This week’s look at a featured Letterboxd List has us grabbing our gloves and heading into the ring. From the Top 250 Films of the 1940s list comes The Set-Up.
Title: The Set-Up
Director: Robert Wise
Released: March 29, 1949 (Limited theatrical – United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes
Stoker (Robert Ryan) is a 35-year old boxer who is much closer to the end of his career than he is its prime. His wife, Julie (Audrey Totter), wants nothing more than to see him retire. Stoker still believes he has one more fight in him. In fact, he says he has a good feeling about his fight coming up later that night against a young 23-year old fighter named Tiger (Hal Baylor).
Julie has hit her limit. Despite being present for every other one of Stoker’s fights, she’s drawing the line here. If he decides to go through with the fight, she won’t be there.
Meanwhile, Stoker’s manager, Tiny (George Tobias), knows his fighter has been on a losing streak. There’s also nothing to suggest that he’ll be turning it around anytime soon. So, unbeknownst to Stoker, Tiny has accepted money from a mobster for Stoker to take a dive during his fight. Stoker’s losing streak has Tiny convinced there’s no need to loop him in.
But when a fighter believes he has to keep fighting to prove himself, having him take a dive might not be as easy as it seems.
Presenting this in real-time makes for a fun watch as every minute matters. The street clocks at the beginning and end confirm the events took place in real-time. This zips right by, staying engaging throughout, particularly during Stoker’s four round bout.
The fight looked great partly because both men had real-life experience boxing and partly because Milton Krasner shot an absolutely gorgeous film. From the way he frames the locker room, to how he captures the fight itself, to the shadows that give the whole thing its noir feel.
Robert Ryan as Stoker does an incredible job of playing a guy trying to convince himself that he can still hang. Ryan has a calm confidence in him that shines through. In the Noir Alley introduction on HBO, Eddie Muller notes this was Robert Ryan’s favorite role. You can tell. He looks like he’s thoroughly enjoying playing a “good guy” for a change.
As far as boxing movies go, I see why this gets mentioned as one of the best. The grittier noir feel to this was a welcome change of pace from what I’ve grown accustomed to with most other boxing films that are somewhat paint-by-number.
The Set-Up lived up to the hype and is a strong recommend.