Champion (1949)

Even though I don't like boxing as a sport, I always end up watching movies about boxers. And, while I'm the first to admit that seeing a bunch of rugged, half-naked, sweaty guys is a bonus, it might not be the main reason why I continue to watch them. Then again, it might. Kirk Douglas probably spends more of the movie with his shirt off than on.In Champion, we see the story of a poor, angry young man who wants respect and adoration. Due to a chance right-place-at-the-right-time meeting with a well-known boxer, he ends up in the ring for some quick, easy money and finds out he's pretty good! But in his quest to become a champion, what is he willing to throw away? The real reason why I keep watching boxing movies is because of that age-old, always interesting story of learning what's really important when you think you've got it figured out. They're wonderful stories, because the hero is always terribly flawed and makes tons of mistakes, and the suspense lies in two questions: will he get punished for what he's done, and will he be forgiven and get a happy ending? Kirk Douglas was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Champion, so if you're a fan, you're definitely going to want to rent this one and see him in his early days. He's got an incredible "Oscar clip" scene at the end of the movie; even though he was only nominated three times during his career, you can tell he more than earned it in this movie. Only three years after his first film The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, he plays his typical bad boy, only worse. If you've never seen a Kirk Douglas movie, this is not the one to start with. He's awfully mean, so you might always associate him with this role and not like him in the future. Check out The Glass Menagerie first, and then when you see him act so mean, you'll be shocked and impressed! The make-up in Champion is really impressive, especially given the constraints of the Hays Code, which didn't allow for gruesome gore or violence. Arthur Kennedy plays Kirk Douglas's brother, and while I'm not usually his biggest fan, he was easily the most likable person in the movie! All in all, it's not my favorite boxing movie in the world, but I'm never one to turn down a movie with a half-naked guy in the lead.

"Champion" has a satisfyingly gritty, noir-like look, but its style is unfortunately wasted on a story that's pure melodrama.Kirk Douglas plays a boxing phenom, whose meteoric rise is due to his charisma and animal magnetism, and whose fall is due to his hubris. The problem is that you have to find Douglas irresistible in the first place, or at least understand why he might be so irresistible to others, to make his rise make sense, and to make you feel any compassion for his fall. Since I don't particularly like Douglas and never have, the movie left me cold.The sleazy boxing underworld that serves as the film's setting provided ample opportunities to craft a juicy little drama, but instead the movie focuses on the various love interests of Douglas and becomes a parade of scenes featuring women, all interchangeable, suffering over the wrongs done to them. Who cares?This film received an Academy Award for Best Film Editing, which, when taken with the editing awards given to "Body and Soul" and "Rocky" over the years, shows that the Academy really likes to give this particular award to boxing movies. It was also nominated for Best Actor (Douglas), Best Supporting Actor (Arthur Kennedy, as Douglas's brother and the film's conscience), Best Screenplay (Carl Foreman), Best Black and White Cinematography (Frank Planer), and Best Dramatic or Comedy Score (Dimitri Tiomkin).Grade: B-

When it comes to this 1949, b&w, Fight Flick - Here's the Good, the Bad, and the Pug-ly.The Good - Kirk Douglas (at 33) was in absolute top form for this picture, both physically, as well as in his craft as one of Hollywood's most dynamic actors of his day.As the ambitious & unscrupulous boxer, Midge Kelly, Douglas came across at times as if he were an angry, caged tiger ready to claw the world to pieces. And, believe me, Douglas was impressive.The Bad - At times Champion's story-line tended to be quite choppy.And, besides that, Arthur Kennedy's role as Midge's brother, Connie (a guy with a limp, who needed a cane) seemed to have no real purpose in the story. For the most part Connie appeared to be nothing more than dead-weight added to this tale as a mere afterthought.The Pug-ly - While some of Champion's fight scenes really packed a terrific wallop, others just wimped out.I don't know about you, but, for me, a boxing film's "boxing" has got to be bang-on at all times. Otherwise this sort of "pugilist passion play" might just as well take a dive in the ring.Anyways - If you ask me, had Champion's overall story-telling been well up to snuff, then, yes, it would have been a real knock-out.And, that's the Good, the Bad, and the Pug-ly.

Hollywood was never slow to exploit a cycle which accounts for several great screwball comedies in the thirties which alternated with aviation stories. Boxing movies tended to be thin on the ground in the early days of sound albeit titles like Kid Galahad and Golden Boy gave the impression they were about the subject but in the late forties three of the best movies in the genre turned up, The Set Up, Body And Soul and Mark Robson's Champion. You'll look in vain for anything remotely original here but you won't regret looking because what you'll find is a solid script interpreted by a highly talented cast of whom none was better than Paul Stewart as that rara avis a decent boxing manager. Arthur Kennedy was appearing on Broadway in Death Of A Salesman playing Biff Loman, a completely different role to his Connie, handicapped brother of 'Champ' Kirk Douglas. Ruth Roman is the best actress of the three women in the champ's life, and the way Douglas hits the canvas mirrors as well as prefiguring his falling into the camera in Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole shortly afterwards. Sixty years on it's still great to watch.