The Set-Up
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.44 You Save: $16.54 (83%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.70 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Set-Up
Movie Review: Film Noir at its Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Set Up is one of the all time great boxing movies. It should be right up there with Requiem for a Heavyweight, Golden Boy and Raging Bull. And the uniqueness of this film is that it is done in real time.
Most people think that the concept of filming in real time in a recent one. Not so! Many of the great film directors of the
past used this device. Alfred Hichcock was a master at its usage.
The story of course is a predictible one.
Honest boxer is betrayed by both his manager and reluctant trainer. With the Big money boys betting against him.
Hokey...but it works! It's one of the best examples of film
noir which uses sports as its theme.
Movie Review: The epic can spout from the most unexpected corners!
Summary: 5 Stars
A bold account of a 35-year-old washed up fighter, who knows his best times were gone, decides to assume his bliss trying to break the neck to destiny. The crooks have previously arranged the combat with Tiny who communicates Stoker about the planned. But Stoker refuses to walk in the rotten road. Played in real time of 72 min. this film has been catalogued as Noir Film. Directed by Robert Wise and superbly played by Robert Ryan in one of his best artistic achievements ever made.
One of my favorite films of this Decade and undeniable the supreme masterpiece of Robert Wise.
Movie Review: Psychologically revealing
Summary: 5 Stars
This well-crafted boxing film stars Robert Ryan as a veteran boxer who dreams of the Big Win. Little does he know that his manager, who has no faith in his chances, has set him up for a fall this night. While his worried wife--who has come to his previous bouts---instead waits in their nearby hotel room for him, he prepares for his fight with an up-and-comer. The sometimes brutal film action occurs in real time. I found the scenes between boxers preparing for their fights psychologically revealing.Movie Review: A Story About the Fight Game
Summary: 4 Stars
The film begins with a boxing match. One man is knocked down. At the "Ringside Cafe" a deal is made with the manager of a boxer; this fight will be fixed. Stoker Thompson is 35, an old man in the boxing game. Julie doesn't want Bill to continue getting beat. The film shows the reaction of the audience to the fight. The film underlines the tawdriness of this business. One boxer has been in the game too long. Julie walks around this shadowy urban neighborhood, and does not go to the fight.
Tiger Nelson seems to have the advantage over Stoker Thompson. The first two rounds are about even. The film shows the character of the customers. Stoker is knocked down in the 3rd round, but gets up at the count of nine. Stoker's manager tells him to lay down and take the count. "Little Boy" wants a fix. But the unexpected happens. The fight crowd empties the arena, Stoker's manager and trainer disappear too. Stoker dresses and leaves; he is scared. Little Boy's men take their revenge. Stoker can't fight again. Bill and Julie both won that night. [This ending is ironic.]
Movie Review: Watch it back to front with Cinderella Man
Summary: 4 Stars
It really is essentially the same kind of story, including the wife-boxer husband dynamic, and the broken right hand!
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this 1949 film noir classic. I have always enjoyed Robert Ryan. So that was a plus, and he didn't disappoint: his boxing experience made the fights very realistic.
This movie is interesting for a variety of reasons. It has no musical score. The plot is raw and the dialogue spare. It uses a "minute is a minute" approach (like in "High Noon"). I especially enjoyed the character sketches of half a dozen or so spectators: the woman who professes to be disgusted by boxing, then gets into it with disgusting intensity; the blind man who changes his allegiance; the penny-ante hood and his loud-mouthed moll; the guy who shadow boxes from his seat; the fat man who is seen eating something different each time the camera comes back to him. Cinematography was first class. The quality of the DVD I watched was also very good. It was from the boxed set of five film noir DVDs, which includes "Out of the Past".