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I saw The Iron Claw recently. It started a bit slow, but it got going and became quite engaging and emotional. Now, I grew up watching wrestling, but I don’t think I ever saw a Von Erich in the ring. Hell, I’ve seen Ed Farhat, aka The Sheik, more than any Von Erich, since he was a Detroit guy. Still, there were some notable names in the movie. Harley Race is a name I know, though I never saw him wrestle and I don’t have a real sense of him. I know Michael Hayes, because he was Doc Hendrix during ‘90s WWF. Then, of course, there is Ric Flair.
Ric Flair is one of the most-famous wrestlers of all-time. Even if you have never watched wrestling, you likely know Flair. His look, his style, his persona, they are American iconography. Global iconography, even! Flair appears late in The Iron Claw, and I was curious who played him. The actor’s name is Aaron Dean Eisenberg, and he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. As such, I Googled him to check out his filmography, and I saw a few articles (exclusively from wrestling websites) asserting that people were unhappy with Eisenberg’s turn as Flair. Well, I’m not on board with that. I looked up the actor because I was curious who played Flair, but also because I liked his performance.
Does he look like Flair? Does he sound like Flair? Not particularly, but I don’t care about that. A film is not an impression contest. This wasn’t a movie about who can do the best Ric Flair impression. That matters if you are hiring a Ric Flair impersonator for a party. This is a movie. It’s an interpretation of a real-life story. Eisenberg played a version of Flair. The Iron Claw’s version. He’s capturing an essence, creating a character. I found him compelling.
Eisenberg isn’t great or anything. I’m not nominating him for an Oscar. However, he did stand out to me in terms of giving an interesting performance. He’s good in the movie. You can not like the performance. If your complaint is that he isn’t a good Ric Flair impersonator, though, you have a strange way of assessing performances in narrative films.
