Crime
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Belle Gibson, like a great snake oil salesman, said that healthy eating could cure cancer. Clearly she was lying. But she may also have been deluded.
It’s 1970, and Gordon Williams needs money.
Well, need is probably the wrong word. Gordon — known as “Chicken Man” in his less legal dealings—wants money. Atlanta is becoming a hotspot for gambling, drugs and other illicit affairs, and he sees dollar signs.
The obvious way up in the world of organized crime? Going into business with Frank Moten, the “Black Godfather” of New York City. Only one problem: Moten’s a busy man, and it would take a miracle for him to notice a small-town bookie down in Georgia.
Enter: a miracle, going by the name of Muhammad Ali. The famous boxer is coming to Atlanta for the biggest match of his career, and Chicken intends to throw the afterparty to end all afterparties. With Moten and his gangster friends invited, of course.
What he didn’t intend is for that party to end with a heist that leaves Chicken — or, more accurately, the very dangerous Frank Moten — missing about a million bucks.
The first episode of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist opens with a very tasteful title card: “Based on s— that actually happened.” The series is inspired by the wild true crime story of a real heist that took place during Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight against Jerry Quarry, plus all the colorful characters involved.
Of course, there’s some extra flavor for purposes of dramatization. But whether these characters are fact or fiction, their actions, for the most part, are entirely depraved.
Gordon plays the part of family man and devoted churchgoer, but as soon as he flies the coop and becomes “Chicken Man,” that all goes completely out the window. Gordon Williams may love his wife and pay his tithes, but Chicken Man loves women and pays crime lords.
And that crime and depravity isn’t exactly shown in a negative light, either. Between all the wild, excessive parties filled with nearly every vice you can imagine, it almost seems like Chicken’s lifestyle is intended to seem appealing. Sure, it often ends in violence—that isn’t shied away from, either—but it’s an adrenaline-rush violence, not the kind that encourages you to stay on the right side of the road.
This obviously isn’t to say Fight Night is trying to recruit anyone into a life of underground crime. It’s those smaller, more real-life pitfalls that pose the real threat here. Female nudity is repeatedly shown, excessive references to sexual content are made, and barely five seconds pass without an f-bomb. If there’s one thing we desperately need less of in modern media, it’s the normalization of sin, and with the casual way our characters approach their immorality, Fight Night isn’t making any progress in the right direction.
There’s a fascinating true crime story to be told here, but it’s buried under a mountain of adverse content and the glorification of that very crime. You’d probably be better off skimming a Wikipedia page about the heist and calling it a day.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
With Muhammad Ali coming to town for his big comeback fight, Atlanta bookie Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams prepares for a legendary party that will get the attention of crime lord Frank Moten and his gangster friends.
Fight Night starts off with a bang—literally. In a flash-forward showing the outcome of upcoming events, Frank Moten holds Chicken Man at gunpoint and asks him if he believes in God. “With all my soul,” Chicken answers. His actions very quickly contradict his words, however, as his world is revealed to revolve around sex, money and crime.
Multiple topless women walk around Chicken’s office as they count money. Women in revealing outfits dance suggestively at a strip club and at Chicken’s afterparty. Sexual references are made, and we see an implied instance of oral sex, though the scene is brief, and no nudity or explicit action is shown. We see Chicken naked from behind as he changes his clothes.
Characters drink cocktails and liquor during meetings, and Chicken discusses his intentions to supply liquor for the party. We learn that he used to be a drug dealer, and Chicken’s wife makes him promise to leave alcohol out of his business (he breaks that promise very quickly). Frank, Chicken, and Chicken’s mistress Vivian smoke cigarettes.
One of Frank’s associates, Cadillac, stops by the house of a man who stole from him. We hear the thief’s screams from outside, and when Cadillac and his bodyguard get back into the car, the bodyguard wipes blood off his hands. Cadillac implies that they cut off the man’s fingers as punishment.
Chicken is recognized in church as a “stalwart member of the community” who has “given his soul in service to the Lord.” In reality, he is cheating on his wife and lying to her about the true nature of his business. Frank asks Chicken, “When you’re standing at the pearly gates, what you got to say to God?” Chicken tells his wife that “doubt is the devil’s drug, and faith is the elixir.”
The f-word and “d–n” are each used 31 times throughout the episode. The s-word is used 15 times, while “a–“ is heard eight times and God’s name is taken in vain 20 times (normally paired with “d–n”. The n-word is used 13 times (once by a white man as an insult to a black man), and “b–ch” is heard four times.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
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