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Storyline
Over-the-hill boxer Bill 'Stoker' Thompson insists he can still win, though his sexy wife Julie pleads with him to quit. But his manager Tiny is so confident he will lose, he takes money for a "dive" from tough gambler Little Boy...without bothering to tell Stoker. Tension builds as Stoker hopes to "take" Tiger Nelson, unaware of what will happen to him if he does. Written by
Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Summary
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Taglines:
The Sensational Picture You've Been Hearing and Reading About!
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Based upon a narrative poem published in 1928 by
Joseph Moncure March, who gave up his job as the first managing editor of "The New Yorker" to devote himself to writing. On the strength of it, he went to Hollywood as a screenwriter, remaining there for a dozen years. In 1948 he volunteered to work on this film, but was turned down. He was incensed that his black boxer Pansy Jones was changed into the white Stoker Thompson.
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Goofs
Ticket prices on the fight poster showed $2.00 ringside, $1.50 for dress circle and .75 cents for gallery seats. The price on Julie's ticket was $1.65.
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Quotes
Stoker:
Well, that's the way it is. You're a fighter, you gotta fight.
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Connections
Referenced in
L.A. Noire (2011)
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Soundtracks
"A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening"
(1943) (uncredited)
Music by
Jimmy McHugh
Played in the score
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Fight scenes-wise, this was "Rocky" almost 30 years before there ever was a "Rocky." It was the same kind of unrelenting (and unrealistic in that no matter how bad the beating the good guy was getting, the good guy couldn't lose) boxing action that Sylvester Stallone likes so much.
But, don't get me wrong, I liked this film. It was good stuff. 'Rocky" was drama, romance while this was film-noir.....and solid film-noir, too.
Robert Ryan, playing a 35-year-old aging rank fighter, gives it his all against an up-and-coming kid, not knowing that he supposed to take a dive. He finally finds this out (his manager didn't tell him) and by then, he was not going give up trying against his opponent.
There are so many punches thrown in this four-round bout it will make your head swim. The best part of this film, to me, was the cinematography, which was outstanding. Kudos to director Robert Wise for the photography. There are a lot of nice facial closeups in here, all of which look sharp on the recent DVD transfer.
Humor is thrown into this film-noir as we see a variety of boxing fans, from the bloodthirsty woman to a fat man always eating to another guy acting out the action while in his ringside seat. They provide some much- needed respite from the grim story. Ryan, as he usually was, is interesting to watch. The ending of the film is a tough one and, I found tough to watch at times.
Note: the film was done in "real time" - a 72-minute period in the life of the boxer Ryan portrays.