At the heart of most boxing films is the struggle, the manly, athletic need to prove yourself against your opponent. It’s a savage ballet, it’s called the sweet science for a reason but the struggle is usually presented as a noble concept (The Rocky movies & the Creed spin-offs take this to heart) but the boxing picture which originated in the silent film era, really found it’s savage roots in film noir, films like The Set-Up were unsparing in it’s depiction of the fight game and the ultimate cost boxers had to pay in order to make into the big leagues. Kirk Douglas was already a well known player in the film noir genre, his angular, menacing face was cast as an ambitious boxer Michael “Midge” Kelly in the film Champion in the 1949 film Champion and he delivered a terrifying performance of a man so consumed with ambition that he will resort to any method to achieve it.
Midge doesn’t start out as a boxer, he and his brother Connie (Arthur Kelly) were basically hobo’s hitching their way to California, they come across a well known boxer Johnny Dunne (John Daheim) and his girlfriend Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell). Midge decides to try his hand at boxing and is offered a fight on the undercard for $35, he’s mercilessly beaten and ripped off by the promoters, one promoter takes an interest in him, Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart) who offers Midge to come and see him in LA at his gym, Midge turns him down. Midge and Connie arrive at the restaurant they had bought a share in only to discover they’d been duped.
Midge and Connie grudgingly accept minimum wage jobs at the restaurant, to kill the boredom, Midge begins seducing the owner’s daughter, Emma (Ruth Roman), Connie briefly attempts to compete with his brother for her affections but in the end, it’s Midge who emerges triumphant but it’s short-lived as Emma’s father discovers the liaison and demands that Midge marry his daughter, to mitigate their sin in a shotgun wedding. Midge has no desire to settle and decides to flee (he convinces Connie to go with him). Midge remembers the offer from Tommy Haley and decides to visit him at his gym, Tommy is initially resistant but is finally won over by Midge’s persistence.
Midge proves to be a capable fighter, it’s not long before Midge is approached by the mob and offered a shot at the champ, if he throws the fight against Dunne, he’ll get his turn next year. Midge initially agrees but decides he doesn’t want to wait and destroys Dunne in a single round. Grace, like a parasite, attaches herself to a new host and makes Midge her new project, she convinces Midge to throw over his manager Tommy and place himself in the hands of Jerome Harris (Luis Van Rooten), a wealthy fight promoter and fixer. Midge isn’t stupid, he can see what a fix he’s in and agrees, Tommy accepts the situation to an extent. Connie finally starts to wake up and see his brother as a genuinely not good person (he should’ve realized that when they ran out on Emma) and washes his hands of Midge. Connie reconnects with Emma and they relocated to Chicago to take care of Connie’s ailing, aged mother (I’d argue that’s an even worse fate but your mileage may vary).
Midge becomes champ and finds himself finally living the good life, when he comes across Palmer Harris (Lola Albright), a sculptor, he finds another woman to lay the Midge Kelly charm on, the only catch is, she’s married to his manager, that doesn’t stop Midge, she falls for it just the same, enough for her to ask her husband for a divorce, he offers a different proposal, a cash incentive to Midge to forget about Palmer, the only thing Midge cares more about than women, is money, Midge accepts, Palmer is another casualty of Midge’s greed. Dunne re-emerges as a contender to the title, Midge realizes he’s in no shape to fight Dunne and finds out he needs Tommy to whip him into shape, Midge also tries to make amends with Connie and Emma, the gang’s all back together, it’s short lived as Midge proves what a thorough bastard he really is, unable to accept losing Emma to Connie, he rapes her just to prove he can.
Midge goes the distance with Dunne, literally to his death, he wins the fight but dies after a relentless pummeling in the ring which results in a cerebral hemmorage, his refusal to lose cost him his life. Connie, proving to be the better man in the end, doesn’t slander his brother let’s his legacy remain intact as he and Emma are left to pick up the pieces.
Unlike other boxing movies, there’s absolutely no sentimentality, the fight game is presented as an environment which fosters corruption, Midge is a creature of pure venality but at the root of his soul is a desire to be seen as somebody, it’s the essential ingredient in the American dream, he wants to be seen, he wants to be a winner and not a loser, there’s an argument to be made that his final fight in the ring is basically an atonement for all the people he’s crossed on his way to the top, the last being Emma. This brings me to the film Raging Bull, which presents the audience with another awful human being, who uses the ring as a cathartic tool to cleanse himself and absorb punishment he feels he deserves.
Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro), like Midge Kelly, is a fighter who works his way up from his working class roots to become a champion but proves himself to be a man unable to separate his animal side in the ring with his personal life. In 1941, Jake is a well known and respected middle-weight fighter, with his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) as his manager in the Bronx. While at a local swimming pool, Jake spots fifteen year old Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), the bestial part of his body takes over as he fixates on her, even though he’s married. Joey has learned there’s a potential shot at a middle-weight title fight against Sugar Ray Robinson from Salvy Batts (Frank Vincent) a local mobster. Jake get’s his shot and defeats Sugar Ray but a rematch is soon arranged three weeks later. Jake loses on points. Jake, like alot of men, has a fragile ego when it comes to women, he’s paranoid that Vickie is less than devoted towards him, she makes an innocent comment about his next opponent, Tony Janiro being handsome, Jake takes it personally and decides to make an example of Tony, beating him so he don’t look handsome no more. Joey spots Vickie entering at a club with Salvy Batts, Joey attempts to placate Vickie, who has had enough of Jake’s bullshit. Joey, unable to take it out on Vicky, decides to deliver a beating to Salvy instead.
Mob Boss Tommy Como (Nicolas Colasanto) organises a meeting between Joey and Salvy to kiss and make up and to let Jake know that if he wants another title shot, he’ll have to take a dive. Jake doesn’t even bother putting up the pretense of a fight against his opponent, Billy Cox, so much so that he’s suspended on the suspicion on having thrown the fight. Jake is eventually re-instated and get’s his shot against the champion, Marcel Cerdan, he wins. A year later, Jake’s insecurities emerge as he questions Joey about the nature of the fight between him and Salvy, he assumes it was because Joey was having an affair with Vickie. Unable to get the answer he wants from Joey (who left in disgust) he interrogates Vickie instead, she attempts to evade his questioning in the bathroom but Jake will not be denied, finally she tells him exactly what he wants to hear, she’s been screwing everyone but him. Jake takes out his violent rage on Joey, while his wife and kids watch. Jake attempts to call Joey following his fight with Laurent Dauthuille but Joey, assuming it’s Salvy let’s fly with a torrent of verbal abuse. Jake faces off against Sugar Ray once again, the ring becomes a battle of personal guilt and shame, Jake loses the fight in the end but it was never truly about the fight, it was more about Jake’s desire to punish himself in true catholic fashion.
Jake retires, Vickie divorces him and takes the kids, his slide into a pathetic existence, getting arrested for prostitution of under-age girls, he attempts to make amends with Joey but it’s clear there’s no resolution there, all that he’s left with are faded dreams and a wasted life, at least Midge Kelly went out fighting.
I have no doubt Scorsese was probably influenced by Champion to some extent, they’re two portraits of toxic masculinity at it’s most primal. There’s one scene in Champion where Midge is confronted by Grace, after she discover’s Midge is stepping out with Palmer, after direct confrontation fails, she pleads and cajoles before finally threatening to raise a stink, throughout it all Kelly calmly dismisses her with contempt before finally settling on the subtle threat of violence, he’ll put her in hospital before she can do any real damage, outside of the rape it’s the one moment where he reveals what a thoroughly callous bastard he really is. I’d say Midge Kelly is arguably worse because there’s a certain amount of cunning he has that Jake lacks, Jake wields his masculinity like a violent hammer, both in the ring and in his personal life but he’s not a bright guy, he has no self awareness at all and he’s motivated solely by primordial base needs, that doesn’t make him a better person but it makes him a more tragic figure than Midge.
cinematic horizons 