Erich, the youngest of the 4 to be like his brothers. He says Kevin and David are doing big things, as well as “his favorite son” Kerry Von Erich who’s training to be the families first Olympian. Mike loves to play music in his band, but his family won’t allow him to pursue his dream. 

 Kevin begins to team with his brothers David, and wrestles NWA World Champion Harley Race. At this time he meets his future wife Pam, and they begin to get serious with one another while David establishes himself as a wrestling talent. Kevin tells Pam about his older brother who died when he was a kid, and how it’s all part of the “curse of the Von Erich’s.” Pam assures him this isn’t real, and her embrace surprises Kevin. Kerry comes back home after the Olympics are canceled because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. He’s told to go into the wrestling business with his brothers. So from there the trio is born. When an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair for the NWA world title comes around, Fritz choses David instead of Kevin to get the opportunity. Tired of being overlooked in the business, and wanting the NWA champion in the family, he began to call out other territories to elevate the sons to the ESPN National Broadcast. This is where the world is exposed to them with their rivalry with the Fabulous Freebirds. Kevin marry’s Pam, and tells David their pregnant. The approaching date of his son’s birth and being passed by Kevin begins to spoil the wrestling business for him, as he’s excited to focus on his family. However, this would be the last of happy days to come for Kevin and the Von Erich family. 

Death of the Von Erichs 

The first death of the movie is David Von Erich, who dies of a ruptured intestine while away wrestling in Japan. This shocks the entire family in grief. Amidst the sadness, Kerry Von Erich has a crash, causing an amputation on his foot, making wrestling painful and difficult. Forced to wrestle when he didn’t want to, Mike Von Erich falls into a coma from a shoulder injury, and when faced with the pressure of going back into the ring, kills himself on sleeping pills. The family is now in near shambles. Kerry, trying to stay at the pace he was at before the injury, now works for the WWF, and is the Intercontinental Champion. He’s using drugs and alcohol to help him continue. Feeling like he’s going off the rails, he returns to the family home to shoot himself in the chest. A horrible scene of Kevin carrying Kerry into the house cuts to Kerry in the afterlife, being embraced by David, Mike, and Jack Jr.. 

“ Tonight I walk with my Brothers” 

The movie ends with a powerful scene of Kevin watching his sons play outside. He breaks down in tears. The kids ask him why he’s crying, and he says he used to be a brother, but now he’s not. Embraced by his sons, the movie ends. The ending credits tells us Kevin and Pam are still married, and have everyone living with them on a ranch in Texas, just like his dream when they first met. 

Thoughts

This is the only film that’s based on a true story that I can confidently say the reality is much sadder than the movie. Although they do a great job of telling the story of the 4 brothers Mikey, David, Kerry, and Kevin, they left out Chris Von Erich, another brother who died of suicide of age 21. The reason they kept him out was because they didn’t want the story to feel repetitive. To me that’s a really shitty and lazy thing to say. Leave a really person who committed suicide out of a biography about his family because you don’t want to sound repetitive since some of the other brothers killed themselves. That’s my one tiff I have with Sean Durkin, the director of the film. Other than that little footnote which I’m sure only wrestling fans notice, this movie is exceptional and did a really fine job at telling the story of the family. It didn’t sugarcoat anything when talking about Fritz, the patriarch of the family, or about Kerry's unhinged behavior.  The one thing that should be mentioned is that Kevin believed the movie painted Fritz in a bad light to make the film more dramatic, and was upset about it. I’m sure the character wasn’t built solely off of Kevin’s description of Fritz, but given the emotional and upsetting nature of most of the scenes, I can see why Kevin would be upset with how his father was portrayed. This story shouldn’t just focus on the tragedy. It’s awful what happened, but your biggest take away from the film should be that your family and loved ones are the only things that matter in this life. All things that draw your ambition are just jobs, and at the end of the day, be grateful for the people and community that you have and not what you don’t have. It’s the families ambition for the NWA World Title, and to be respected as the best in the industry that drove them to not care for their well-being and mental health. That is why there were 3 suicides in the family, and a ruptured interstine like from wrestling and drinking. I’d really would have liked this movie to take more of an aim at suicide prevention. I don’t think they did enough of that while telling the tale of some really graphic events. If the Von Erich’s story tells you anything, it should be that suicide doesn’t just effect the person who’s dying but the family around it. If you suffer from depression or suicidal thoughts, don’t be afraid to ask for help.