|
| .. |
|
|
THE HARDER THEY FALL
Review by Michael Jacobson
Stars:
Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane
Director: Mark Robson
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Columbia Tri Star
Features: Bonus Trailers, Bogart
Collection Preview
Length: 108 Minutes
Release Date: January 21, 2003
“I
own a boxing club. He’s part of
my stable. You don’t ask the
horse…”
“He’s
not a horse! He’s a human
being!”
“Boxers
aren’t human.”
“How
would YOU know?!”
Almost
half a century later, and there’s still nobody who can replace Humphrey
Bogart. The Harder They Fall is
a fitting finale to a stellar screen career.
Bogart
spent many of his early acting years proving how well he could play the tough
guy, be he cop or criminal. He
spent many of his later ones diversifying, proving he could stretch beyond any
stereotype that cinema would place him in.
After earning an Oscar for playing the disheveled Charlie Allnut in The
African Queen and the paranoid Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, the
world was finally catching on. He
was more than a movie star…he was one of the great actors as well.
In
his last movie, he plays Eddie Willis, a once successful sports writer going
through a dry spell when he gets an offer he can’t refuse.
An ambitious but ruthless boxing promoter named Nick Benko (Steiger)
wants to use Eddie’s skill with ink and relationship with the press to help
launch the career of a young South American boxer, Toro Moreno (Lane).
The problem? Despite his
gigantic height and imposing size, Toro doesn’t have an ounce of athletic
talent, nor can he take a good punch!
But
Benko has it all figured out. His
scheme? To arrange a series of
fixed fights for Toro, slowly building up his reputation (with the help of
Eddie’s good coverage), until he gets a chance at the heavyweight title.
That will be a fight that Benko can’t fix, but with Toro’s good press
keeping the odds good, everyone stands to walk away with a lot of cash when he
loses.
Eddie
agrees to go along at first, but as Benko’s scheme unfolds, he realizes more
and more what a rotten deal it is. Toro
is naïve, only hoping to make enough money to take care of his family back
home, and has no idea that his success is being manipulated every step of the
way! Soon the promise of a big
payoff is weighing against Eddie’s conscience, particularly when his wife
(Sterling) finds it hard to recognize the man he’s becoming.
There
is real tragedy that unfurls along the way, but not even the darkest moments can
derail the momentum Benko has built up, with Eddie’s help.
As Toro begins to look to Eddie as his only friend and protector, Eddie
finds himself at odds: can he see the plan through to its lucrative end?
Or can he stop the juggernaut he’s created to save Toro from the forces
he’s not even aware are aligning against him?
This
is a superb drama from start to finish, driven by a taut script, boxing
sequences that have so much attached to them that they generate solid suspense,
and the dynamic performance of two great actors. Rod Steiger fills Benko with a dangerous singular instinct
and the type of mettle that makes you believe he can bend even the strongest to
his will. But Bogart, in his final
performance, is riveting as the down and out sportswriter whose ability to seize
his last chance to make good is being broken down by his awareness of the damage
his role is doing.
The
power struggle that erupts between them leads to a climatic confrontation more
exciting than any of the boxing witnessed up to that point.
The picture’s unflinching look at corruption in boxing seems as timely
today as it was back then, and it pulls no punches with its clear and decisive
moral.
This
film is dynamite entertainment from start to finish. It’s a shame the world had to lose Bogart as soon as it
did…we can only imagine how many more good pictures he might have brought to
us. But The Harder They Fall is
a solid, fitting end to one of Hollywood’s most beloved icon’s screen
career. He couldn’t have asked
for a better memorial.
Video
***
This
is a quality anamorphic offering from Columbia Tri Star.
The black and white photography renders well, with good levels of detail
and sharp images. Signs of aging are fairly light; only a few specks here and
there and a slight bit of shimmer in the darkest scenes are left to tell that
this movie is nearly fifty years old. A
solid effort.
Audio
***
I
found this to be a better than average mono offering, with the dramatics of the
scenes and dialogue giving it a fair amount of dynamic range.
You can really hear the thudding of the punches in the main boxing
sequences, too. The audio is clean
and clear; no real noise or hiss problems were apparent.
Features
*
The
disc contains trailers for On the Waterfront and The Greatest, plus
a short preview of Columbia Tri Star’s Bogart Collection.
Summary:
