The Great White Hope (film) over their marriage and Duryea's death by suicide in 1912. Set between 1910 and 1915, the story follows Jack Jefferson, patterned after real-life boxer, Jack Johnson, going on a hot streak of victories in the boxing ring as he defeats every white boxer around. Soon the press and racists announce the search for a "great white hope", a boxer who will defeat Jefferson for the heavyweight title. Meanwhile, Jefferson prepares for a few more matches, but he lets his guard down by courting the beautiful, and very white, Eleanor Bachman, and when everyone, including Jack's black "wife", discover this, the
The Great White Hype The Great White Hype The Great White Hype is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Damon Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, John Rhys-Davies, Salli Richardson and Jamie Foxx. The film is a satire of racial preferences in boxing, and was inspired by Larry Holmes's 1982 fight with Gerry Cooney (who was known as "The Great White Hope") and Mike Tyson's 1995 return fight vs. Peter McNeeley. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released on May 3, 1996. James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (Damon Wayans),