It doesn't occur to them to have the casino prepay their tickets. The setup: Neither fighter can afford air fare to Las Vegas. Even at that level it doesn't have enough of a boxing story to occupy the running time, and warms up with a prolonged and unnecessary road movie. The movie was written and directed by Ron Shelton, an expert on sports movies he wrote and directed ' Bull Durham,' ' White Men Can't Jump' and ' Cobb,' and wrote ' Blue Chips.' One of his trademarks is expertise, and yet 'Play It to the Bone' isn't an inside job on boxing but an assembly of ancient and familiar prizefight cliches (the corrupt promoter, the dubious contract, the ringside celebrities, the cut that may not stop bleeding, the 'I coulda been a contender' scene).
