Themes: Crisis of Conscience, Boxers, Whistleblowers
Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, Max Baer, Edward Andrews, Jersey Joe Walcott
Release Year: 1956
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
An obviously ailing Humphrey Bogart made his final screen appearance in The Harder They Fall. Adapted from a novel by Budd Schulberg, the film is a thinly disguised a clef account of the Primo Carnera boxing scandal. Bogart is cast as unemployed newspaperman Eddie Willis, who sells his soul down the river when he signs on as press agent for slimy fight manager Nick Benko (Rod Steiger). It is Willis' job to stir up publicity for Benko's newest protégé, Argentinian boxer Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). Benko's boy quickly rises to the top of his profession, though everybody but Toro knows that all the fights have been fixed. Upon learning that Benko intends to bilk Toro of his earnings, Willis regains his integrity, tells the wide-eyed young pugilist the truth, then sits down to write a searing expose of the fight racket. Jan Sterling costars as Willis' estranged wife, while real-life boxers Jersey Joe Walcott and Max Baer are suitably cast as Toro's trainer and ring opponent, respectively. There is also a heartbreaking cameo appearance by ex-fighter Joe Greb, cast as a punchdrunk skid row bum. The Harder They Fall originally went out with two different endings: in one, Eddie Willis demanded that boxing be banned altogether, while in the other, Willis merely insisted that there be a federal investigation of the prizefighting business. The videotape version contains the "harder" denouement, while most TV prints end with the "softer" message. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Mark Robson's exposé of professional boxing is impressively realistic, reflecting screenwriter Budd Schulberg's intimate knowledge of the sport, but it has a difficult time being shocking with the revelation of the game's corruption. A Film a clef so closely based on the career of Italian fighter Primo Carnera that he sued Columbia Pictures after it was released, it follows his screen surrogate's career through the eyes of a former sportswriter Humphrey Bogart, who is reluctantly working as his press agent. This was Bogart's last film, and he gives a reasonable performance, but seems far too weary to play a character who needs to embody the outraged conscience of the film, while Steiger plays the fighter's sleazy manager in his best rabid-dog style. Again, the fight scenes are authentically staged, including some of the ugliest ring carnage onscreen in the era before Raging Bull (1980), but the film's predictability tends to muffle its impact. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Harold J. Stone - Art Leavitt; Carlos Montalban - Luis Agrandi; Nehemiah Persoff - Leo; Felice Orlandi - Vince Fawcett; Herbie Faye - Max; Rusty Lane - Danny McKeogh; Jack Albertson - Pop; Val Avery - Frank; Tommy Herman - Tommy; Vinnie de Carlo - Joey; Pat Comiskey - Gus Dundee; Matt Murphy - Sailor Rigazzo; Abel Fernandez - Chief Firebird; Marian Carr - Alice; Tina Carver - Mrs. Benko; Lillian Culver - Mrs Harding; Jack Daly - Reporter; Patricia Dane - Shirley; Elaine Edwards - Vince's Girl Friend; Everett Glass - Minister; Frank S. Hagney - Referee; Mort Mills - Reporter; Stafford Repp - Reporter; William Roerick - Lawyer; Sandy Sanders - Reporter; Charles Tannen - Reporter; Paul H. Frees - Priest; Don Kohler - Reporter; Diana Mumby; Russ Whiteman - Reporter; Emily Belser - Reporter; Ralph Gamble; Joe Herrera; Mark Scott; J. Lewis Smith - Brannen's Manager; Richard Norris - Reporter
The Harder They Fall (1956) is a film noir directed by Mark Robson, featuring Humphrey Bogart. The character Eddie Willis (Bogart) is based on the career of boxing writer and event promoter Harold Conrad. The film was written by Philip Yordan and based on the 1947 novel by Budd Schulberg.[1]
The drama tells a "thinly disguised à clef account of the Primo Carnera boxing scandal."[2] With Challenger "Toro" based on Carnera and Champ "Brannen" based on Max Baer; previously both Baer and Carnera had starred in 1937 movie The Prizefighter and the Lady in which Carnera is the world champ and Baer is his challenger. It was the last film to feature Humphery Bogart before his death in 1957.
Sportswriter Eddie Willis is broke after the newspaper he works for goes under. He's hired by boxing promoter Nick Benko to act as publicist for his new boxer, a giant, slow-witted, and untalented Argentinian named Toro Moreno.
Eddie knows Benko to be corrupt and unethical, but accepts the job because the money's good. Unbeknownst to Toro, all of his fights are fixed to make the public believe that the boxer is for real. Eddie promotes the fights, but begins to feel guilty about his work. The film climaxes when Benko arranges for Toro to fight a vengeful heavyweight champ, a fight that can't be fixed. The champ "Buddy Brannen", is shown in an unfounded characterization as bloodthirsty.
Predictably, Toro loses the championship match, getting brutally beaten in the process. He pleads with Eddie that he wants to quit fighting and go home. Eddie discovers that the managers have rigged the accounting books so that they get all the money and Toro is left with nothing, intending to have him fight another series of fixed matches. Eddie hustles Toro onto a plane and sends him back to Argentina, giving Toro his own cut of the proceeds. When confronted by the managers, Eddie defies them, then begins writing an exposé about corruption in the boxing world.
Background
The film originally went out with two different endings: in one, Eddie Willis demanded that boxing be banned altogether, while in the other, Willis merely insisted that there be a federal investigation of the prizefighting business. The video version contains the "harder" ending, while most television prints end with the "softer" message.[3]
Film critic Bosley Crowther liked the film, writing, "It's a brutal and disagreeable story, probably a little far-fetched, and without Mr. Schulberg's warmest character—the wistful widow who bestowed her favors on busted pugs. But with all the arcana of the fight game that Mr. Yordan and Mr. Robson have put into it—along with their bruising, brutish fight scenes—it makes for a lively, stinging film."[5]
Critic Dennis Schwartz wrote, "The unwell Bogie's last film is not a knockout, but his hard-hitting performance is terrific as a has-been sports journalist out of desperation taking a job as a publicist for a fight fixer in order to get a bank account...The social conscience film is realistic, but fails to be shocking or for that matter convincing."[6]
Notable quotes
Nick Benko: The people, Eddie, the people! Don't tell me about the people, Eddie. The people sit in front of their little TVs with their bellies full of beer and fall asleep. What do the people know, Eddie? Don't tell me about the people, Eddie!
Willis to Benko: That man lies in the hospital with a broken jaw! He took the worst beating I ever saw in my life! You want me to go back there and tell him that all he gets is a lousy $49.07 for a broken jaw? How much would YOU take?
Franky to Eddie:(as Toro is praying on his knees) It won't help him if he can't fight!
