The Set-Up
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Movie Reviews of The Set-Up
Movie Review: Realistic slice of the boxer's life
Summary: 4 Stars
Although this film came out between the other 2 boxing films, "Body & Soul" & "Champion", in many ways this film outshines these two classics. First off, it features the late Robert Ryan in a rare sympathetic role as Stoker, a washed up 35 yr old boxer who longs for one great match. How he achieves this despite the fact that his crooked manager, George Tobias, and the various obstacles thrown at him form the crux of this film. But also what director Robert Wise shows us in the brief 71 minute running time is the reactions of the spectators, the fear in a young boxer's face as he awaits his first match and the double dealings of the fight management. With this role and his break out performance as the bigoted soldier, Montgomery in "Crossfire", Ryan proved himself to be an "actors actor" or as Ernest Borgnine stated in his recent autobiography, a craftsman of the first order. This film also influenced Martin Scorsese and in his commentary to the DVD, to be specific, in the making of his "Raging Bull". Recommended for film noirists and boxing fans.Movie Review: One of the most brilliant little films noirs of the Forties that evokes a brilliant feeling for time and place...
Summary: 4 Stars
Evoking so accurately the seedy, down-at-heel world of the professional boxer, "The Set Up" is right1y regarded as probably the best boxing film ever made...
It was shot in black and white, as was the only other film on the sport to equal it, "Raging Bull" (1980), but the scene of Robert Ryan as the washed-up prize fighter refusing to take a fall and seen slugging it out with Hal Fieberling, nonetheless captures the merciless, stark, brutal quality of the film and its subject...
This was one of Ryan's best roles and no doubt the fact that he had held his college heavyweight boxing title for four years enabled him to bring an even greater sense of authenticity to the part... It also provided Robert Wise with his directorial breakthrough after a period of routine B pictures, and won the Critics' Prize at the 1950 Cannes Film Festival...
Movie Review: Noir Knockout
Summary: 4 Stars
Director, Robert Wise, pulls no punches (pun intended) by filming this movie in real time. Only 72 minutes in length but keep your eye on the clocks. Great characters based on actual observations from cheap boxing circuits. Incredible lighting too. Note the back lighting on Audrey Totter's hair as she tears up ticket over the bridge onto trolley cars. Ryan is wonderful as the washed-up boxer who refuses to take a dive. Ryan was college boxing champ while attending Dartmouth so he knew what he was doing in the ring.Movie Review: Taut and lean film-noir
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bottom Line:
Just as Rocky defines the boxing genre in terms of its redemptive aspects, The Set-Up defines the seedier side of the genre, following a down-and-out prizefighter set-up by his own manager in a fight against a much younger opponent whom the protagonist is nonetheless determined not to take a dive for; with some of the best cinematic depictions of the brutality of the ring (60 years later it looks real) and a crisp 75 minute running time, it's a very recommendable film.
3/4
Movie Review: The Set-Up
Summary: 4 Stars
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