4 Star

No Punches Pulled.

Mark Robson (Von Ryan’s Express, Valley of the Dolls) takes the hard hitting story from seasoned short story writer Ring Lardner (Letters from Bugs to Gus, No. 6, Ring Lardner’s My Roomy), and sets one of the greatest actors of his time in Kirk Douglas (Lust for Life, Spartacus, The Vikings) who delivers a performance fit for any Film-Noir.

Midge Kelly(Douglas) is about to fight the biggest fight of his illustrious career, a real ‘rags-to-riches’ story. This has earned him thousands of followers and the arena is packed to capacity. This is how he got to this moment in time.

Midge and his brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy, Peyton Place, Lawrence of Arabia) are men with a future, a future running a diner. But they have to get from Chicago to California, and with funds low they try riding the cargo trains, but the pair of them are set about and robbed. They are both thrown off the train and have to settle for thumbing it. Along this journey they are  picked up by Johnny Dunne (John Daheim, The Square Jungle, The Badlanders), and his girlfriend Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell, The Show-Off, Military Policemen). Johnny seems a nice enough fella, for a guy that is heading for the top of the boxing upper echelons, unlike Grace who looks down her nose at the destitute pair. But they have high hopes.

Johnny takes them as far as Kansas City, where Johnny is fighting that night, he suggests that Midge should try waiting tables at the venue, worth a try they think. But Midge doesn’t take rejection well, and he ends up with an offer to earn $35 if you last four rounds in the ring, sure.

The kid can take a punch, but he can’t land one. His grit does not go unnoticed as Tommy Haley tells him when he gets to California he should look him up at Brady’s Gym. Midge passes it off as him and Connie will soon be hard at work running the diner.

 

You’re going to learn every dirty trick in the business, and there is plenty of ’em.

Ahh the diner, that is another thing, and this is the story of Midge Kelly.

It’s every man for himself,

Nice guys don’t make money.

That’s the way things are.

The punches are harsh, but shotgun weddings are harsher, that’s the way things are…

A great performance from all the cast, and we get to see the ubiquitous training montage, great stuff. A definite addition for the Film-Noir fan

Champion (Masters of Cinema) is available on Blu-ray

 

SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY CONTAINS 

1080p presentation on Blu-ray
Optional English SDH Subtitles
Brand new audio commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney
Stills Gallery
PLUS: A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Richard Combs; and a piece on boxing in cinema by author / screenwriter S. B. Caves