The Harder they Fall by Mark Robson (1956)
19 March 2009Through this film Bogy has a pained look on his face, which fits perfectly with the character, and his moral crisis, unfortunately it was more than that, and Humphrey Bogart was very very sick, and did not last another year or make another film. It is good though that his last film was such a good role, even if it is so sad or it to have been his last. A dark and cynical film based on true events, and again a must see.
Humprehy Bogart plays Eddie WIllis a formerly big sports writer who has lost his job, and is now desperate for work. He gets called in by a mobster named Nick Benko (Rod Steiger) to be a boxing promoter for a huge Argentinian former strongman named Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). The whole setup is a fix to make as much money as possible, so they want to make Toro seem like an amazing fighter, and they don’t tell him or his manager Luis Argandi (Carlo Montalban). Eddie goes along, and they decide to go to California to start Toro’s career, leaving his wife Beth (Jan Sterling) back in New York.
REVIEW CONTAIN SPOILERS…
The first fight is obviously a fake, and it almost derails Toro’s career, buy Eddie pulls in a favor from an old friend, a TV sportscaster named Art Leavitt (Harold J,. Stone)and gets the investigation called off, so he can work, and Eddie swings it so he gets 10% of the money, and takes over Toro’s career.
Eddie gets deeper and deeper, with Nick trying to keep Beth away even, and Toro’s career getting bigger. Nick sends Luis back to Argentina with some money, though he has not paid Toro a dime yet. They set up a fight with an ex champion who just had a major fight with the current champion and lost badly so they get a title fight. Not only does Toro win, but the guy dies, and the press claims it was Toro, and not the current Heavyweight champion Buddy Brannen (actual heavyweight champion later immortalized in Cinderella Man Max Bayer).
Nick sets up the Torro Brannen fight, but Brannen is hopping mad because he is not getting acknowlegment for his kill, so he swears he will kill Torro.
Torro meanwhile has gotten a message through his priest that his mom wants him to come home because he killed a man, so he wants to go and tries to leave. Eddie talks to him, and has one of his trainers hit him for real and prove that he couldn’t have killed that man, and they teach Torro to last in the fight a few rounds so everyone makes there money.
Torro goes in the ring, but doesn’t stay back and takes an utter beating, before getting beaten. Eddie goes to get Torro’s money, but they show him the books, and they owe him nothing with all the fees they put in, so he takes his $27,000 and gives it to Torro and puts him on a plane back home.
Nick comes to get Eddie and Toro, who he has sold to another manager in another league, but he is gone, and he then threatens Eddie, but Eddie threatens him back, as he is writing everything he saw, and is going to publish it, and ruin them all.
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I am glad Bogy left on suck a good film, though it is still so sad that it is his last.
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