Since starting this blog, there are few movies I watch which I do not consequently write about. So it’s odd I did not feel any need to comment on the first five films in the Powerhouse/Indicator blu-ray boxed set Columbia Noir #5: Humphrey Bogart. In total, the set has six Bogie-related films I have not seen before and they are all noir (with some latitude in the definition). Alas, the first five of those films were all lacking, with one of them even lacking the presence of Bogart (the unifying theme of the set is these were films made by Santana, Bogie’s production company). Fortunately, everything is much better in 1956’s The Harder They Fall, the last film made by the actor.
It is based on a novel by Budd Schulberg, who wrote On the Waterfront. He also wrote the screenplay for the following year’s deeply cynical A Face in the Crowd. This movie shares elements of both of those. This is a fairly brutal critique of boxing, of both the brutality of the sport and the predatory nature of the managers.
Also like Waterfront, this film has Rod Steiger in a major role. This time, he is a manager of what he hopes will be a promising import from Argentina, an absolute ox of a man, played by Mike Lane. Unfortunately, he has the brains of an ox, as well. Worse still, Bogie, as the PR man Steiger has hired, assesses the fighter as having “a powderpuff punch and a glass jaw”. Bogie is concerned Lane might get literally killed in the ring. Still, the former sportswriter sees this job as an opportunity to get back into the game.
Lane is put in one crooked fight after another, with the opponents paid to take a fall. He is so inept in the ring I’m amazed if he even won these staged fights. In the first one we see, he takes forever to even throw a punch, so I would have loved to have seen how the other man would have thrown the fight if that never happened. My money is on faking a heart attack.
What stretched credulity for me is Lane is not aware the fights are rigged. Even as dense as Lane’s character is portrayed, it seems to me he should be baffled as to how one of his weak punches could have knocked somebody out cold.
One aspect of the film I find interesting is Lane is not portrayed entirely as an innocent. He’s way too happy to think he killed Pat Comiskey in the ring. What is really disturbing is Max Baer, whose last bout had been a win against Comiskey, is angry Lane is taking credit for his kill, claiming it was injuries in his fight that really took its toll. It was only the additional exertion of the follow-up match with Lane that killed the man. And his next fight is going to be against Lane, where Baer plans to literally murder the big dumb lug.
This film’s portrayal of the sweet science is a stinging indictment. The fights are just gruesome enough that I found them a bit uncomfortable to watch, even while being perfectly aware all the violence is fake. The use of former heavyweight champs is interesting, with former world champion Joe Greb in a heartbreaking cameo where he is interviewed by a TV reporter. He talks disjointedly about brain injuries, of which he has first-hand knowledge. Another former real-life pugilist fared better, as Jersey Joe Walcott brings verisimilitude to the film as Lane’s sparring partner.
The Harder They Fall is a bit heavy-handed, just short of being pedantic. Still, it has its heart in the right place, in its indictment of corrupt managers and even the bloodthirsty fans. But what most pleased me about it is it at least brought Bogie’s career to a close with a solid film.
Dir: Mark Robson
Starring Humphrey Bogert, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling
Watched as part of Powerhouse/Indicator blu-ray boxed set Columbia Noir #5: Humphrey Bogart