VividSimon Simply Perfect

Nonureva Really Surprised!

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

John T. Ryan ..................AT THE INTERSECTING film genres of the Fight Film and the Biopic............THERE WAS A fine, major motion picture called SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME.YES, WE TEND to give this movie, a sort of multi-classified production, one that was truly difficult to pigeon-hole. It has a certain economy of celluloid story telling that wastes not any valuable footage. Yet rather than this frugal approach's to footage usage viewed as being somehow "cheap", it was rather a testimony to the total professionalism of its Director, the mow legendary Robert Wise (1914-2005).IN CONSIDERING THIS film's being a story of a recently still active fighter, it was virtually a contemporary story. The years covered are from Rocky's home-life in the mid and late 1930's through his disgraced record in the WWII Army and up to his career in the Prize Ring (1940-52). All of that would be considered current and recent, not in any way even near being a period piece. (Contrast Cinderella MAN; which was made 60 years after the fact).WHILE THE STORY is certainly not a Pollyanna story, it is based in fact and probably was worse in real life. The movie does seem to have a definite morally anchored theme. In effect, it is a success story. "Inner City Slum Kid Beats Odds-Succeeds In Life!:, would be a proper headline in its description.IN EVALUATING THE film's value as a story with a moral and one of entertainment value, we are immediately reminded of Martin Scorscasce's RAGING BULL. This is a great comparison; inasmuch as the two men were contemporaries in life, as well as in their Ring careers.THE FIRST OBVIOUS deviation is that whereas our reviewee today was a film of recent happenings and RAGING BULL was made some 40 years after Jake La Motta's days in the Squared Circle. Other than that, we find that the two movies are Polar opposites in many respects.WHERE THE CENTRAL theme of our Graziano story is how Rocky's Boxing career was his salvation, in the La Motta story, we see how the years in the Ring wore him down; much as an intensively accelerated life of working ages and ultimately puts the finishing touches on anyone's life.WE MUST COMMENT on how the uncontrollable events of life altered MGM's plans for this picture. As we all know, The lead was slated as a starring role for James Dean. He was killed in a car accident prior to the start of the production. This immediately altered plans for the amenities of its mounting. It was immediately reduced from a Technicolor production to glorious Black & White. Extensive location shooting was replaced with in-studio, sound stage filming.THE BUSINESS ABOUT going to B & W over Color can be debated; as to whether or not it really hampered the story's impact. One need only contrast various Fight Pictures, which were most effective and satisfying in either case. Just think of and compare RAGING BULL (B&W) with ROCKY and/or Cinderella MAN (Color).AS FOR THE selection of Paul Newman as the lead, we cannot and do not have any complaint. Mr. Newman was always the consummate film actor and could thespiate with the best of 'em. It would have been very interesting to have seen the tragically doomed young James Dean in the role, but it just wasn't in the cards! WE MUST SAY just a little about the picture's theme song; which was "Somebody Up There Likes Me!". It was sung by Perry Como.WELL, THAT SHOULD be quite enough about Perry's gig, Schultz!

SnoopyStyle Rocky Graziano (Paul Newman) has to fights his drunken violent father as a kid and grows up to be a petty criminal. He is sent to prison where he violently resists. When he is finally released, he is immediately drafted by the Army for WWII. He goes AWOL and starts boxing. He is sentenced to Leavenworth where he continues to box. On the outside world, he continues to box, stays clean, gets married and has a family. He loses a title fight with Tony Zale. Then he gets into trouble with his past coming to haunt him.Originally set to be played by James Dean before his death, newcomer Paul Newman shows good promise. The movie is standard biopic. The acting is solid. However for a boxing movie, the boxing action is still not the best. It's old fashion intercut with other things in a montage. The most memorable hits come from the father hitting little Rocky early in the movie. This is much better as a character study and Newman shows his charms.

birck I rented this film knowing that it was made in the mid-50's, so I didn't expect it to be as good as it turned out to be. The acting is good, Newman is terrific, he never stops moving, and the movie itself never slows down. For a biopic, it presents its hero as flawed from the outset; the script is good, the dialogue is fresh, and the boxing scenes are, for a 1950's film, pre-Raging Bull, pre-Rocky, surprisingly convincing. Rocky Graziano wasn't a particularly refined technician in the ring; he was a grim, determined street fighter. He had no style, and that's how Paul Newman plays him. The big match at the climax of the film is presented in enough detail to show one boxer just beginning to tire as the other gets his second wind. Paul Newman is great as the main character, but the other actors, the writing and direction and the production itself rise to the level of his performance.

zardoz-13 Director Robert Wise's second movie about boxing, "Somebody Up There Likes Me" is just as gritty as his earlier movie "The Set Up" with Robert Ryan. "Somebody Up There Likes Me" is a biography of 'the hard knocks' life that real-life boxer Rocky Graziano rebounded from to become a media celebrity in the ring. Paul Newman steps outside of his usual easy going demeanor to play Rocky as a tough guy who got a lot of bad breaks, especially from his pugilist pop who socked him around as a kid, before things got better for him.Indeed, this MGM movie is a formulaic biography with all the right elements and some contrivances to boot, but Wise directs it well, particularly the boxing scenes, and he benefits from a strong cast, especially McQueen in a pre "Blob" role as a juvenile delinquent. Rocky really had a terrible upbringing and a mean-spirited dad (Harold J. Stone at his meanest), but he manages to hold on long enough to win in the end. He suffers through prison as well as a military court-martial with a dishonorable discharge. Gripping black & white photography gives this movie a memorable look and the skyline shots of New York with the bridges looming up in the distance over the tops of the tenements are evocative.Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Sal Mineo and Eileen Herckart round out a solid cast. There are is inevitable scene where Rocky has to refuse taking a dive. He winds up behind bars early on as a rebellious youth. Newman proves that he can be as good if not better than Marlon Brando here as he portrays a character who isn't the brightest bulb in the lighting system. Definitely worth watching.