The Set-Up (1949)

I was completely stunned by this movie (which I had never even heard of before last night)--it should be near the top of everyone's list of the best movies of all times.I am tagging my review as a spoiler not for a plot element, but because I want to mention that it unfolds in real time: the 71 minutes of the movie corresponds exactly to 71 continuous minutes of action in the story, and this gives the movie much of its amazing intensity. I did not realize this until the end--that's why drawing attention to it is somewhat a spoiler.Robert Ryan is marvelous as Stoker, a boxer nearing the end of his career; Ryan boxed at Dartmouth and in the Marines and he is wonderful in the part. When he smiles his face lights up the screen. The actors in the smaller parts are outstanding and fun to watch--Stoker's tiny cut man with a marvelously expressive face, his opponent Tiger Nelson, the characters in the audience, and the boxers in the dressing room--every little portrait is a gem. The fight choreography is remarkable and so convincing, and the night photography of "Paradise City" is suitably lively and tawdry, but also beautiful in the way that only black and white cinematography can be, especially in the scene on the viaduct. (Little bit of trivia: The dance hall is named "The Coral Sea" which to the 1949 viewer called up a decisive battle between Japan and the US--the world's first air/sea encounter--a note of grim irony.) This movie made me wish that most movies were kept to 70 minutes--this intense pace makes contemporary movies seem boring, tedious and self-indulgent by comparison.

Robert Wise brings all of his filmmaking skill to this vivid depiction of those men who are experts of the "sweet science" of boxing. Its characters are entertaining and believable, and it refrains from any sort of melodrama, amping up the tension bit by bit. The audience will notice that it appears to unfold in "real time", as several shots settle on clocks. This is simply solid, compelling, no frills story telling (based on a 1928 poem by Joseph Moncure March), with efficient acting in every role, especially the legendary Robert Ryan in one of his best ever roles.He plays "Stoker" Thompson, a past-his-prime boxer at 35 whose record as of late hasn't been too impressive. Various unsavoury characters, including his own manager "Tiny" (George Tobias), are convinced enough that he'll lose his latest fight that they all bet against him. However, Stoker is confident that he can take his opponent (Hal Baylor), and when Tiny and corner man "Red" (Percy Helton) try to persuade him to take a dive, Stoker is determined to be a man of principle and go through this fight honestly. Meanwhile, Stokers' distraught wife Julie (an appealing Audrey Totter, herself no stranger to the film noir genre) just can't stand by anymore while her husband takes all manner of physical punishment.This tight, trim story (the movie runs a mere 73 minutes long) is focused and full of many sights and sounds, often cutting to the agitated people in the crowd, who clearly have their bloodlust boiling and are either cheering on Stoker or encouraging "Tiger" Nelson (Baylor) to wipe the floor with the older man. This goes a long way towards getting the viewer at home worked up as well. The ring action is exciting, and the finale is unbelievably tense, with a not necessarily "happy" ending. Also delivering fine performances are Alan Baxter as grim faced mobster "Little Boy", Edwin Max as his flunky Danny, Wallace Ford as Gus, Darryl Hickman as Shanley, James Edwards as Luther, and David Clarke as Gunboat.The film is a little too predictable in its outcome of the fight, but otherwise this is fine stuff and merits a viewing from any lover of boxing or the film noir genre.Eight out of 10.

You know what's odd? I couldn't even tell you who the World Heavyweight Champ is today. However there was a time, and I'm referring to my own youth here back in the Fifties and Sixties, that even if you weren't a boxing fan, the names of the champion and top contenders were a ubiquitous presence in newspaper headlines and the evening news. Times sure change.This is the tale of a hanger-on, an over the hill pugilist going by the name of Stoker Thompson, admirably portrayed by Robert Ryan in one of his classic roles. At the age of forty, he's playing a thirty five year old fighter against a much younger contender on the way up, backed by a flashy gangster the townies call Little Boy (Alan Baxter). I can't say I was much impressed with actor Ryan's ring style, virtually spending the entire match in an uncomfortable looking crouch position that seemed defensive most of the time. This really hit me when I learned that Ryan actually did some boxing in his college and military service days. I've never boxed, so what do I know, except that it looked awkward for someone who wanted very much to win just one more fight.The film gets a lot of mileage out of it's supporting players. George Tobias and Percy Helton are wonderfully smarmy and duplicitous in the mismanagement of their boy Stoker. Edwin Max as Little Boy's stooge Danny also conveys a lot more with his facials than with any lines he gets to deliver. Stoker's long suffering gal Julie conveys all the desperation and fatigue of someone who stands by her man, but hopes against hope that he'll give up the fight game to join the rest of humanity. In that scene on the bridge overlooking the trolleys, the torn up pieces of her fight ticket seem to flutter away like the last remnants of desire in her heart that maybe, just maybe she and Stoker can someday have a happy life together.So it's 1949, and things were a lot simpler back then, but here's what I don't get. The money involved in the fix seemed inconsequential to me, and I don't understand how a hood like Little Boy could get so worked up over fifty bucks. Fifty bucks! Sure, he was bankrolling his girlfriend Bunny on a side wager for a C-note, but how far was that fifty dollar pay off expected to go between Tiny (Tobias), Red (Helton) and Stoker? This is what Stoker was supposed to lay down for? Maybe I'm being naive, but an average week's pay to throw a preliminary fight seemed like small potatoes to me.Anyway, you don't have to be a boxing fan to get something out of this flick. Filmed in a crisp noir style, it captures all the seedy atmosphere of small town venues and smoke filled arenas that anyone could ask for. The ticket to this match is worth every penny.

I love boxing films, preferably in a vintage black and white Hollywood production like this and have to say this is about the best I've ever seen. Other movies either dramatise the life and career of a well-known fighter or portray the boxer becoming a champion or at least a contender. This is different. In "The Set-Up", Robert Ryan is a washed-up ageing fighter whose long-suffering girlfriend can't even stand to see him lose one more time. Fighting in cheap joints over four rounds at the end of the bill for $20 or so, this is the epitome of anti-glamour, but even this far down the ladder, the reach of cheap hoodlums looking to make money on the side by fixing fights, encroaches into Ryan's world, giving the classic boxing dilemma of should he dive or fight.The settings and acting are almost universally good. In the early stages of the movie, we're introduced to all the other fighters at different stages of their careers, who all share the same dressing-room with Ryan's "Stoker" Thompson. By the end, however, after he's crossed the mob by knocking out their "boy", he's alone in the alley way, his future as a fighter crushed, like his punching-hand. And yet there's a sort of redemption for him, as his girl comes back to him and they consider an enforced future away from the fight game.This movie runs for only 72 minutes and yet packs a good deal of action, situation and characterisation into its brief running time. There are some superb touches by director Wise, particularly his thumb-nail characterisations of the fight fans at ring-side, including an almost demonic everyday-looking housewife out for blood, the blind guy who gets roused even as he can't even see the action and humorously, the guy who gets through a four-course fast-food meal in his seat, while watching the bouts.Unquestionably though, it's Ryan's superb acting which carries the film. World-weary at the start, we see him as almost a father figure to his fellow pugilists. Later, with the mob at his back he displays an almost palpable dread, while in the ring itself, he aptly demonstrates that he used to box himself in his younger days.The fight scenes are terrific, extremely life-like and absolutely gripping - what a great three rounds of boxing the spectators got for their money. The make-up applications on the faces of the beaten-up boxers are worth special mention. Almost the only wrong note is the name of the local mobster who exacts a grim revenge on Ryan - I mean, "Little Boy"...you've got to be kidding.But if that's my only carp, you can easily tell this was a first-rate realistic drama on the seamy side of boxing at the ground level. It avoids clichés, (for instance, the director purposely doesn't have Ryan's girl fill her vacant seat at the fight to inspire his come- back, reinforcing the fact that it's his own determination and unwillingness to be corrupted, which inspire his some might say fool-hardy courage - look where it got him) and feels as real as you could possibly get.A knockout, in fact.