The Champ
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.59 You Save: $16.39 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.46 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Champ
Movie Review: Moving father-son tearjerker
Summary: 5 Stars
Wallace Beery plays a prizefighter past his prime, more interested now in boozing and gambling than in fighting anymore. His son (Jackie Cooper) lives with him and idolizes him. Beery accidentally runs into his ex-wife one day - she's now rich - and she convinces him that Cooper would be better off with her. (Child custody "laws" were quite different back then.) He reluctantly goes with his mother, but before long runs away back to dear old dad. The climax comes during a boxing match in which Beery, after being terribly pummelled by his younger opponent, miraculously wins with his last punch, only to die in the dressing room a short while later.
Beery is engrossing - the role fits him like a glove, and Cooper isn't too bad either (except for the long crying jag at the end, which tore audiences up back then, and may still do so today). The technical limitations of 1931 contribute a great deal to the overly theatrical and somewhat wooden acting styles, but the movie is not afraid to wear its emotions on its sleeve, which was always its great appeal. Beery won an Oscar as The Champ.
Movie Review: A Knockout
Summary: 5 Stars
It would be easy to dismiss "The Champ" as merely a manipulative tear-jerker. Possibly, but if you're going to be manipulated at least have it done by the best. There is nothing slick here. Director King Vidor vividly captures the desolate seediness of Depression-era Tijuana. The film's climactic fight scene is very realistic. Wallace Beery won the Oscar for his role as the Champ but he could very well have shared it with young Jackie Cooper(not even nominated) as his wise beyond his years son,Deke. The chemistry is dynamic between the lovably grizzled Beery and the heart-rending Cooper. The formula here is timeless so the story doesn't date in the least. You could remake it today and I have no doubt it would still work. Which leads me to the 1979 remake with Jon Voight and Ricky Schroder. Despite the generally negative buzz that surrounded it at the time it's not that bad.Movie Review: The Champ DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen both the versions of this movie, and I always liked the one with Jon Voite, but this version is way better. What a tragic movie! A comeback boxer and his son are the main charaters. A boxer raising his son by himself after his wife leaves him. He's a loser drunk that provides love, and understanding to his boy. Later the boy's mother finds out that her son is living close to where she lives (she's remarried with a daughter), and persues a relationship with him. Very good movie, but is sometimes over-acted, as most movies are in that era. The overall thought of this movie is, watch it, you won't be sorry. I can't say what it's about, you need to see it for yourself. It's worth the time and money.Movie Review: ACTING AT ITS BEST!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Jackie Cooper's personal recollections of Wallace Beery and their films together at MGM are absolutely amazing, especially after seeing them together in this film; THE CHAMP. Cooper says there was no love lost between them; that Beery often ignored the kid, and that they had little communication or interaction off the screen. But to watch their scenes together as father and son in this classic is pure magic. If you don't cry at least a tear or two, you have no heart.
Too bad Warner doesn't release this film as a package deal along with its fellow remakes: The Clown (1953) with Red Skelton, and The Champ (1979) with Voight. What a three picture set that would be.
Movie Review: The Champ (1931)
Summary: 5 Stars
Vidor's gushy tale of devotion--about a big bruiser's bottomless well of love for his charismatic kid and number-one fan--is unabashedly sentimental by today's standards, but it still gets the tear ducts flowing. The aptly named Beery, with his tugboat voice and ruffled mien, won a much-deserved Oscar, while Cooper's wrenching, precocious Dink still remains the "Our Gang" star's most unforgettable role. (Beery and Cooper had such a fabulous rapport they went on to star in two more films together.) With its gritty look and a knockout weepy finale, Vidor's "The Champ" is an undisputed winner.