The Ring

Fight manager Gerald Mohr notices Lalo Rios in a street fight and thinks he can promote him into a real fighter. Rios turns out to be someone with a lot of talent, but lacking discipline. When he gets beat up bad, he determines to buckle down.

This King Brother feature has a lot to recommend itself with a script by Irving Shulman, and a complex and beautiful performance by Mohr. Director of Photography Russel Harlan was just on the edge of being recognized as a great cinematographer. The first of seven Oscar nominations would arrive the following year. However, even though you can see all the hallmarks of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE in the script, it doesn't add up. To say that Rios was not James Dean is obvious, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that director Kurt Neumann was not Nicholas Ray; and despite a great diner scene with John Crawford, this remains a very ethnic picture, with great performances scattered here and there that never gel.