This is the story of an out-of-work sportswriter (Humphry Bogart) who, in desperation, makes a compact with a boxing promoter (Rod Steiger) to mount a fraudulent public relations campaign to present a third-rate fighter as world class - indeed as a potential contender for the world heavyweight championship.
If there is truth to this tale, then boxing is as brutal behind the scenes as it is in the ring. The boxers exist only as tools to make money for the promoters. The sport is more of a business than a sport and the bottom line is profit. In that sense this movie foreshadows the fate of all professional sports some fifty years on - they are run strictly as businesses. But let us hope that not all sports are as corrupt as what is presented in this movie. However, whenever there is a large pot of money to be had, corruption is almost surely to follow. "The Harder They Fall" presents a bleak image of boxing but it is hard to know how much of that is to be believed about the sport in general. The movie would have it that perhaps boxing should go the way of professional wrestling and just produce staged events. The fact that two professional boxers appear in this movie does give its message some credibility; why else would they participate in an effort to paint their sport black other than to expose some of its wrongdoings?
Filming this shadowy tale in black and white was only appropriate. Some of the scenes in the ring are difficult to watch. The scenes where the pretender to the championship takes some hard hits in the final fight and a shower of sweat sprays the air call to mind similar savage scenes from "Raging Bull."
The ending is predictable - Bogart's character is a writer and a decent guy, how else to resolve his moral dilemma than by having him write an exposé. The main fun is in watching Bogart and Steiger play off each other. Steiger reprises his role in "On the Waterfront" and gives it his best effort and Bogart is Bogart. Yet for me the impact of this film is a couple of rungs below that of "Waterfront." What "Waterfront" has that this film does not is the emotional intensity of Marlon Brando, greater and more complex interpersonal conflicts, more subtle moral choices, and Leonard Bernstein's incredible score.
If there is truth to this tale, then boxing is as brutal behind the scenes as it is in the ring. The boxers exist only as tools to make money for the promoters. The sport is more of a business than a sport and the bottom line is profit. In that sense this movie foreshadows the fate of all professional sports some fifty years on - they are run strictly as businesses. But let us hope that not all sports are as corrupt as what is presented in this movie. However, whenever there is a large pot of money to be had, corruption is almost surely to follow. "The Harder They Fall" presents a bleak image of boxing but it is hard to know how much of that is to be believed about the sport in general. The movie would have it that perhaps boxing should go the way of professional wrestling and just produce staged events. The fact that two professional boxers appear in this movie does give its message some credibility; why else would they participate in an effort to paint their sport black other than to expose some of its wrongdoings?
Filming this shadowy tale in black and white was only appropriate. Some of the scenes in the ring are difficult to watch. The scenes where the pretender to the championship takes some hard hits in the final fight and a shower of sweat sprays the air call to mind similar savage scenes from "Raging Bull."
The ending is predictable - Bogart's character is a writer and a decent guy, how else to resolve his moral dilemma than by having him write an exposé. The main fun is in watching Bogart and Steiger play off each other. Steiger reprises his role in "On the Waterfront" and gives it his best effort and Bogart is Bogart. Yet for me the impact of this film is a couple of rungs below that of "Waterfront." What "Waterfront" has that this film does not is the emotional intensity of Marlon Brando, greater and more complex interpersonal conflicts, more subtle moral choices, and Leonard Bernstein's incredible score.