Boxing films

[Feraud]

Does anyone else like boxing films?

My two current favorites are The Set-Up and The Harder They Fall.

In the first film Robert Ryan plays an over the hill boxer whose manager neglected to tell him he is supposed to take a dive. Ryan is fighting for his dignity and life.

Bogart plays a sports writer who is bought by a local gangster to promote a no talent fighter. Bogey wrestles with his dignity as he wrestles with the seedy side of the boxing game.
A fitting final performace from Bogey.

 

[dhermann1]

I caught "The Harder They Fall" the other night, too. Great flick.
One flick that I got a charge out of was Cagney' last movie, "Terrible Joe Moran". Not his greatest work, maybe, but still a great swan song. One cool thing, they use some shots of him boxing in one of his early movies to show him in his prime as a young man. Very clever.
Of course the best boxing flick ever has to be "Raging Bull". But I also loved "The Battling Bellhop", aka "Kid Galahad", from 1937, featuring a very young and attractive Bette Davis, as well as Edward G Robinson and Bogart.
And of course there was a series of Joe Palooka films.
LOTS of great boxing flicks, not to mention several great Twilight Zone episodes, and the famous Rod Serling made for TV film, "Requiem for a Heavyweight".
Oh, and let's not even get STARTED with Rocky!

 

[BeBopBaby]

One of my favorites is Body and Soul with John Garfield. Garfield has to be one of the most under-rated actors of all time, virtually all but forgotten today. It's a shame his career was ruined from being black listed.

And don't forget Kirk Douglas in Champion.

 

[dhermann1]

Garfield

Great actor. Dropping dead of a heart attack at 39 didn't help much either.

 

[Feraud]

And don't forget Kirk Douglas in Champion.

Definitely.

 

[vintage68]

I enjoyed Cindarella Man with Russel Crowe. Nice period piece.

 

[Doug C]

Raging Bull is one of my all time favorite films! DeNiro at his best. Very realistic, and OMG that Cathy Moriarity (Vicky) is one hot women, don't get me started. Champion is good too, Kirk Douglas ranks high on my list of favorite actors too. There was also a cool movie way back in the mid '80s called "Victory of the Spirit" with Willam DeFoe about a Jewish prisoner of war in Nazi Germany who had to box to live. I have to say though that most boxing sequences in movies look so fake it's no even funny.

Doug C

 

[SamMarlowPI]

ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY!

and Raging Bull

 

[vintage68]

Anyone see The Hurricane with Denzel Washington? I read an interview with him in Men's Vogue, probably the best men's magazine out there, and it made me want to rent it.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I've been watching a LOT of boxing movies lately for a project we're developing. One of the best is the Anthony Quinn version of Requiem For A Heavyweight. He's great, Jackie Gleason is great, even Mickey Rooney shines and a wonderful script by Rod Serling. I'm working on getting the Playhouse 90 version with Jack Palance as well - see how it compares. Raging Bull, Rocky, Cinderella Man all good flicks too.

How would you folks react to a gritty boxing TV series? You know, on HBO, Showtime - definitely a cable piece. Something you might watch?

 

[Feraud]

How would you folks react to a gritty boxing TV series? You know, on HBO, Showtime - definitely a cable piece. Something you might watch?

Yep.

 

[vintage68]

"How would you folks react to a gritty boxing TV series? You know, on HBO, Showtime - definitely a cable piece. Something you might watch?"

+1 for me. I'd watch it. Would it be a period piece or modern?

 

[Mr. Lucky]

"How would you folks react to a gritty boxing TV series? You know, on HBO, Showtime - definitely a cable piece. Something you might watch?"

+1 for me. I'd watch it. Would it be a period piece or modern?

It would be contemporary, but stylized in a manner, and set in a place where time has kinda' stopped - the Rust Belt, so that it would have the feel of a period show.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i like that idea...i would definitely watch it...has anyone seen Paradise Alley with Sly Stallone? it was made shortly after Rocky...its about wrestling but set in the 40's in Hell's Kitchen...good flick if you like Stallone...

 

[Woland]

The Raging Bull is a great film indeed.
One of my all time favorites.

Anyone seen Hard Times with Charles Bronson and James Coburn?
Classic...

 

[Harp]

Hard Times was a great film.
Bare-knuckle street fighting may not qualify as a boxing film,
but Charles Bronson's portrayal of a Depression-era drifter and occasional
brawler captured the essence of prizefighting.

 

[HadleyH]

Another good boxing film is "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956) with Paul Newman. " ...great acting, great script, great boxing scenes and great location shooting in New York". I like boxing films from the 1950s for a strange reason [huh] .


sorry for the size i couldn't get it smaller

 

[Woland]

Hard Times was a great film.
Bare-knuckle street fighting may not qualify as a boxing film,
but Charles Bronson's portrayal of a Depression-era drifter and occasional
brawler captured the essence of prizefighting.

Indeed...
Although I must say that this film (IMO) captured the nature of fighting for a living.
Jack London would probably concur...

 

[Harp]

Indeed...
Although I must say that this film (IMO) captured the nature of fighting for a living.
Jack London would probably concur...

I believe London would have been drawn more to Coburn's character.

 

[Dominic]

I enjoyed Cindarella Man with Russel Crowe. Nice period piece.

My favorite boxing flick. Not only because of the true story but also because it shows what it was to live during the great depression.