The Harder They Fall

The Harder They Fall
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mark Robson
Produced by Philip Yordan
Screenplay by Philip Yordan
Based on The Harder They Fall by Budd Schulberg
Starring Humphrey Bogart
Rod Steiger
Jan Sterling
Music by Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography Burnett Guffey
Edited by Jerome Thoms
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • May 9, 1956 (1956-05-09) (United States)
Running time
 109 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,350,000 (US)[1]

The Harder They Fall is a 1956 boxing film noir directed by Mark Robson and based on Budd Schulberg's 1947 novel. It marked Humphrey Bogart's final film role.[2]

Plot

Sportswriter Eddie Willis is broke after the newspaper he works for goes under. He is hired by boxing promoter Nick Benko. He recruits Toro Moreno an Argentinian boxer. Unbeknownst to Toro and his manager Luís Agrandi, all of his fights had been fixed to make the public believe that he is for real. Toro challenges Gus Dundee, a champion boxer who died of a brain hemorrhage, after losing to Buddy Brannen. Eddie hesitates to promote Toro. Despite the misgivings of his wife, Benko convinced him otherwise, due to Eddie's attempted pay-day. Feeling guilty, Toro wishes to return to Argentina, but Eddie convinces him to work together. In the meantime, Benko plans to use Toro and places the bet against any champion boxers. Eddie teaches Toro on how to hit one of the handlers. While fighting with Brannen, Toro ends up having a broken jaw. When Eddie takes the money owed to him and Toro, he finds out that Benko has rigged the accounting and Toro earns $49.07. Ashamed, Eddie sends Toro home to Argentina with their share of the proceeds, $26,000. Eddie writes the exposure about the corruption.

Cast

Production

Bogart retired from acting and died in 1957. Steiger said:

"Bogey and I got on very well. Unlike some other stars, when they had closeups, you might have been relegated to a two-shot, or cut out altogether. Bogey didn't play those games. He was a professional and had tremendous authority. He'd come in exactly at 9am and leave at precisely 6pm. I remember once walking to lunch in between takes and seeing Bogey on the lot. I shouldn't have because his work was finished for the day. I asked him why he was still on the lot, and he said, 'They want to shoot some retakes of my closeups because my eyes are too watery'. A little while later, after the film, somebody came up to me with word of Bogey's death. Then it struck me. His eyes were watery because he was in pain with the cancer. I thought: 'How dumb can you be Rodney'!"[3]

The film was released with two different endings, including Eddie Willis (inspired by Harold Conrad) demanded that boxing be banned altogether and he merely insisted that there is a federal investigation about boxing. The video version contains the "harder" ending, while most television prints end with the "softer" message. Occasionally inaudible in a take, some lines are reported to have been dubbed in post-production by Paul Frees.[4]

Reception

Critical response

The film premiered at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.[5] The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, liked the film, writing, "It's a brutal and disagreeable story, probably a little far-fetched, and without Mr. Schulberg's warmest character—the wistful widow who bestowed her favors on busted pugs. But with all the arcana of the fight game that Mr. Yordan and Mr. Robson have put into it—along with their bruising, brutish fight scenes—it makes for a lively, stinging film."[6] Dennis Schwartz wrote, "The unwell Bogie's last film is not a knockout, but his hard-hitting performance is terrific as a has-been sports journalist out of desperation taking a job as a publicist for a fight fixer in order to get a bank account ... The social conscience film is realistic, but fails to be shocking or for that matter convincing."[7]

Lawsuit

Primo Carnera sued Columbia with $1.5 million for privacy invasion of the film.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957.
  2. ↑ Erickson, Hal. The Harder They Fall at AllMovie
  3. ↑ Fantle & Johnson 2009, p. 140.
  4. ↑ Erickson, Hal. Ibid.
  5. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Harder They Fall". festival-cannes.com.
  6. ↑ Crowther, Bosley, The New York Times, film review, May 10, 1956. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ Schwartz, Dennis, Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, December 17, 2004. Accessed: August 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ CARNERA CHARGES STUDIO WITH FOUL: Ex-Boxer Sues Columbia for $1,500,000 Damages Over 'The Harder They Fall' Milland Signed for 'Stockade' Of Local Origin By THOMAS M. PRYOR Special to The New York Times.. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 01 May 1956: 37.

Sources

  • Fantle, David; Johnson, Tom (2009). Twenty Five Years of Celebrity Interviews from Vaudeville to Movies to TV, Reel to Real. Badger Books Inc. ISBN 978-1-932542-04-2.
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