Hilary Swank in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby.

Russell Crowe's boxing drama Cinderella Man joins a long and prestigious list of boxing films.

Hollywood has had a love affair with boxing almost from the day the first motion-capture camera was invented.

Charlie Chaplin was the first major film star to play a boxer in his 1915 film The Champion.

This 33-minute silent movie contains the basic elements of most of the boxing films that have followed.

There's the unlikely hero who faces incredible odds, corruption and manipulation with his eye as firmly planted on the girl as the crown.

The list of the actors who have tackled the role of real-life or fictitious boxers includes Errol Flynn (Gentleman Jim), Paul Newman (Somebody up there Likes Me), Wallace Beery (The Champ), James Cagney (City for Conquest), William Holden (Golden Boy), Kirk Douglas (Champion), Jon Voight (The Champ), James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope), Daniel Day-Lewis (The Boxer), Robert DeNiro (Raging Bull), Will Smith (Ali) and, most recently, Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby). Sylvester Stallone, who nabbed fame and fortune with his Rocky movies, says there is genuine appeal in playing a fighter.

"Playing a boxer requires incredible discipline. You have to spend months building the proper body and then additional months learning the techniques that will convince the audience you are capable of throwing and taking those punches," explains Stallone.

"These are challenges actors love. It's a challenge that still appeals to me," insists Stallone who, at 58, says he's ready for Rocky VI. In the long list of contenders since 1894, there are some genuine winners.

REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT (1962): Anthony Quinn scored a personal best in a long prestigious career playing Louis Mountain Rivera, a fading fighter desperately longing for one more win. The movie opens with Rivera losing to a rising young star played by Muhammad Ali when he was still Cassius Clay.

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (1970): James Earl Jones won an Oscar nomination for his performances as Jack Johnson whose greatest opponent was racism. Johnson was not only the first black heavyweight contender but he was having an affair with a white woman. These were handicaps he never fully overcame inside or outside the ring. Though there are minimal fight sequences, the drama of a man fighting for dignity and respect makes this one of the finest boxing dramas on celluloid.

FAT CITY (1972): John Huston crafted this powerful story of the two sides of boxing. Stacy Keach plays a boxer whose glory days are behind him while Jeff Bridges is the promising young talent who has a shot at celebrity if he can only motivate himself.

ROCKY (1976): The impact of Sylvester Stallone's breakthrough achievement has been dulled by his relentless and failed desire to prove lightening can strike not just twice but endless times. Stallone deserves kudos for writing and starring in a simple, time-honoured story told with style, heart and passion. Stallone made Rocky Balboa a symbol of the extraordinary things ordinary people can achieve if they have a dream and the passion to pursue it.

RAGING BULL (1980): Easily Martin Scorsese's masterpiece and one of the finest sports films ever made. The drama outside the ring is as harrowing as anything captured in the ring. As the volatile Jake LaMotta, Robert DeNiro set new standards in acting, dedication and preparation. He insisted on doing most of the boxing in the film, gained 60 lbs to show LaMotta in his decline and was uncompromising in his determination to show LaMotta's dark side.

THE BOXER (1997): It's not surprising that the collaboration of Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day-Lewis should have produced a film that uses boxing as a metaphor for the political unrest in Ireland. Day-Lewis plays a former boxer who spent 14 years in prison for his involvement with the IRA. The wonderful irony in Day-Lewis's performance is that his boxer is a man who deplores violence but loves one of the most violent of sports.

ALI (2001): The genius of Will Smith's performance is that he doesn't just play boxing legend Muhammad Ali; he seems to channel him. Taking his cue from DeNiro, Smith reshaped his body, trained extensively and did as much of his own boxing as he could. The effort garnered Smith an Oscar nomination and proved he was much more than a comedian and a celebrity. As a film, Ali contains outstandingly choreographed fight sequences.

MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004): Clint Eastwood worked a minor miracle with this one, proving a female boxing film could have as much appeal and clout as any of its male counterparts. Hilary Swank is the classic underdog fighter whose determination and dedication make her a winner. True to so many boxing films, the fighter's dark personal tragedy eventually takes centre ring. The flick deservedly won Oscars for best picture, best director (Eastwood), best actress (Swank) and best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman).