The Harder They Fall

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, Max Baer, Edward Andrews, Harold J. Stone, Carlos Montalban
Directed by: Mark Robson
Rating: Passed
Genre: Drama, Film Noir, Sport
1956

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A former sportswriter (Humphrey Bogart) begins working for an unethical promoter (Rod Steiger) to prop up a strong but untalented boxer (Mike Lane).

Review:

Tim: I love Humphrey Bogart and I liked The Harder They Fall. Mark Robson's film is a solid, entertaining look at the shady underworld of boxing. The story is a bit too predictable, but it does have some unexpected depth to the characters and the message. In the end, I thought it was flawed, but an effective movie. It was nominated for 1 Academy Award- Best Cinematography, B&W. I thought that was good, but I'm not surprised it didn't win.

I thought the basic premise was solid. Bogart plays an ex-sportswriter who sells out, taking an immoral job for a shady fight promoter. His task is to drum up publicity and cover for their new boxer, Toro Moreno. He is a mountain of a man, but a terrible boxer. The illegality comes in when the promoter's henchman effectively pay a series of other fights to take dives. This story actually has a lot of depth to it. Boxing has long been a sport that attracts unethical people out to make a quick buck. It's relatively easy to "fix" a fight and this casts a shadow on the sport. If you can't trust the bouts, it undermines the respect and honor of the sport. The movie actually digs pretty deep into how this is done and some of the challenges those looking to fix fights face. It seems pretty easy- pay a guy to fall down and stay down when he's supposed to. It's more complicated than that, especially when you consider the guy has to swallow his manly pride. That might be difficult for anyone, but it's more challenging when you're a competitive boxer with a big ego (like most competitive boxers). I found this aspect of the story very intriguing.

Now, while seeing the seedy underbelly of the boxing world is interesting, you expect that from the film. What I didn't expect was this subplot about the debilitating aftereffects of boxers. As we now know, boxing is a terrible sport for long-term health. Many, many former boxers suffer from CTE and many never recover. We know this in 2021, but I didn't expect this film (from 1956) to examine boxers' fates. They didn't know what CTE was 65 years ago, but they knew that boxing takes a lasting toll on those who engage in it. I found those aspects of the film powerful and poignant and they certainly help the movie. I wish it felt more integral to the story, as some of it feels a bit forced. I'm glad the film forced those scenes in there, but the movie would have benefited from those scenes being more central to the story.

It's a little challenging for me to talk about Bogart in this film. He's long been one of my all-time favorite actors. When I watched this film, I didn't realize it was his final film. I didn't know he was suffering from cancer during the production, nor that he would die a short time later. Bogart's performance is very good in this movie, made even more astounding when you consider how sick he obviously was. He was a true professional and his final performance is strong. To be fair, his work nor the movie itself is anywhere near the best that he made. Bogart had a long and storied career. However, what he does in this movie is something to be proud of, a fitting farewell to one of the best ever. Bogart's character spends much of the movie doing things that audiences can't respect or honor. And yet, even when we see his character sell his soul and swallow any sense of morality, you never felt like he was completely lost. You still cared about his character and hoped for redemption at the end. That's a big achievement for Bogart.

The supporting cast is good. Rod Steiger gets second billing and he has some effective moments. I don't think his performance was quite as powerful or memorable as it could have been. He was never bad, but I wasn't overly impressed with what he did. Mike Lane, on the other hand, doesn't have nearly the talent that Steiger does, but I thought he put a lot of effort into his performance. I enjoyed what he did and while he can't hold his own against Bogart, I thought they had some nice moments together. Jan Sterling was decent, but she was relegated to the sidelines and never really got a chance to do much. Max Bauer was effective and memorable in his role. The rest of the cast was fine, few standouts and a lot of decent performances.

The film's climax is solid and fairly enjoyable. While watching the movie, I enjoyed the premise and some of the events, I enjoyed the acting. I never really cared about the characters. Bogart's Eddie spends most of the movie doing some good while perpetuating bad. Steiger's character is clearly the main antagonist. We might feel some sympathy for Lane's Toro, but he's too lost and oblivious for us to really like him. The main thrust of the film is hoping Eddie sees the error of his ways and finds a way out of this mess. That's fine for some of the movie, but gets a bit old as the film moves through its 1 hour, 49 minute run time. That leaves us with a good movie, but one that's missing anything to make it truly special. The ending has some good scenes that should have been more powerful than they were. They don't make you sit up and cheer, you just kind of lean forward a bit and mutter, "good." That pretty much sums up The Harder They Fall. It's got issues, it's never great, but it's certainly a good movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



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