The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.

The film garnered seven nominations at the 77th Academy Awards and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (for Freeman).

[4][5] Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald, a waitress from the Ozarks, enters the Hit Pit, a rundown boxing gym in Los Angeles operated by Frankie Dunn.

Frankie bestows Maggie a Gaelic nickname embroidered on her boxing robe, Mo Cuishle, but does not tell her its meaning.

He secures Maggie a $1 million match in Las Vegas against the WBA women's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear" Osterman, a German ex-prostitute who has a reputation as a dirty fighter.

Maggie begins to dominate the fight, but Billie knocks her out with an illegal sucker punch from behind after the bell rings to end the round.

Frankie goes through the five stages of grief, seeking multiple doctors' opinions in denial, lashing out in anger at Scrap, and trying to bargain with God through prayer.

Eastwood persuaded Lakeshore Entertainment's Tom Rosenberg to put up half the budget (as well as handle foreign distribution), with Warner Bros. contributing the rest.

[2] The titular phrase 'million dollar baby' was used as an insult during pre-fight publicity by Sonny Liston to Muhammad Ali, the latter of whom was an underdog at the time.

Eastwood had his daughter Morgan Colette appear in a cameo as a girl who waves to Hilary Swank's character at a gas station.

"[10] Consequently, to prepare for her role, Swank underwent extensive training in the ring and weight room, gaining 19 pounds of muscle, aided by professional trainer Grant L. Roberts.

[11] In its later wide release opening, the film earned $12,265,482 in North America and quickly became a box-office hit both domestically and internationally.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Clint Eastwood's assured direction—combined with knockout performances from Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman—help Million Dollar Baby to transcend its clichés, and the result is deeply heartfelt and moving.

[15] Michael Medved stated: "My main objection to Million Dollar Baby always centered on its misleading marketing, and effort by Warner Brothers to sell it as a movie about a female Rocky, with barely a hint of the pitch-dark substance that led Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer...to declare that "no movie in my memory has depressed me more than Million Dollar Baby.

This stereotype is contradicted by the personal experience of many thousands of people with significant disabilities in this country and around the world who view our own lives as ordinary and normal.

Research overwhelmingly shows that people with disabilities find satisfaction in our lives to the same degree, or greater, than does the general public.

[22] In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Eastwood distanced himself from the actions of characters in his films, noting, "I've gone around in movies blowing people away with a .44 Magnum.

Million Dollar Baby is classical in the clean, clear, strong lines of its story and characters, and had an enormous emotional impact".