Hollywood’s Best Boxing Movies

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Prof. Langtry’s Boxing School is recognized as the granddaddy of boxing films. Released by S. Lubin in 1903, this comedy short features pugilist “Fatty Langtry” and his hilarious bout with a boxing instructor.

The now-forgotten Prof. Langtry’s Boxing School paved the way for a plethora of subsequent boxing movies. Here are ten boxing pictures that no Hollywood fight fan should ever be without.

1. Raging Bull (United Artists, 1980)

Robert De Niro comes out swinging as middleweight champion Jake La Motta in this powerful sports biopic. Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin wrote the screenplay and the violence-loving Martin Scorsese directed. Also appearing in the cast are Cathy Moriarty (Vickie), Joe Pesci (Joey La Motta), Frank Vincent (Salvy Batts), Nicholas Colasanto (Tommy Como) and Theresa Saldana (Lenore).

Raging Bull chronicles the bloody rise and fall of pugilist Jake La Motta. De Niro is absolutely brilliant as the 1940s/’50s fighter – nicknamed “The Bronx Bull” and “The Raging Bull” – battering opponents as he slugs his way to the top of the fight game. The best scenes come in the ring, with De Niro furiously trading punches with the likes of Johnny Barnes as the great Sugar Ray Robinson and Louis Raftis as Marcel Cerdan.

• Oscar wins: Best Actor (De Niro), Best Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker)
• First-run box office gross: $23,334,953 (#27, 1980)
• DVD: Raging Bull Special Edition (MGM, 2005)
• Great line: “Come on, hit me. Harder. Harder.” – Robert De Niro to Joe Pesci.

2. Champion (United Artists, 1949)

Kirk Douglas has the title role, playing fighter Michael “Midge” Kelly in producer Stanley Kramer’s gritty tale of the 1940s fight game. Carl Foreman penned the screenplay and Mark Robson directed. Joining Douglas in the cast are Marilyn Maxwell (Grace Diamond), Arthur Kennedy (Connie Kelly), Paul Stewart (Tommy Haley), Ruth Roman (Emma Bryce) and Lola Albright (Palmer Harris).

The athletic Douglas is riveting as Midge Kelly, a former hobo who is unable to distinguish friend from foe as he battles and bludgeons his way to the middleweight boxing crown. A real treat are the realistic boxing scenes, expertly staged by former middle-welterweight champion Mushy Callahan.

• Oscar wins: Best Film Editing (Harry W. Gerstad)
• DVD: Champion (Republic, 2001)
• Great line: “I can beat ‘em, the fat bellies with their stinking cigars!” – Kirk Douglas

3. The Set-Up (RKO, 1949)

Robert Ryan stars as Bill “Stoker” Thompson, an aging, decrepit fighter whose days in the ring are coming to an end. Ex-sportswriter Art Cohn wrote the screenplay, with Robert Wise in the director’s chair. Also in the cast are Audrey Totter (Julie Thompson), George Tobias (Tiny), Alan Baxter (Little Boy), Wallace Ford (Gus), Percy Helton (Red) and David Fresco (Mickey).

Set in seedy Paradise City, The Set-Up is a film noir/sports film triumph, populated by mobsters, crooked fight managers, sleazy dames and warring pugilists bearing such colorful monikers as Tiger Nelson and Gunboat Johnson. The boxing scenes – expertly choreographed by former welterweight John Indrisano – are both bloody and barbarous.

• DVD: The Set-Up (Warner, 2004)
• Great line: “Stoker hit him with everything but the bucket.” – David Fresco

4. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Columbia, 1962)

Anthony Quinn plays Louis “Mountain” Rivera, a 17-year veteran of the square jungle whose fighting days are coming to an end. Rod Serling wrote the screenplay, based on his original October 11, 1956, Playhouse 90 teleplay, with Ralph Nelson directing. Other cast members include Jackie Gleason (Maish Rennick), Mickey Rooney (Army) and Julie Harris (Grace Miller).

Requiem is a powerful sports drama, thanks in large part to Rod Serling’s literate, no-holds-barred screenplay. As an added treat, Requiem features Cassius Clay [Muhammad Ali] as the young, lightning-quick fighter who beats Mountain Rivera senseless. Also making cameo appearances are ex-champions Jack Dempsey, Barney Ross, Willie Pep and Gus Lesnevich.

• DVD: Requiem for a Heavyweight (Sony, 2002)
• Great line: “Mountain Rivera was no punk. Mountain Rivera was almost Heavyweight Champion of the World!” – Anthony Quinn

5. Somebody Up There Likes Me (MGM, 1956)

Paul Newman excels as Rocky Graziano, who reigned as middleweight boxing champion of the world from 1947-48. Ernest Lehman scripted the film, with Robert Wise directing. Other players include Pier Angeli (Norma), Everett Sloane (Irving Cohen), Eileen Heckart (Ma Barbella), Sal Mineo (Romolo) and Courtland Shepard (Tony Zale).

Somebody Up There Likes Me – originally intended as a starring vehicle for James Dean (1931-1955) – is a marvelous sports biopic. Paul Newman, who whipped himself into peak condition and sparred with top professionals, plays Graziano with brutal determination and streetwise charm. The best scenes come in the ring, where Graziano’s titanic battles with arch rival Tony Zale are brilliantly recreated for the screen.

• Oscar wins: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, B&W (Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason), Best Cinematography, B&W (Joseph Ruttenberg)
• DVD: The Paul Newman Collection (Warner, 2006)
• Great line: “You know, I’ve been lucky. Somebody up there likes me.” – Paul Newman

6. The Great White Hope (20th Century-Fox, 1970)

James Earl Jones plays Jack Jefferson, a thinly-disguised pseudonym for former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. Howard Sackler wrote the screenplay based on his own hit Broadway play, with Martin Ritt in the director’s chair. Other cast members are Jane Alexander (Eleanor), Lou Gilbert (Goldie), Joel Fluellen (Tick), Chester Morris (Pop Weaver), Robert Webber (Dixon) and Larry Pennell (Frank Brady).

The Great White Hope chronicles the rise and fall of Jack Jefferson, who becomes the first black heavyweight champion of the world in 1908. The racist boxing establishment searches for “a great white hope” in its desire to dethrone the controversial Jefferson. The movie’s boxing scenes are outstanding, especially the climactic bout pitting Jefferson versus Frank Brady — or Jack Johnson versus Jess Willard in the history books.

• DVD: The Great White Hope (20th Century-Fox, 2005)
• Great line: “Hey, look, man, I ain’t fighting for no race, I ain’t redeeming nobody. My mama told me Mr. Lincoln done that. Ain’t that why you shot him?” – James Earl Jones

7. Body and Soul (United Artists, 1947)

John Garfield plays Jewish prizefighter Charlie Davis, who returns to boxing in order to support his widowed mother. Abraham Polonsky wrote the screenplay and Robert Rossen directed. Other cast members include Lilli Palmer (Peg Born), Hazel Brooks (Alice), Anne Revere (Anna Davis), William Conrad (Quinn), Joseph Pevney (Shorty Polaski) and Lloyd Gough (Roberts).

Body and Soul has it all: organized crime, crooked fight managers, good girls/bad girls and realistic boxing scenes. Regarding the latter, cinematographer James Wong Howe donned roller skates, traversing the ring with a hand-held camera while he filmed the action. Look for Canada Lee – a professional boxer from 1926-33 – who plays fighter Ben Chaplin.

• Oscar wins: Best Film Editing (Francis D. Lyon, Robert Parrish)
• DVD: Body and Soul (Republic, 2001)
• Great line: “There’s only one thing I know how to do, fight.” – John Garfield

8. Rocky (United Artists, 1976)

Sylvester Stallone plays Rocky Balboa, a nobody who gets his big chance to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. Stallone wrote the screenplay and John G. Avildsen directed. Other players include Talia Shire (Adrian), Burt Young (Paulie), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed) and Burgess Meredith (Mickey).

Excellent character studies populate Rocky, with the Oscar-nominated Sylvester Stallone turning in a grand performance as the big lug from Philadelphia. The training scenes are outstanding, featuring Stallone doing one-armed push-ups, pounding slabs of hanging meat at a slaughterhouse and running the pre-dawn streets of Philly. The big fight with the flashy Apollo Creed is almost surreal, as the battered Rocky tries to prove that he isn’t “just another bum from the neighborhood.”

• Oscar wins: Best Picture, Best Director (Avildsen), Best Film Editing (Richard Halsey, Scott Conrad)
• First-run box office gross: $56.525 million (#1, 1976)
• DVD: Rocky – The Complete Saga (MGM, 2007)
• Great line: “This is who I’m looking for. The Italian Stallion.” – Carl Weathers

9. The Champ (MGM, 1931)

Wallace Beery has the title role, playing down-and-out fighter Andy Purcell who trains for his big comeback in sleazy Tijuana. Leonard Praskins, Frances Marion, Wanda Tuchock and Don Marquis scripted the film and King Vidor directed. Other cast members include Jackie Cooper (Dink), Irene Rich (Linda) and Roscoe Ates (Sponge).

The Champ – now 78-years-old – is showing its age, but this Depression-era pugilistic tearjerker still has the power to move audiences. The best scene is saved for last, when a battered, yet victorious, Wallace Beery dies in young son Jackie Cooper’s arms.

• Oscar wins: Best Actor (Beery), Best Writing/Original Story (Frances Marion)
• DVD: The Champ (Warner, 2006)
• Great line: “The Champ and I ain’t fixed up swell as this, but our joint’s more lively.” – Jackie Cooper

10. Fat City (Columbia, 1972)

Stacy Keach plays Billy Tully, a one-time contender who at 29 contemplates a return to the ring after a bout with the bottle. Leonard Gardner wrote the screenplay based on his own novel, with John Huston manning the director’s chair. Other players include Jeff Bridges (Ernie Munger), Oscar-nominated Susan Tyrrell (Oma), Candy Clark (Faye) and Nicholas Colasanto (Ruben).

Filmed in Stockton, California, Fat City is the designated sleeper in the boxing movie genre. It’s a tough, gritty look at the underbelly of the fight game and the working class people who occupy it. Both Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges look like fighters, pummeled by both life and “the sweet science,” with their wild women along for the rocky ride.

• DVD: Fat City (Columbia Tristar, 2002)
• Great line: “Before you get rollin’, your life makes a beeline for the drain.” – Stacy Keach