Robert Ryan stars in this 1949 release on the dirty side of boxing. It's only 75 or so minutes long, so there isn't time to gently ease the viewer into this world. It's dirty and immediate. It's in your face, right now, in an unyielding way.
Ryan was a great, versatile actor in his day. Between "Colonel Breed" in "The Dirty Dozen", "Reno Smith" in "Bad Day at Black Rock" and numerous other roles, he put together a substantial career in Hollywood.
In this film, he's "Bill 'Stoker' Thompson", an also-ran of a boxer. He never stopped dreaming about that one last successful fight that would earn the money he would need to start his post-boxing life. He knows about the dirty side of his sport, but he desperately hangs on to his integrity.
His wife "Julie" (Audrey Totter) loves him but hates his profession. She too dreams of a life far away from the ring. She knows enough about boxing and its after-effects, and knows she doesn't want her husband to be one more discarded pug. She fears Stoker is gonna end up a drooling, addled shell of the man she married.
The film noir-ish backdrop in this movie hangs over every character. The movie is dark and dank. There is little refuge for anyone, no safe place where a character can take shelter. There are no shining knights in this one.
Stoker gets matched up against an up-and-coming fighter, "Tiger Nelson" (Hal Baylor). The fix is in. Everybody either knows or suspects Stoker is doomed, except Stoker himself. Even Stoker's manager "Tiny" (George Tobias) has bet against Stoker. The fighter goes into this contest fighting for his future, his very self-respect.
The point isn't who wins or who loses the fight. The movie drives you inside the character of a guy contesting the odds. Life is stacked against him, but he refuses to let it change who he is at his core.
This cast is strong. Totter is beautiful, but is she alluring enough to talk her husband out of the fight game? Tobias, one of the all-time great character actors, fits his slick-taking role perfectly. Alan Baxter, as the local gangster running the fight racket, is all smug and sharply-dressed.
Herbert Anderson (who played the father in the "Dennis the Menace" television series) is part of a versatile bunch in the crowd scenes. Also, veteran movie/TV actor David Clarke works as the pug "Gunboat Johnson". What a nickname! We don't seen nicknames like that any more.
"The Set-Up" is a great movie, but it's not uplifting. If you let yourself get into it, you'll feel the grime and sweat on your skin. This wasn't produced for the Disney crowd. It's a grown-up movie, a stark view of a contaminated sport.
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