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The Harder They Fall (1956) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   2,119 votes
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Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Budd Schulberg (novel)
Philip Yordan (screenplay)

Contact:

View company contact information for The Harder They Fall on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

9 May 1956 (USA) more

Tagline:

No Punches Pulled! If you thought "On The Waterfront" hit hard... wait till you see this one!

Plot:

Down-on-his-luck ex-sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by shady fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his latest find, an unknown but easily exploitable phenom from Argentina. full summary | add synopsis

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination more

NewsDesk:
(4 articles)

Standing Eight Count
 (From t5m.com. 2 November 2009, 4:38 AM, PST)

Screenwriter Budd Schulberg Dies
 (From CinemaSpy. 7 August 2009, 8:33 PM, PDT)

User Comments:

"He didn't have 5 guys in the ring with him." more (45 total)


Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Humphrey Bogart ... Eddie Willis

Rod Steiger ... Nick Benko
Jan Sterling ... Beth Willis
Mike Lane ... Toro Moreno
Max Baer ... Buddy Brannen
Jersey Joe Walcott ... George
Edward Andrews ... Jim Weyerhause

Harold J. Stone ... Art Leavitt, TV sportscaster
Carlos Montalbán ... Luís Agrandi

Nehemiah Persoff ... Leo
Felice Orlandi ... Vince Fawcett
Herbie Faye ... Max
Rusty Lane ... Danny McKeogh
Jack Albertson ... Pop
more
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Additional Details

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2002) (uncut) | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | USA:Approved (certificate #17754) | West Germany:16 (nf)


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

Humphrey Bogart's last film. more

Goofs:

Continuity: As Bogart crosses a row a seats on his way to sit down at the Dundee fight, the collar of his overcoat turns up and down. more

Quotes:

[Willis tells Toro to throw his fight with Buddy Brannen to avoid getting hurt]
Toro Moreno: I don't know, I don't know. What would people think of me?
Eddie Willis: What do you care what a bunch of bloodthirsty, screaming people think of you? Did you ever get a look at their faces? They pay a few lousy bucks hoping to see a man get killed. To hell with them! Think of yourself. Get your money and get out of this rotten business.
more

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Facing the Past (2005) (V) more


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
"He didn't have 5 guys in the ring with him.", 13 October 2007
Author: eadoe from United States

I just saw this film and now realize that Sly Stallone must have watched it about a hundred times before staging the fight scenes in Rocky – he even recreated the subtle touch when Toro's coach cuts his eyelid in the fight to release the built-up blood (except in this film, you only see him go for the eye with a scalpel but don't see him actually cut it as you do in Rocky). The final fight at the end of this movie is THE most gruesome fight ever filmed. Stallone tried to capture this in Rocky, but it has nowhere NEAR the realism of the fight in The Harder They Fall. This is partly because it is shot in black and white, which for some reason makes everything seem more gruesome than color; partly because of the foggy, staggering way it is shot, as if you are seeing the punches through the groggy boxer's eyes; and partly because the actor who played Toro was not a star like Stallone or DeNiro in Raging Bull – they could make him look like a true wreck, a distorted, disfigured wreck – without fear of diminishing his "star" quality handsomeness.

My favorite line in this movie is when Bogart angrily asks Steiger how he'd like to have his jaw broken like Toro's. Steiger's henchmen immediately start to converge on Bogart, who says, "He didn't have 5 guys in the ring with him." It's a great line that brings home how the powerful are protected from the very pain they inflict on others.

The movie's title, from the old saying, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall," is also very ironic, because the "big" guys – Steiger and the corrupt fight backers – actually never "fall" – it is only the "little" guys, like Toro, who fall the hardest.

By the way, it was really spooky seeing Max Baer himself re-create his historic fight with Primo Carnera in this film, which is based on Max Baer's historic fight with Primo Carnera! You can see a film of this 1934 fight online, in which Baer knocks Carnera down 11 times in 11 rounds. By round 2, Baer was actually chasing Carnera around the ring, and at least 3 times he knocked him down so hard that he actually fell on top of him!

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