Let me get the bad stuff out of the way quickly because the movie is worth watching.
I didn't believe the pop psychology for a minute. An Italian father who is a wino? Eileen Heckart as an Italian mother? Hatred for authority because Rocky was beaten up by his drunken father? Rocky Barbella too shy around girls to date them? Nope.
This is a pretty dated movie, all things considered, especially considering the insipid inspirational title song by Perry Como. A gang tough from New York City gets into all kinds of trouble with the police and the army and the boxing commission and finally rises to the top by clobbering Tony Zale and winning the middleweight championship. Local boy makes good.
The fight scenes -- and there aren't that many -- are about standard for Hollywood. When a fight begins they come out swinging. Like -- right away. Nobody feels anybody else out. Nobody dances around and thinks. And every punch either misses by a mile or lands smack on target. THUMP THUMP THUMP. Any one of those blows would stun an elephant but the bout consists of nothing but these sledgehammers. WHOMP, and the recipient shrugs it off.
Some of the supporting parts are pretty bad. Eileen Heckart has done some nice work -- elsewhere, not here. Sal Mineo is the person Rocky could have become without his talent for pugilism. Pier Angeli may not be much of an actress but she fits the part very well physically, with her big sad eyes and her fragile figure -- vulnerable all around, unfortunately, in her off screen life.
There are good things about the film too. The neighborhood streets deserted at night because everyone is inside listening to the Graziano-Zale fight on the radio, the populace spilling onto the sidewalks in celebration after Rocky wins. And the guy playing Tony Zale really LOOKS like Tony Zale. Newman gives it his best shot but as the character is written it doesn't amount to much except Rocky pacing around, bobbing his head, and looking either puzzled or angry.
This is however a familiar trajectory in sports movies. Ignorant guy works his way up from the streets, has moments of self doubt, then overcomes them and wins. We are, at least, spared here the manager in the corner shouting, "Use your right! Use your RIGHT!" Or the floored or canvassed protagonist finally sighting his girl friend in the audience and hauling his bloody mess to his feet for a final knockout of the nasty opponent.
It's been overtaken by more recent movies about boxing, especially "Rocky" and "Raging Bull," both of which are better than this film. Of course Graziano was around during the filming and we can't have a true reprobate as the central figure. What he does that's wrong, and there are several things, he must do out of naiveté or ignorance or conflicting principles. The most interesting scenes involve the "bad" things that Graziano is shown doing. I mean -- clobbering an Army Captain with a sucker punch during wartime? Is it worth seeing? Definitely.
I didn't believe the pop psychology for a minute. An Italian father who is a wino? Eileen Heckart as an Italian mother? Hatred for authority because Rocky was beaten up by his drunken father? Rocky Barbella too shy around girls to date them? Nope.
This is a pretty dated movie, all things considered, especially considering the insipid inspirational title song by Perry Como. A gang tough from New York City gets into all kinds of trouble with the police and the army and the boxing commission and finally rises to the top by clobbering Tony Zale and winning the middleweight championship. Local boy makes good.
The fight scenes -- and there aren't that many -- are about standard for Hollywood. When a fight begins they come out swinging. Like -- right away. Nobody feels anybody else out. Nobody dances around and thinks. And every punch either misses by a mile or lands smack on target. THUMP THUMP THUMP. Any one of those blows would stun an elephant but the bout consists of nothing but these sledgehammers. WHOMP, and the recipient shrugs it off.
Some of the supporting parts are pretty bad. Eileen Heckart has done some nice work -- elsewhere, not here. Sal Mineo is the person Rocky could have become without his talent for pugilism. Pier Angeli may not be much of an actress but she fits the part very well physically, with her big sad eyes and her fragile figure -- vulnerable all around, unfortunately, in her off screen life.
There are good things about the film too. The neighborhood streets deserted at night because everyone is inside listening to the Graziano-Zale fight on the radio, the populace spilling onto the sidewalks in celebration after Rocky wins. And the guy playing Tony Zale really LOOKS like Tony Zale. Newman gives it his best shot but as the character is written it doesn't amount to much except Rocky pacing around, bobbing his head, and looking either puzzled or angry.
This is however a familiar trajectory in sports movies. Ignorant guy works his way up from the streets, has moments of self doubt, then overcomes them and wins. We are, at least, spared here the manager in the corner shouting, "Use your right! Use your RIGHT!" Or the floored or canvassed protagonist finally sighting his girl friend in the audience and hauling his bloody mess to his feet for a final knockout of the nasty opponent.
It's been overtaken by more recent movies about boxing, especially "Rocky" and "Raging Bull," both of which are better than this film. Of course Graziano was around during the filming and we can't have a true reprobate as the central figure. What he does that's wrong, and there are several things, he must do out of naiveté or ignorance or conflicting principles. The most interesting scenes involve the "bad" things that Graziano is shown doing. I mean -- clobbering an Army Captain with a sucker punch during wartime? Is it worth seeing? Definitely.