Champion (1949)

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This movie is essentially a boxing noir where the emphasis is more on the characters than the boxing. If you have seen Ace in the Hole then the performance that Kirk Douglas gives in this movie will be very reminiscent of that. Midge Kelly, as played by Douglas, basically functions as a rags to riches villain who appears to onlookers as a people's champion, and appears to the people close to him as the actual person that he is. Much in the way that we treat our idols today, Midge Kelly is to the people whatever they want him to be, and like many idols his life outside of the ring is nothing to be sought after.This movie is a commentary on champions in sports and likely elsewhere, as well as a fine display of acting by Kirk Douglas and the supporting cast. This is basically the Kirk Douglas show as he occupies the majority of the screen and brings the bulk of the talent. The supporting cast does their part but are frankly overshadowed by Douglas, with his absences being fairly noticeable when they occur. The boxing will probably appear lack luster to fans of Rocky or actual boxing matches. Despite that, the important matches are engaging and the montage material gets the point across. This film is a hidden gem and is worth some recognition if nothing else but for a great performance and some intelligent insight on champions.

Kirk Douglas' Oscar nominated performance in "Champion" elevated him to star status and provided the platform on which the rest of his illustrious career was built. His trademark passion and intensity were strongly in evidence in this gripping "rags to riches" drama but he also showed very convincingly, the full range of his character's behaviours and emotions as he rose from being an impoverished drifter to become a successful boxer who rapidly made his way up the middleweight rankings to become a contender for the championship.This is a story which focuses on the unsavoury side of boxing as it depicts very realistically, the levels of brutality and corruption which were so commonplace in the sport, as well as the mob's involvement and the ways in which fighters were ripped off by their unscrupulous managers etc. Another important facet of the story, however, is its study of how success affects a man who rises from obscurity to high profile success in an incredibly short period of time.The action in this movie is delivered at a lively pace throughout and the fight scenes are particularly well set up and photographed. The cinematography is also excellent with skillful use of light and shadow being used to complement the story's dark and sometimes sinister mood.When Midge Kelly (Kirk Douglas) and his crippled brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy) arrive at a diner in which they'd jointly bought a one third share, they soon discover that they've been conned and the man who'd posed as the owner was actually an employee who'd since been fired. The genuine owner kindly gives them live-in jobs and Midge soon strikes up a friendship with Emma (Ruth Roman) who's a waitress and the owner's daughter. Their relationship turns sour when Emma's over protective father forces the couple to marry and Midge leaves immediately after to try to make a living as a boxer.Midge works and trains hard under the guidance of his manager Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart) and soon wins a series of fights. These earn him the chance to fight the main contender Johnny Dunne (John Daheim) but Midge is then told by Tommy that, as part of the deal, he has to let Dunne win. He agrees but knocks his opponent out in the first round and this leads to Midge, Connie and Tommy all being attacked by a bunch of heavies who work for the gambling interests who'd lost money as a result of Midge's actions.Dunne's mercenary girlfriend Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell) makes a deal with his manager, Jerome Harris (Luis Van Rooten), to persuade Midge to become his client. She succeeds in this endeavour and the disgusted Tommy and Connie both end their working associations with Midge soon after. Later, Midge dumps Grace when he starts an affair with Jerome's wife, Palmer (Lola Albight) and then dumps Palmer as part of a deal he strikes with Jerome to clear his considerable debts. Midge continues his single minded pursuit of success all the way up to the movie's final fight in which he displays all the courage and determination which made him such a great champion.It's evident from the start of "Champion" that Midge is determined to achieve success but the cheerful optimism that he initially displays soon develops into a far more ruthless attitude after his experience of being conned in the deal to buy into the diner business. Furthermore when he gets into the fight game, it brings out a side of him which Connie finds very disturbing and soon Midge goes on to pursue fame and fortune in a way which leads him to treat his friends and family despicably and also to become incredibly manipulative.Kirk Douglas' natural energy and dynamism made him the ideal choice for the part of Midge Kelly whose arrogance and intense ambition made him totally self centred and unprincipled. The remainder of the cast are also superb and deserve great praise for their contributions to this high quality low budget film.

I love how 'Champion (1949)' presents itself as one sort of film, and then, quite knowingly, becomes something else. The opening sequence follows boxer Midge Kelly (Kirk Douglas) as he presses through the cheering crowds and into the boxing ring. A sports announcer touts the legend of Kelly's meteoric rise, from penniless drifter to middleweight boxing champion of the world. Right then, I fully expected to watch an inspirational underdog success-story, with shades of 'Rocky (1976)' rather than 'Raging Bull (1980).' However, by the end of the film, 'Champion' has removed its mask to expose a face coloured with noir. Success does, indeed, find this determined underdog, but only through a history of exploitation and betrayal. Along the way, this "champion" leaves behind a crippled brother, a fatherly manager, an innocent wife, and a succession of blonde beauties whom he invariably dumps after he's made use of them.Director Mark Robson (best known for his RKO horror collaborations with Val Lewton) cunningly forces his audience to rewatch the film's opening sequence, but this time through different eyes. No longer do we see in Midge Kelly the triumphant underdog, but the wasted vestiges of a man. The sports announcers' words ring false; the film's title – "Champion" – is to be spoken with scorn, not reverence. 1949 was an excellent year for boxing dramas: Robert Wise also released his gritty, superior 'The Set-Up (1949),' which starred Robert Ryan as a washed-up fighter who refuses to take a dive. 'Champion' is the lesser of these two pictures, held back by an occasional tendency for melodrama, but nevertheless packs a strong emotional punch. Kirk Douglas' fierce, fearless portrayal is relentlessly intense, a man so hypnotised by the prospect of power and success that he will stop at nothing to attain it.

He's 92 this week. And at 32 CHAMPION made Kirk a superstar. After playing weaklings, smooth gangsters and suburban husbands the part of Midge Kelly released the dynamic that characterised so much of his future work. The Kirk we came to know was born here. It's probably the role he most identified with at the time. His own experience of a father who never praised him and his consequent desire to prove himself - though not exactly paralleled here - can be echoed in the moonlit scene on the beach when he tells his girl of his ambition. And we know he's going to win.Stanley Kramer and Carl Foreman thought smaller - and usually better - in those days, causing a stir on behalf of independent production with a series of modest-budget but striking films on social issues e.g. HOME OF THE BRAVE, about racism in the armed forces and THE MEN, about the problems of disabled war vets (which unleashed another giant, Marlon Brando, onto the screen). CHAMPION, though sprung on more generic elements, adds a dark post-war abrasiveness to a familiar milieu and an uncompromising protagonist who takes no prisoners on his rise to the top. Midge becomes a monster and those closest to him get the worst of it before he finally expires, you could say, of an exploded ego. "He was a credit to the fight game" his brother drily observes, reflecting the film's ambivalence towards the sport, condemning what it exploits and vice versa. Midge's manager (Paul Stewart) wants to walk away but can't resist "watching a couple of good boys work out". We still love to 'cheer the champ' today but the physical and mental risks involved are sobering thoughts.Arthur Kennedy makes a solid presence of the rather thankless part of the kid brother/best friend/voice of conscience who's crippled to boot. The kid brother was usually disabled or a musical prodigy in these ringside sagas and eight years earlier Kennedy himself had gone the musical route in the more sentimental CITY FOR CONQUEST with James Cagney, no less, as his self-sacrificing sibling. The three babes who attend on Midge's life - the good, the bad and the one caught in the middle - are well contrasted with Ruth Roman outstanding as the little shotgun-wife he promptly deserts but returns to for an unforgivable piece of one-upmanship. And yet, despite it all, we retain a sneaking regard for this compelling unstoppable dreadnought. Earlier in the film Midge is ordered to throw a fight, instead he goes on defiantly to win the bout. In the empty stadium he's cornered by the promoter's goon-squad, it's payback-time. But unlike most people in that situation he's got an edge, he knows how to mix it. Before the numbers wear him down he gives them a pasting for their trouble. It's exhilarating to watch. Go get 'em Kirk..... And Many Happy Returns.