Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)

According to his second autobiography published in 1981, Rocky Graziano was paid $200,000 for the rights to make this movie. Perry Como does a memorable job singing the theme while Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics.The story portrays Rocco Barbella, a young Italian boy who grew up on the East Side of New York during the 1920's and 1930's. During this era life was extremely difficult for Italian immigrant families as they could not get decent jobs which were already taken by other ethnic nationalities who had preceded their arrival in America.Young Rocco was always loyal to his family and especially his mother (played by Eileen Heckart.) Long before his teen years, faced with an abusive alcoholic father and extreme poverty, Rocco learns the way of the streets. He becomes a bona fide hoodlum in the process. In reality, many of his friends and enemies from this era wound up in Sing Sing's electric chair.Eileen Heckart plays a superb role as Ma Ida Barbella, a religious, worry stricken mother who refuses to give up on her difficult son. Harold Stone plays an excellent role as Rocky's father Nick Barbella, whose main resolve is in a wine bottle.We see Rocky as he finally hits rock bottom, a point from which the only way is back up. Coupled with his girlfriend and future bride Norma (played by Pier Angeli,) Rocky takes on the world of professional boxing and shows a talent with great potential. (It should be noted that Rocky was rated as one of the best punchers in middleweight history by Ring Magazine.) I'm critical about some of the early fight scenes; but in all fairness the ones toward the end are extremely well done.The most important thing to remember about the story is that Rocky "turned the leaf" against huge odds; and not doing so might have landed him in the death house at Sing Sing. And so it follows that Somebody up there really did like him ! Great story.

Paul Newman arrived as a screen star with his performance as street tough Rocky Barbella, the first of many anti-hero roles for one of the best anti-heroes in Hollywood history. But "Somebody Up There Likes Me" plays more for the heartstrings as Barbella transforms himself into honest boxer (and real-life famous middleweight) Rocky Graziano.Newman looks a bit old to play Barbella in his street-kid days, and his Lower East Side diction doesn't convince however many H's he drops. But the film challenges his sturdy charisma by having him play a nasty hood, not to mention saddling him with some hoary lines when pressed to explain why he's so bad."I try tuh turn da leaf, but I can't make it!" Rocky begs his weeping mother (Eileen Heckart) early on. "Sumtin inside of me! I try, and I can't make it!"The film rises above such tinniness with performances by Newman, Heckart, and others who dare to play their parts as if their lives depended on it, as was maybe the case for a then-struggling Newman. Helping also is a surprisingly fun turn in the script. Much of the early heavy melodrama gives way agreeably to a comic sensibility that showcases Newman's sly strengths in that department.Writer Ernest Lehman was a frequent collaborator with director Robert Wise, and they seem to draw the best from each other here. Wise knows he has a melodrama, and sells it with piquant characters and on-location shooting in Barbella's Lower East Side neighborhood that makes the film feel alive. Lehman keeps his story moving while creating a romantic subplot (utilizing the delightful Pier Angeli) that for once doesn't slow down a sports movie.Make no mistake, clichés do abound. When Rocky gets in trouble, it's announced in newspapers with double banner headlines. When he has a bad dream, he starts from the bed like he got zapped in the foot. There are not one but two friendly Jewish-uncle figures ready to counsel Rocky with wise good humor when he's feeling low.I'm not sure what the point was of a lengthy subplot involving a crook from Rocky's past who tries to get him to take a dive; it was based on the historical record but is poorly integrated into the movie. But welcome to the movies anyway, Robert Loggia. It's nice to have you with us.Also welcome here future Disney star Dean Jones and King of Cool Steve McQueen, whom Wise gives a very cool intro by having him literally swipe at you with a switchblade."Somebody Up There Likes Me" is famous both for who is in it and who wasn't: This was supposed to be James Dean's next role before his fatal crash. I wonder how the gentler, anemic Dean would have done playing self-described "scum of the slums" Barbella/Graziano. Certainly he could not have sold the climactic bout with Tony Zale as Newman does with his scowling brio, or carried off the moonier, playful moments that come to define Graziano in the second half."Somebody Up There" may not be perfect, but it delivers a warm and resonant introduction to Newman and a boxing film still punching its weight 56 years on.

"Somebody Up There Likes Me" is the second film Paul Newman starred as leading actor and the first to become a hit making him a great movie star. Here he plays the legendary boxer Rocky Graziano in his long and very difficult journey to be a recognized boxer. The movie begins showing his tough childhood in Bronx where he participated in robberies, and then went to prison because of his long list of crimes. After he went out of prison, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. His luck seems to change when he discover that he can get fast money winning boxing fights. His first friend is Irving Cohen (Everett Sloane, the eternal Mr. Bernstein from "Citizen Kane"), who became his coach, arranging more and more fights to the young talented man. Just like Rocky Balboa who finds Adrienne, suddenly Graziano finds his first love, a young Jewish girl called Norma (Pier Angeli), who like him very much but can't stand his boxing.But the biggest challenge to Rocky isn't in the fighting but it's something more deep. A guy (Robert Loggia) that he met in prison reappears and then makes an offer to the boxer: he must lose a important fight. Why? Because his past on robbery and in the Army may be revealed to the public that really likes this guy. Rocky's always battling with himself trying to understand why bad things happens to him over and over again. OK, you might find the plot very obvious, something that you've seen before, but it has it's good moments and some originality. Newman's performance is a great asset to the film. He is conflicted, lost, sympathetic, angry and yet the audience always like him. Even that the boxing scenes doesn't work so well like in "Raging Bull" it's still worth watching the story of a man who's been beaten too much but don't give up so easily. Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Sal Mineo (Rocky's friend), Eileen Heckart and Robert Loggia (in his film debut) are very good in strong supporting roles. Pay attention to Steve McQueen participation as Fidel, one of the members of the gang in the beginning of the movie. Well directed by Robert Wise. 10/10

I rented this film knowing that it was made in the mid-50's, so I didn't expect it to be as good as it turned out to be. The acting is good, Newman is terrific, he never stops moving, and the movie itself never slows down. For a biopic, it presents its hero as flawed from the outset; the script is good, the dialogue is fresh, and the boxing scenes are, for a 1950's film, pre-Raging Bull, pre-Rocky, surprisingly convincing. Rocky Graziano wasn't a particularly refined technician in the ring; he was a grim, determined street fighter. He had no style, and that's how Paul Newman plays him. The big match at the climax of the film is presented in enough detail to show one boxer just beginning to tire as the other gets his second wind. Paul Newman is great as the main character, but the other actors, the writing and direction and the production itself rise to the level of his performance.