''Diggstown'' (known as ''Midnight Sting'' in the UK and Ireland), is a 1992 American

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Steven McKay, based on the 1978 novel ''The Diggstown Ringers'' by Leonard Wise. It stars

James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. Known for fast-talking, intense roles on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including three Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for t ...

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (May 27, 1936 – March 29, 2024) was an American actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter, he successfully auditioned for the Broadway theatre, Broadway play ''Take a Giant Step.'' Gossett co ...

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. The accolades she has received include nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and an Independent Spirit Award. After appearing in tel ...

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his work on stage and screen. He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Tony Award. Following his acting deb ...

and

Randall "Tex" Cobb Randall Craig "Tex" Cobb (born May 7, 1950) is an American actor, martial artist, and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Considered to possess one of the greatest boxing chins of all time, Cobb was a brawler who ...

Plot

After being released from prison in Winfield, Georgia,

con man A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...

Gabriel Caine gets to work on his next scam. Caine and his partner, Daniel Patrick O'Shannon "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, travel to a small town near the prison: Diggstown, a city obsessed with boxing. Someone named John Gillon owns almost all of Diggstown. He is the former manager of Diggstown's once-famous

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Charles Macom Diggs, the man for whom the town is named. Upon hearing that Diggs once knocked out five fighters in one day, Fitz says he knows of a fighter who could knock out any ten in one day: "Honey" Roy Palmer. Gillon bets $100,000 that no one can best ten Diggstown boxers in one day. Caine volunteers to finance Fitz's bet, and the con is on. Caine seeks out Palmer, a 48-year-old

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

supervisor. Palmer reluctantly agrees to participate and starts to train for the fight. Caine and Gillon agree to various conditions of the bet, with "one day" being 24 full hours and "Diggstown fighters" being able to come from any surrounding area of Olivair County. A loan shark Victor Corsini backs Caine's bet. As his manager, Gillon drugged Diggs during a fight with amyl nitrate so that Gillon could collect on the opponent's long odds. Diggs suffered irreversible

brain damage Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

as a result. Aided by Emily Forrester, sister of Caine's ex-cellmate Edward "Wolf" Forrester, Gillon has more than $1.5 million in assets. Caine tricks him into risking all of it. Now it is up to Palmer to defeat all 10 of Diggstown's men. They begin with: * Buck Holland, whom Palmer beats. * Slim Busby, who was bribed by Caine to take a dive. * Billy Hargrove, who is beat. * Sam Lester, who is secretly given a

laxative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

before the fight and eventually runs from the ring. * Hambone Busby, who, like his brother Slim, was bribed to take a dive. Gillon, however, threatens to kill Slim, unless Hambone wins. Hambone fights, but is defeated. Slim is later found murdered. Palmer's next fight is with Sonny Hawkins, who is dispatched. Robby Gillon, the son of John, approaches the ring next, but then backs out under instructions from his father. His cowardice is regarded as a forfeit. Frank Mangrum loses to disqualification after kicking Palmer in the groin and hitting the referee. Palmer then knocks him out. Tank Miller, another fighter, is next. Palmer beats him. That brings up Diggstown's best man, Hammerhead Hagan, the only fighter ever to actually beat Palmer during their professional careers. He is brought in as a surprise ringer. Gillon moved him in as a county resident before the bet rules were established, meaning that Hagan can legally fight. The bout is one-sided. Palmer is exhausted, but gets new motivation after seeing Diggs, who is sitting ringside, move his hand slightly (which he interprets as a show of support). Caine, not wanting to see his friend die, attempts to throw in the towel, but Palmer catches it and throws it back. Palmer rallies to knock out his opponent. Palmer, Caine and Fitz begin to celebrate. They are cut short by Gillon, who notes that Robby never entered the ring -– therefore, only nine fights transpired. The true tenth fighter is then introduced: Minoso Torres, who ruled the boxing underground in the prison from which Caine was released. No one ever defeated him. Palmer is no match for Torres. However, Caine eventually whistles at Torres, gets his attention, straightens his tie and does a thumbs-down gesture. Torres drops his gloves and invites Palmer to hit him, hitting the canvas, knocked out. Caine was expecting such a trick from Gillon and bribed Torres long before for a moment like this. Gillon loses everything. He eventually snaps and pulls a gun, firing off a round before his son stops him. Palmer grabs Gillon and prepares to deck him. Instead, he turns to Hambone, claiming, "My hands hurt. You want to do this?" Hambone obliges and delivers Gillon a knockout blow. After the fight, Caine and Palmer sit together in the empty gym. Caine tells Palmer what he did couldn't be done. Palmer responds by saying "now you motivate me."

Cast

as Gabriel Caine *

as "Honey" Roy Palmer *

as John Clayton Gillon *

as Daniel Patrick O'Shannon "Fitz" Fitzpatrick *

as Emily Forrester *

as Edward "Wolf" Forrester *

Thomas Wilson Brown Thomas Wilson Brown is an American actor, who began his career by playing "Augie" in the western film '' Silverado''. Career The son of a cattle rancher and rodeo queen, Brown received his first role by answering a small advertisement in a local ...

as Robby Gillon *

Duane Davis Duane Davis is an American actor who has been in films such as ''Under Siege'', '' The Program'', ''Ghosts of Mars'', and ''Paparazzi''. Early life Davis was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the son of NFL Hall of Fame defensive end Willie D ...

as Hambone Busby *

Willie Green William Julius Green (born July 28, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played professionally in the NBA with th ...

as Hammerhead Hagan *

Orestes Matacena Orestes Matacena (born August 29, 1941) is a Cuban–American actor, director, producer and writer. His most notable appearance is Niko from '' The Mask''. In 1973, Matacena appeared as Olimpio in the Duo Theatre production ''Francesco: The Li ...

as Victor Corsini *

Michael McGrady Michael McGrady is an American theater, film and television actor. He portrayed Tom Matthews in '' Beyond'' and voiced and provided the motion capture for Rusty Galloway in the 2011 video game '' LA Noire''. He is also an artist. Life and work ...

as Frank Mangrum * Roger Hewlett as Sam Lester * Rocky Pepeli as Buck Holland * Jeff Benson as Tank Miller *

Jim Caviezel James Patrick Caviezel Jr. ( ; born September 26, 1968) is an American actor. He played Jesus in ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004), Tim Ballard in Sound of Freedom (film), ''Sound of Freedom'' (2023), and starred as John Reese (Person of Inte ...

as Billy Hargrove *

Frank Collison Frank Collison (born February 14, 1950) is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series '' Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' and Grandpa Goodman in '' Mr. Pickles''. Early life Collison was bor ...

as Prison Guard *

Marshall Bell Archibald Marshall Bell (born September 28, 1942) is an American character actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. He is known for roles in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' (1985), '' Stand b ...

as Warden Bates * Raymond C. Turner as Slim Busby *

Wilhelm von Homburg Norbert Grupe (August 25, 1940 – March 10, 2004), better known outside Germany by his stage name Wilhelm von Homburg, was a German boxer, actor, and professional wrestler known for his villainous supporting roles in various high-profile films ...

as Charles Macum Diggs *

George D. Wallace George Dewey Wallace (June 8, 1917 – July 22, 2005) was an American stage and screen actor. Wallace co-starred with Mary Martin in the Broadway musical ''Jennie'' and was nominated for a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for playing the m ...

as Bob Ferris * Alex Garcia as Minoso Torres *

Benny Urquidez Benny Urquidez (born June 20, 1952) is an American former professional kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor. Nicknamed "The Jet", Urquidez was a non-contact karate competitor who later pioneered full-contact fighting in the United St ...

as Referee * Jeremy Roberts as Sonny Hawkins *

Michael DeLorenzo Michael DeLorenzo is an American actor, director, writer, producer, dancer, and musician. He is known for his work in television and film. Early life and education DeLorenzo was raised in The Bronx, New York. His late father, Arthur DeLorenzo, w ...

as Paulo

Production

Filming for ''Diggstown'' took place in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, as well as in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of .

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

gave the film two and a half stars, calling it "amiable," but complains "the script is contrived". Vincent Canby of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it Michael Ritchie's most entertaining film since the mid-1970's, and praising the cast. ''

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'' said the cast livened up "what could have been an overly cute entertainment".

Box office

The film flopped at the box office, making $4.8 million in its theatrical run, well below its $17 million budget.

References

External links

* * * {{Michael Ritchie 1992 films 1992 comedy-drama films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s sports comedy-drama films American boxing films American films about gambling American sports comedy-drama films English-language sports comedy-drama films Films about con artists Films based on American novels Films directed by Michael Ritchie Films scored by James Newton Howard Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Montana Films shot in Sacramento, California Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films