Body and Soul
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Movie Reviews of Body and Soul
Movie Review: Body and Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best boxing movies ever. Based on the early life of Barney Ross who became a champion for 5 years in three divisions, Ross won 72 fights. Ross also became a WWII war hero in later life.
This movie is worth the watch, John Garfield does a great job as does Lili Palmer and several of the character actors that you may recognize. The early years are very similar to those of Barney Ross, if you like boxing and you like the people who struggle from the bottom to the top, this is for you.
Movie Review: Body and Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
Upon placing the purchase order, I expected delivery in about 2 - 3 weeks.
I am very happy to report that it arrived within ten days. It is an excellent print. Thank you MediaEntertainment.
Kamesh Mathur.
Movie Review: "What ya gonna do, kill me? Everybody dies!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Body and Soul isn't the great fight movie - the first half of the movie is often too conventional and formulaic for that - but it's certainly a contender even if it loses the title to The Set-Up. It's certainly one of John Garfield's best roles, finally getting into the ring: the play Golden Boy had been written for him only for the producers to cast him in a supporting role instead, so there's an element of unfinished business here, though Abraham Polonsky's script is much better that Odets' rather patronising fairytale. Where Odets dealt in stereotypes, Polonsky and everyone else on the film treat the supporting characters with dignity and respect: at a time when Stepinfetchit was the image of big screen black America, Canada Lee's performance as the former champ is a revelation - he may not have much screen time, but he's one of the most clued-in characters in the piece, with a dignity and intelligence all but unheard of for a black character in the 40s.
Despite the odd line like "If you wanna fight, fight for something, not for money," it's not an overtly political film, though that didn't stop it being used as evidence of communist subversion in the McCarthy era: few films can have had so many of its cast and crew blacklisted. Indeed, the HUAC must have used the credits as a wishlist - Polonsky, Garfield, Ann Revere, Lloyd Gough, Canada Lee, Art Smith, Shimen Ruskin, producer Bob Roberts and even, albeit to a lesser extent, cinematographer James Wong Howe (who had originally wanted to be a prizefighter and famously shot the bouts on rollerskates to get a more fluid sense of motion) all found themselves either blacklisted or greylisted, while director Robert Rossen only avoided that fate by naming names. Some weren't even communists (although most were members of minority groups). It's actually horrifying to consider just how many people involved in the film, from top to bottom, had their careers ruined or even, in the case of Garfield and Lee, were driven to an early death. In retrospect, the famed great almost-last line "What ya gonna do, kill me? Everybody dies." takes on a particularly bitter resonance.
[Aside from several future blacklist victims, it also boasts three future directors among its credits (Robert Aldrich, Robert Parrish and Nathan Juran) as well as montages from a fourth, Gunther Von Fritsch, whose directorial career never recovered from being fired from Curse of the Cat People].
Movie Review: More Of A Human Interest Story Than A Boxing Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I looked at this as simply a good story, a solid drama that happened to have the sport of boxing figure into it.
"Boxing movies" - if people insist on labeling this under that category - were particularly popular around the time of this film. Many of them had similar stories about a good guy being told to take a dive "or else." Yes, that was in here, too, but it wasn't anywhere near the central part of the story. This film was more of an earlier "Raging Bull"-type tale in that it concentrated on the friends, family, freeloaders, criminals and women surrounding the main male character.
Here, we have a story about a decent man who gets carried away with success and with the power and money that goes with it. As good as the lead actor, John Garfield, was in here - and he was good - I was more intrigued with the supporting characters.
Lilli Palmer looked and sounded the part of a refined sweet, pretty lady and was a good contrast to the uneducated and quick-tempered brute (Garfield). As in so many stories, she wasn't fully appreciated by her man until the end. Anne Revere, as Garfield's mom was fascinating as she always was and kudos to Joseph Peveny as "Shorty" and Lloyd Gough a "Roberts." Both added a lot to the film. Wlliam Conrad and Hazel Brooks added some great film noir-type dialog, berating each other once in a while.
These actors, and the photography of James Wong Howe, now on a nice DVD transfer, make this a cut above most if not all the so-called "boxing films."
Movie Review: You don't have to like boxing ....
Summary: 4 Stars
You don't have to like boxing to like this movie. I hate boxing and I wasn't sure I'd even sit through this film but I pulled it off the library shelf because I'd seen practically everything else there. I was really surprised that that film grabbed my attention and, during the last, dramatic, fight scene I was practically sitting on the edge of my seat!
There's nothing very surprising about the story---you know from the get-go what's going to happen but it was so well done that it was really worth sitting through to the end. The performance of Garfield is what engages you. He's very endearing and likable even when he makes some bad choices. When I read on the DVD cover that he was paired up with Lili Palmer, I was amazed...thought they were a highly unlikely couple. But somehow it worked---opposites attract and their chemistry was great. She is very beautiful here and her sweetness comes through much more than in some of her more sophisticated later roles. (Although I confess it's been a long time since I've seen her in anything else.)
The rest of the characters are stock types but still so well played that you don't mind. Many of the films of this type don't hold up with age, but this one really does, mostly because of Garfield's performance, I think. How tragic that the stress of making it contributed to his early heart attack and death.
The song, Body and Soul is so good--it really captures the passion of the film. I'm tempted to give this five stars.