MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 500 titles—from the silent era through the ’90s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.
The Set-Up (1949, 73 minutes)
Anyone searching for an accurate picture of the fight game in the late ’40s can find the holy grail in director Robert Wise’s The Set-Up. Nothing against the early Rocky movies, but if any boxer were ever hit with one of those supersonic haymakers he’d be a dead man. Bout over, goodnight, drive home safely.
The Set-Up stars Robert Ryan (a real-life boxing champ with the U.S. Marines) as Stoker Thompson, a pug on the downward spiral, with little more in his future than a one-way ticket to palookaville. Stoker’s fighting a four-round preliminary tonight against a hotshot kid named Tiger Nelson.
As the neighborhood clock strikes 9:05, booze is flowing in the Ringside tavern. A crippled guy inside the arcade next door keeps trying to snag that cheap little camera from a pile of junk. At the Dreamland dance hall, folks are groping each other to the strains of a big band playing the ironically titled ballad “This Is A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening.” But most of the action is about to take place at the Paradise City Athletic Club, with a full boxing card every Wednesday night and wrestling on Fridays.
Outside the bustling little arena, an aggressive newsboy shouts, “Read all about it! Full fight card inside the evening paper!” as he muscles his way in front of an old guy who’s been standing there for years, selling Knockout magazine. “Hey, kid, I gotta make a buck, too,” the grizzled veteran complains quietly. “Ahh, go take a walk!” bellows the snot-nose youngster. “I don’t know why I let George talk me into coming here. Last week, I kept my hands over my face the whole time,” moans one girl to a friend as her husband buys the tickets. She’ll later be heard screaming for one fighter to bash another’s brains out.
Back inside the bar, Stoker’s manager Tiny (George Tobias) sidles up to a creep with a mustache in a quiet corner and says, “Hiya, Danny. Everything’s taken care of. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like . ..” To illustrate what he wants, he rubs his thumb across the tips of his first three fingers. “How do I know you’ll deliver?” asks Danny (Edwin Max). “And besides, this deal’s between you and Little Boy. He’s got a lotta plans for Nelson, and he don’t like nothing to interfere with his plans.” Danny will later slip Tiny 50 bucks to make sure Stoker never sees the fourth round.
The only thing Tiny hasn’t fixed is to tell Stoker about the plan, figuring the young kid will carve up his fighter, anyway. Stoker is taking a pre-fight nap in the hotel across the street with his girl Julie (Audrey Totter), totally unaware of the roller coaster ride he’s about to take tonight.
