The Champ (1979)

Too much of everything

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie was telecast in TV in Sri Lanka on last Saturday.TJ who was with his father for 7 years finally found his mother. But just before he starts living with his mother, he lost his father. How sad? His father wanted his son to have the best life. He did everything for his son. He wanted to have his wife back and even at the last moment he was worried about the money which were bet on his victory....

Remake of the 1931 chestnut involving an ex-boxer, who now trains horses, coaxed back into the ring and cheered from the sidelines by his adoring pre-teen son and loving ex-wife. Boxing was big business in the late 1970s thanks to "Rocky", but that was no excuse to dust off this sentimental relic. Jon Voight, just off his Best Actor win for "Coming Home", ditches all the nuances he had achieved up to this point; letting his face go slack with confusion and desperation, he doesn't reveal anything hidden within this character, it's all surface falseness--and Voight is too intrinsically smart to be convincing as a self-destructive bum. Voight's dead-end, melodramatic scenes with Faye Dunaway (also miscast) fail to come off, with Dunaway behaving more like a big sister than a former flame. Shameless from beginning to end, the movie shows no subtlety in detailing Billy Flynn's dilemmas or loyalties, and director Franco Zeffirelli mounts each new sequence with the grace of a bricklayer. *1/2 from ****

If you're a bloke and you don't like the idea of anybody seeing you cry, watch this film on your own. Yes it is that sad.Really well made and brilliant performances all round, the kid TJ is one of the sweetest kids I've ever seen on screen, absolutely adorable with bags of talent. John Voight was brilliant as well as a down on his luck ex boxer who's just trying to make a good life for himself and his son. The story is one that I'm sure many can relate with, whether you're a single parent, have a great relationship with your father or can simply appreciate a film with strong acting. If you have a son that loves you as much as TJ loved 'the champ' your very lucky and should treat each day as your last. The only other film that had me welling up like this was the Imitation of Life also well worth a look , but have tissues to hand! This review is coming from a cynical bloke too! CBR

...with the rating of this masterpiece. A 5.8/10? -_- I am upset about this.What you have here is an epic movie that deserves a 9/10. It's the story of the love between a boy and his father, and the boy trying to make it on his own when his mother and father can't.The movie starts out very big on horse-racing, showing how Jon Voight, "The Champ", is and gives brief glimpses into his past life. After awhile though, his whole past comes back to him when his son unknowingly meets his mother and develops a bond with her. Conflict between him and his wife rises and we see even deeper into what was a merely a shell of his life in the beginning of the film; he is complicated and emotionally bruised man, snapping sometimes at his son that he loves with all his heart.The film has the most believable performances I have ever seen on screen, and is a tearjerker. But it doesn't try to make you cry once; the entire second half of the film is full of these scenes. Some work while others don't. Either way, it shows the true power and delicacy of unconditional love, and the way it ends leaves you gasping for breath because of the emotional impact it leaves. Not perfect, but it deserves a solid 9.0/10.