In the weeks before ‘The Iron Claw’ was released, I was super excited. I had never heard of the Von Erichs and their tragic story, but nonetheless, I still looked forward to the film and seeing it in theaters. Although ‘The Iron Claw’ was snubbed at the 2024 Oscars, it’s still a necessary film to at least see once in your lifetime, in my opinion because it shows how no matter what happens, family sticks together.
The name of the movie comes from the wrestling move that Fritz Von Erich created where you put your hand in a claw and grab your opponent’s head with your palm and squeeze. The film is centered around Kevin Von Erich, who is the second oldest brother out of 6 and the only remaining Von Erich son to this day. He started wrestling in 1976 and was the first of his brothers to do so, following in his fathers, Fritz’, footsteps, who was also a wrestler. The rest of Kevin’s siblings, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris would all wrestle at some point in their life as well.
Before Fritz had children, he changed his last name from Adkisson to Von Erich, which was his mother’s, and her family faced many tragedies. When his first son, Jack Jr., tragically died at 6 years old, people suspected it was brought on by Fritz. Ever since Kevin was little, he always heard that his family had the “Von Erich Curse,” but never truly believed it.
Shortly after Kevin got his fame in the wrestling world, David made his debut with Kevin, tag-teaming two other wrestlers. By 1978, Kevin, David, and Kerry were all wrestling and World Champion was a title that Fritz always wanted in the family, as he was not able to get it. And since he had three capable sons, he would juggle which son he wanted to compete for the title and ultimately chose David. Before the match, David was touring in Japan and died in his hotel room due to enteritis.
Since David was not able to fight for the World Champion title, Kerry did instead. He won. Soon after that their brother Mike started training to be a wrestler and in a match in 1985, he injured his shoulder and went into surgery and developed toxic shock, which left him permanently disabled. Fritz was pressuring him to start wrestling again and he unfortunately took his own life.
There was one more brother not included in the movie: Chris. Chris was younger than the rest of his brothers, but always looked up to them. He started wrestling in 1990 wanting to be like his brothers even though he wasn’t as good as them. After his brother, Mike, passed away, Chris went into a depressive state and also committed suicide.
In 1993, Kerry also killed himself because of a motorcycle accident he got into, leaving him with only one foot. Since Kerry only had one foot, he wasn’t able to be as good a wrestler as he used to be and that led to drug and legal problems.
As you can tell, this family had a lot of problems. Most of them due to their father’s pressure. The movie ends sad, but still with a shred of hope for Kevin and his wife and kids. He lived through so much and still pushed through. To this day, Kevin is still alive and has four children and 13 grandchildren all living on a ranch in Hawaii, which was his and his wife’s dream.
If you’re looking for a movie to make you cry, this is what to watch. It’s an amazing film about a heartbreaking story.
