Here’s how to apply the Iron Claw.
First, daze your opponent. It doesn’t matter if they’re standing or lying prone on their back. Present your claw to the audience — fingers spread wide with the tips curled slightly. Wait for the gasps. You’ll hear them between the boos or cheers. Then, it’s time to strike. Smother the unlucky foe’s face with your grip. Squeeze their skull like you want to pulverize their thoughts. Leave only enough room for them to scream. Grab your wrist or elbow with your free hand for extra pressure. You won’t need to wait for them to tap out. The official will call for the bell in no time.
And remember: The longer you hold the Iron Claw, the longer it takes hold of you. The real-life subjects of Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw — the Von Erich wrestling family — learned this after it was too late.
The film is a five-point biopic. Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) and his four sons embody each talon of the claw. Tragically, only Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) lives to tell the tale, making him The Iron Claw’s narrative focus.
The real Fritz had two additional sons that were claimed by “The Von Erich Curse.” Jack, who was accidentally shocked and subsequently drowned at the age of six; and Chris, who committed suicide at the age of 21. Chris was a pro wrestler for a short stint. The film’s interpretation of Mike Von Erich (Stanley Simons) absorbs some of his tale. In an interview with Vulture about Chris’ omission, Durkin said, “The movie just couldn’t withstand another brother’s death.”
Still, The Iron Claw captures the Von Erichs’ triumphs, downfall, and legacy despite some dramatic flexing. In a vain not far from Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, let’s grapple with the malaise behind the machismo.
Rusted Iron
The film opens with Fritz reviled by the crowd and priming his own Iron Claw. The Von Erich patriarch was an early graduate of the Hart Dungeon, Stu Hart’s iconic — and notorious — wrestling school responsible for legends like:
- Billy Graham
- Brian Pillman
- Chris Jericho
- Edge and Christian
- Owen and Bret Hart
Hart was infamous for blurring the lines between actual combat and “kayfabe,” the fiction that animates pro wrestling. The Iron Claw captures how much this influences Fritz, too. In the first conversation we see with his wife, Doris (Maura Tierney), he reveals he replaced the family car with a rented, luxury Cadillac. In his words, to be a champion, he needs to act like one first.
At first, Fritz feels stilted and heavy-handed, like a caricature straight out of the overimposing dad playbook. In any other sports drama, this take would come off as unrealistic and uninspired. But pro wrestling itself changes that. Outside of performers like Doink the Clown, the Boogeyman, and the Undertaker, wrestlers are generally larger-than-life personas of themselves.
By being “larger than life,” however, life itself can become too small. For Fritz, everything he does feeds into his character, and ultimately the unrealistic expectations he places upon his sons. He ignores their dreams and injuries. He literally ranks them and boasts about his favorite while letting the others know there is indeed a favorite. His life — and by extension his sons’ lives — revolves around bringing the National Wrestling Alliance Worlds Heavyweight Championship “home.”
His obsession suffocates his family. He delivers every piece of “wisdom” like a wrestling promo. He talks through his boys. Even amid their deaths — undeniably tied to Fritz’s behavior — he’s unapologetic.
He can never satisfy his outlandish desire. And neither could his boys.
Strangled in the Nest
By the time we see Kevin, he’s in his early twenties and semi-despondent. Despite Efron’s amplified physique, he conveys a dull pain and mounting anxiety even when the family succeeds. He clings to a childhood dream. On his first date with his eventual wife, Pam (Lily James), he admits his biggest aspiration isn’t to hold a title, but to have a ranch big enough to entertain his brothers.
Kerry Von Erich (Jeremy Allen White), on the other hand, seems to exercise a bit more agency. His father’s favorite, he gets a temporary out from pro wrestling as he trains to throw discus at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Of course, when political tension prevents the U.S. from participating, Kerry returns home. His father wastes no time asking him to step into the ring.
Kerry’s career is as heartbreaking as it is tragic. While privileged over his siblings, he isn’t any more immune to the specter that follows. In one of The Iron Claw’s most telling shots, Kerry looks over his shoulder as Mike blares Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” from his bedroom. It’s as if he knows what’s coming, but unlike Kevin, he finds it unavoidable.
But even he isn’t the first to fall. While the film alludes to Jack, his death doesn’t have a clear-cut connection to any parental pressure. David (Harris Dickinson), the Von Erichs’ Icarus, quickly rises beyond the ceiling of the Dallas Sportatorium. Yet almost as soon as he leaves the country for a championship bout with Ric Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenberg) in Tokyo, he dies of apparent enteritis. In reality, Flair and Mick Foley (Cactus Jack, Mankind) suggest he succumbed to a drug overdose. The Iron Claw leaves this somewhat ambiguous, but Durkin is keen to present David’s substance abuse.
Later, Fritz pushes Mike to pick up the slack in David’s absence. Mike doesn’t have his brothers’ athletic gifts. His preference for music and technical production — both still applicable to pro wrestling’s spectacle — succumbs to his dad’s desire to breed champions. Simons expertly conveys Mike’s reluctance, which cascades into a rudderless existence after a shoulder injury begets a surgical mishap. Similar to Kerry a few years later, shame leads him to suicide.
The Von Erichs’ crumbling legacy falls on Kevin. Even as he starts a family, he lives in abject fear of his brothers’ plight. The Iron Claw isn’t utterly hopeless, but we spend a significant amount of time floating with Kevin in this space. His career loses meaning, and he takes little joy in running World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) after inheriting it from Fritz.
His family’s showcase becomes their casket. The Sportatorium’s lighting gets dimmer throughout the film. The dust in the Von Erichs’ home kicks up. Fritz enjoys nothing, not even his shallow pride. With his siblings gone, Kevin recognizes the only family he’ll ever have will be the one he raises himself.
A World Class Broadcast
While The Iron Claw’s story is compelling, it also creates an episodic structure that dilutes our connection to Kevin. The Von Erichs bring substantial history that, even trimmed down, is hard to wrangle for a feature-length film. Durkin almost entirely offsets this with his commitment to authenticity.
Thankfully, insider terms that detract from the source material don’t riddle The Iron Claw. But it doesn’t discount what pro wrestling is either. It’s a performance, true, but Durkin gracefully explains that even predetermined competitions are ruthlessly competitive.
Durkin merges archival footage with crackling recreations of WCCW’s weekly broadcast. Harley Race (Kevin Anton) — and later Eisenberg’s Ric Flair — delivers an authentic promo with uncanny sincerity. The tragic elements of the film don’t conflict with this grandeur. We find ourselves lost in the stage lighting and the boyish, homegrown Von Erichs. For a moment, the brothers are exactly where they need to be in that squared circle, lost in the fiction and protected from their plight.
It’s an unreliable ruse that captures pro wrestling’s magic. Flashy ring gear sticks to the Von Erich brothers, stuck to them by their dad’s unflinching grip.
The Iron Claw isn’t a perfect drama, but its emotional heart and attention to detail keep the few structural flaws pinned to the mat. Behind the dropkicks, body slams and piledrivers, Durkins crafts an unquestionably human story.
