Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
AutCuddly
Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
bkoganbing
Tim Conway and Don Knotts team up for a 20s/30s period piece about the boxing
game. Conway and Knotts are working as corner men when we first meet them
and making a holy hash out of it. It was no better when Conway was the fighter
and Knotts the manager. Conway had a perfect record as he points out. Zero
wins, 20 loses and all 20 by knockout.Conway is the funniest boxer since Lou Costello stepped in the squared circle in
Abbott&Costello Meet The Invisible Man. Conway has one thing going for him if
you believe, a right hand with the power of Jack Dempsey. He just never got a
chance to throw it.Anyway gangster Robin Clarke gets them involved in a scheme to take over
David Wayne's gym by giving Conway the Primo Carnera buildup until he gets
a crack at champ Michael LaGuardia's title. Wayne is really stealing points from what Burgess Meredith did in the Rocky series.Conway and Knotts worked well together and as solo performers. As a team
they were a lot like Laurel&Hardy with Conway the dumb one who knows it and Knotts the dumb one who thinks he's a genius. This film is a great example of their team dynamic.I like them both separate and apart and fans of both will like The Prize Fighter.
Wizard-8
Tim Conway was very funny on "The Carol Burnett Show", but outside of that show he came across as being very lame. Not just with his "Dorf" videos, but also with his motion pictures. My theory is that he had too much creative control when he was in movies, since often he also took on the role of the screenwriter, this movie being one just example. I had a little hope that there might be some laughs, seeing that Conway's co-star was the great Don Knotts. But Knotts' performance here is very subdued; it's clear that he knows he's in a real turkey. The main problems with the movie are that the script is simply not that funny, and that director Michael Preece seems unable to inject any serious energy to what unfolds on the screen. What results is gag after gag landing with a thud, made worse by a story that is obviously very padded out. Though the movie only runs about 98 minutes long, it feels a lot longer, so much so that it's sometimes agonizing to sit through . It doesn't help that the official DVD release of the movie more often than not has a transfer that resembles a rip of a VHS copy. Hard to believe that this movie did reasonably good business for an independently made production.
zelley-1
Well, I don't know about other comments, but when I saw the movie in 1979 or 1980, I thought it was a very good little comedy with the shenanigans and slapstick of Knotts & Conway,As far as "Boxing" movies or documentaries, it was no "Raging Bull" or "Golden Boy", and it didn't have the real life sadness but redemption of "Ring of Fire - The Emile Griffith Story" or the excellence of "Somebody Up There Likes Me", but it wasn't a drama or true story.It was a comedy that was well acted and deserves a three star rating on the entertainment value. Thanks to Tim, Don and the cast & crew for a slice of movie magic.
angelsunchained
It's not easy making a comedy about the fistic arts. In the 1940s Danny Kay was successful in "The Kid From Brooklyn", playing a "fighting milkman". It took almost 40 years for another boxing comedy to make an impact, and that was The Prize-Fighter.Tim Conway plays Depression Era boxer, Bags Collins. Bags has a perfect fighting record; 20 fights, 20 knockouts.............all losses! A perfect record! Don Knotts plays Shake, the brainy(LOL!) manager of Bags Collins. The movie manages to capture the times and is an interesting reflection of the Depression Era. Tim Conway is at his bumbling best when he is in the ring "knocking out" the top three contenders-Irish, Jake Folley and the Grader. The Bags/Grader fight had me rolling in my seat.There's an impressive supporting cast and Robin Clarke as "Mike" the mob-boss gives an out-standing Brando impression. The final championship match is well done too. The Prize-Fighter is a championship of a comedy.
