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The Set-Up [VHS]

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THE SET-UP is probably the least known, and maybe the best, of the trio of boxing movies to come in the late 1940s. The other two, of course, are BODY AND SOUL and THE CHAMPION.

Unlike those fine movies THE SET-UP'S protagonist, boxer Robert Ryan, isn't a young pug riding his fists of stones to fame and fortune. He's a thirty-five year old fighter caught somewhere in the last round of an undistinguished career, a nobody on the bottom of a fight card in Paradise City. About all he's got left to dream about is squeezing enough out of whatever remains of his career to buy a cigar stand. His loving wife, Audrey Trotter, has had her fill of seeing him beat up. One more win, Ryan tells her, and I'll be in line for a rematch and a payoff big enough to afford....

Like the other boxing movies, Ryan's fate is in the hands of the big men with fat cigars, the ones who set up a win for an up and coming boxer by setting up a convincing dive by his over-the-hill opponent. Money changes hands. Everyone's in on it except for the guy who's supposed to take the fall, the guy who's one punch away from that cigar stand.

Although THE SET-UP is a highly entertaining movie, it carries a heavy dose of allegorical cynicism. Ryan's character doesn't bother to hide the look of disgust on his face as he surveys the bloodthirsty crowd upon entering the auditorium. Ryan's Everyman has no illusion and the humblest of dreams, unaware that the fat boys with the big cigars have negotiated a foreclosure on it. Ryan, forty at the time this movie was made, was a boxer in college. He's utterly convincing, in and outside the ring. Although his career would lead him to play more character than lead roles, playing both good guys and bad, he has more than enough of whatever it takes to carry this movie.

Director Robert Wise delivers a lean, tough, and immediate movie. Ears cauliflower and foreheads bulge with long healed scar tissue. Wise doesn't waste a frame or a gesture. What doesn't push the plot forward services the downcast mood.

The commentary track features Wise and director Martin Scorsese. Wise must have been in his mid-eighties when he recorded the track. His mind is clear and, as an old movie fan, I consider it a privilege to listen to him comment on one of his masterpieces. Scorsese adds insight into a film he obviously loves as well, although his enthusiasm sometimes runs away a bit and it's a little difficult to follow some of his learned praise.

Simply put this is a masterpiece. Presumably the belated praise "The Set-Up" is owed will come its way with this new DVD release. Director Robert Wise has some very good films to his credit but this is tour de force. The camera work and editing are unparalleled. The film's myriad minor characters are magically revealed by short (but never choppy) camera shots.
"The Set-Up" is the story of an aging boxer hoping that one last fight can turn around his career and thus his life. Shady gamblers and corrupt fight handlers have other ideas. The setting is the fictional Paradise City, a grimy, cynical fast-paced and totally unsentimental city. Much of the action takes place in the boxing arena featuring some of the best fight sequences ever shot. But a scene in a bar is memorable as are shots following the boxer's unhappy girlfriend.
The movie is shot in real time, only 72 minutes, but what a 72 minutes it is. Never has so much of a story been told in so short a time.
Adding to the value of this DVD is the accompanying commentary provided by Wise and Martin Scorsese. Scorsese is not only one of the great directors of all time but is also wonderful in the burgeoning field of DVD film commentary. He has forgotten more about film than most of us will ever know. His speaking style is not just insightful but engaging. Just listen to him explain "The Set-Up"s stylized realism.
But watch "The Set-Up" first without the commentary, then enjoy and appreciate it even more with it.
A great film lover's film.

Two unscrupulous fight promoters make a deal with an underworld kingpin: their aging client, who's had a run of bad luck in the ring, will throw an upcoming match with the gangster's young protege. There's just one problem ... they don't bother to tell the veteran boxer about the fix, because they plan to keep his share of the pay-off. Needless to say, all hell breaks loose, both in and out of the ring. It's a taut, suspenseful plot and to add to the excitement, the movie takes place in real time: 71 minutes in these characters' lives, unfolding in 71 minutes of screen time.

This tough, gritty little masterpiece offers a superb performance by Robert Ryan as the doublecrossed fighter. Lean, muscled, with a world-weary look on his once-handsome face, Ryan's physical perfection in the role is matched by the economy of his acting style. He's surrounded by an excellent supporting cast; every role, including the various spectators in the arena, is beautifully played. Tightly directed by Robert Wise, "The Set-Up" is a gem, and a perfect example of the film noir genre.

The Set ? Up Roberta Wisea is in my own opinion one of the best movies ever about boxing and the people in and around the ring. Although It lacks some of the standard film noir elements it nevertheless ranks as one among the best representatives of the genre. Robert Ryan gives a strong and very powerfull performance of a man who is not willing to sell his own honor and fights to the last regardless of consequences. In the fighting scenes he is very convincing, which is not surprising, since while he was in college he was 4 years heavyveight boxing champion. But his greatest momrent in the film comes when he is cornered in the dead-end alley and the four gangsters slowly approach to him. Jou can plainly read all emotions from his face, no word was necessary. Mixing of fear, worrying, desperately looking for some way out but in the same moment he clearly knows there is none. Unforgettable!

Robert Wise, known for his meticulous work, did spend some time with real boxers inside their dressing rooms, and captured very good the atmosphere among them while they are waiting for their own fight. All the worries, loose conversations, just to kill time, anticipation, hopes, expectations, naturalism to the bone, almost as if you watch some documentary. Although story is not a bit complicated, it is even predictable at a moments we should bear in mind that this movie is based on excellent narrative poem of the same title, by Joseph Moncure March.

Another intresting experiment for that time, two years prior to Fred Zinemann's High Noon, is the unfolding of the story in real time. 73 minutes in a liftime of the aged boxer, at the sunset of his career who still hopes that he's just ?one punch away? from fullfilment of his dreams. That one punch he's been waiting for thirty five years.

Truely remarkable movie!!!

Long before television's "24", Robert Wise gave us this 1949 film-noir classic, set in "real-time" against a boxing milieu.

An exceptional performance from Robert Ryan, with great support from a seasoned troupe of film favorites, THE SET-UP will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

The DVD looks marvelous, the best I have ever seen of this film. It captures the essence of the RKO-noir look, and is genuinely film-like. Don't be swayed by these neophytes who negate a video transfer because it has "age-related artifacts". What hooey! Not every film has to undergo a million dollar digitization to look as good as it did when it was new, and THE SET-UP has surely never looked better!

An added treat are insightful commentary thoughts from the film's director Mr. Wise, and another legendary director who seems to like the movie. Some guy named Marty Scorsese. :)

Grab it!

Robert Ryan (Flying Leathernecks, House of Bamboo, The Professionals, The Wild Bunch), star of the feature The Set-Up (1949), has always seemed to me one of those Hollywood actors who's never really gotten the recognition he deserved (Richard Widmark being another), despite appearing in quite a number of films, generally cast as the `heavy'. Why? I don't know for sure, but I'd guess there was a lot more competition back in the day in terms of there being so many truly wonderful actors worthy of the public's attention...based on a poem by Joseph Moncure March, and directed by Robert Wise (The Body Snatcher, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music), the film stars, along with Ryan, Audrey Totter (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lady in the Lake). Also appearing is Alan Baxter (Shadow of the Thin Man), Percy Helton (Kiss Me Deadly), Wallace Ford (Black Angel), Hal Baylor (Sands of Iwo Jima), and George Tobias (They Drive by Night, Sergeant York), probably best known as the character Abner Kravitz, the neighbor with the eternally nosey wife, from the 1960s television series "Bewitched".

Ryan plays Bill `Stoker' Thompson, thirty-five year old rank pugilist who's been in the game for some twenty years, hanging on to the belief his big opportunity is just `one punch away' (boxers seem an overly optimistic bunch). Anyway, prior to a scheduled match, Julie (Totter), Bill's wife, expresses her desire to see Bill get out of the game while he still has the ability to eat solid food, something which Bill seems willing to do, but not before earning a purse or two, at least enough to set him and Julie up in another business venture. What Bill doesn't know is that his slimy manager Tiny (Tobias) has made a deal with a local hood named Little Boy (Baxter), sponsor of a promising young heavyweight named `Tiger' Nelson (Baylor), Bill's upcoming opponent, one that involves Bill taking a fall. Now here's the catch...Tiny, believing Bill is washed up and won't be able to go the distance with an opponent ten years his junior, decides to cut Bill out all together by not telling him anything, his exact words being "There's no percentage in smartening up a chump." So, as fight time approaches and the fix is in (sort of), Bill, truly believing he's got a chance, prepares himself, unaware that should he manage to pull off a victory, it could cost him more than he ever imagined as Little Boy, who can deal with a loss, really despises those who welsh (a hoodlum with principles...go figure).

Many hold The Set-Up to be director Robert Wise's best film, and maybe it is, but since I haven't seen all of his work I can't really say for certain, but what I can say is this is truly an excellent feature with some outstanding performances. Apparently the film was shot in real time, meaning, at least to me, that Wise had everything laid out on a soundstage, camera set ups and all, and the actors performed their parts in the actual sequence in which the story took place. I would guess then all the footage that was shot was then taken and edited together to create this film, the result being a fairly seamless feature with a really tight story, one that feels not so much a film but a seventy two minute window into the life of a washed up boxer desperately clinging to his improbable dreams. I'm not saying Ryan's character suffered delusions of grandeur (all though some did, particularly in terms of the character named Gunboat Johnson), as he seemed to realize his career was on a terminal skid, but he did believe he had one, last great performance within himself (he did have skills), and if given a shot, he could make the most of it, his wife Julie, played by Totter struggling to come to terms with his decision (does she honor her vows and stick around, watching the man she loves getting his brains beat in night after night, or does she hop a train, bus, whatever and try to start a new life on her own?). The film isn't a glamorous look at the world of boxing, especially in terms of the fans, who seemed to display much more bloodlust than present within the squared ring. I thought it particularly interesting how quickly they turned (at least those who didn't have wagers down) depending on which fighter seemed to be winning. As far as the fight sequences, I thought they were really amazing. Generally with Hollywood films featuring boxing you'll see any number of punches connect with an amazing degree of accuracy, but that's not the case here. There's a strong sense of realism present, most likely helped along by the fact that both Robert Ryan and Hal Baylor (credited in the film as Hal Fieberling), both had experience within the ring (Ryan was a collegiate boxer while Baylor was, at one point, a California Heavyweight Boxing Champion prior to becoming an actor). While the sheer volume of punches thrown here may not be indicative of an actual boxing match, there was a gritty, unpolished, stripped down feel to the action (and the film in general). While I'm a fan of the Rocky movies, I got to believe that if even a fraction of the monstrous punches thrown in those films were to hit and land within the context of a real boxing match, the fight would be over very quickly with at least one opponent dead of massive internal hemorrhaging, but I digress...all in all this is a remarkable film with some interesting characters and engaging direction, worth watching if you're a fan of noir or just good movies in general.

The picture, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), comes across well with few, if any, noticeable flaws, and the Dolby Digital mono comes through cleanly. As far as extras, there's an audio commentary track featuring director Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese, along with subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. If you're interested in picking up this DVD, I'd recommend purchasing the Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 1 DVD set as it includes not only this film, but The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Gun Crazy (1949), Murder My Sweet (1944), and Out of the Past (1947), all for a price considerably less than purchasing the movies individually.

Cookieman108

I checked out this movie on TCM the other night after noting that it was listed in the "New York Times Top 1000 Movies" that came out 6-7 years ago. The plot seemed simple enough, an aging boxer refuses to throw a fight that his manager had already been paid off for. What I didn't realize was that the movie takes place in real time; we see the film in essentially the same time frame that everything happens. Every minute counts and, although the pace of events varies, the insights we get more than makes up for the periodic tedium. Much is revealed about the world of boxing, for example, by just being able to be present in the locker room as different boxers prepare for different bouts in different ways. There is a love interest that allows us to follow Stoker's lady as she struggles with her own inner turmoil. Was she really thinking what we suspect she was when she was on the bridge?

The character development in this type of a format is challenging but the writer and the director, Robert Wise, show how to make the most of events and dialogue. Some stereotyping is involved but we get to know a lot of people in a short amount of time. The cast is excellent with top honors going to the star, Robert Ryan. The more I see of his lesser-known films, the more I come to appreciate his generally under-appreciated talent. The boxing scenes are well orchestrated although boxing, in movies, always seems to move at a faster, more active pace.

I'm not sure that having a "message" is a requirement of the Film Noir genre but "The Set-up" leaves us with a statement that we can keep. It says to us that the pitfalls of success outweigh the tedium of failure even if no one but ourselves is able to appreciate what we risked.

A bold account of a 35-year-old washed up fighter, who knows his best times were gone, decides to assume his bliss trying to break the neck to destiny. The crooks have previously arranged the combat with Tiny who communicates Stoker about the planned. But Stoker refuses to walk in the rotten road. Played in real time of 72 min. this film has been catalogued as Noir Film. Directed by Robert Wise and superbly played by Robert Ryan in one of his best artistic achievements ever made.

One of my favorite films of this Decade and undeniable the supreme masterpiece of Robert Wise.

"The Set-Up" is memorable for being a great boxing film and for being one of the few films to successfully tell a story in real time. It was adapted by screenwriter Art Cohn from Joseph Moncure March's 1928 narrative poem. The film is a tight 72 minutes long, and so is the action. Director Robert Wise shows us the time on various clocks every once in a while to remind viewers that the film is progressing in real time. Bill "Stoker" Thompson (Robert Ryan) is a 35-year-old boxer past his prime and past having any reasonable hope of a title fight or great glory in the ring. But he's a fighter, so he keeps on fighting for moderate success. His wife Julie (Audrey Totter) can't stand the beatings any more, fears for her husband's life, and wishes he would retire. Stoker's manager Tiny (George Tobias) cuts a deal with a local racketeer named Little Boy (Alan Baxter) for Stoker to take a dive after 2 rounds with Tiger Nelson (Hal Fieberling). But Tiny wants the pay-off for himself and has so little confidence in his fighter that he neglects to tell Stoker of the deal.

Actor Robert Ryan was an intercollegiate heavyweight boxing champion when he was at Dartmouth, so there's no question of authenticity in the ring. Robert Wise uses 3 cameras, 2 outside the ring and one inside, to capture the drama and violence of the fight. "The Set-Up" is in real time, so the fight between Stoker and Tiger Nelson lasts about 15 minutes. Much of the film is spent with the boxers preparing for their fights in the dressing room. Stoker's is the last fight of the evening, so he listens, just as we do, to the fighters talk about women, religion, their careers and aspirations, and encourage and insult one another. We see a young fighter nervous over his first fight and an old one overconfident from, perhaps, too many blows to the head. The audience can feel the tension as injured boxers are dragged in and treated as the others gaze on solemnly. This is really a wonderful tribute to the world of boxing and its athletes.

Robert Ryan was a versatile and sympathetic actor who could play a thoughtful everyman hero, as he does here, or an irredeemable brute, as he did 2 years earlier in "Crossfire", for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Ryan imbues Stoker with a hope and candor that the audience could scarcely not find sympathetic. Audrey Totter, as Stoker's wife Julie, says very little, but we can see her thoughts in her expressions and behavior as she wanders around worrying about her husband and contemplating their future. Both of these performances are genuinely touching without being sentimental. "The Set-Up" also cleverly follows certain bloodthirsty spectators from their entrance into the Paradise City sports arena through the last fight. And that's tabloid photographer WeeGee (Arthur Fellig) on the bell, timing the fight.

The DVD (Warner Brothers 2004): The only bonus feature is an audio commentary by directors Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese. The commentary is sporadic, and the 2 men were recorded separately, but it is interesting. Wise shares information on how he got the job, technique, cast, researching the film, story, and filming the fight. Martin Scorsese is a great admirer of "The Set-Up" and took some inspiration from the film in making "Raging Bull". He talks about the film's themes as he sees them: fatalistic allegory, window on boxing subculture, and "painting of skid row", as well as its hyper-realist "naturalistic" style, and compares its fight to those in "Raging Bull". Subtitles for the film are available in English, French, and Spanish.

A fit, angular and muscular Robert Ryan definitely fits and acts the part of Stoker Thompson in Robert Wise's gritty "The Set Up". Thompson, a cauliflower eared washed up 35 year old tomato can has been pitted against up and coming prospect Tiger Nelson played by Hal Baylor. Thompson's devoted wife Julie played by Audrey Totter implores Ryan to give up the game to avoid absorbing repeated beatings.

Unknown to Ryan, his manager and cut man have taken a bribe from tough guy "Little Boy" played by an oily Alan Baxter, to throw the fight. Unfortunately they don't let Ryan in on the fix feeling that he'll lose anyway. Ryan treats this fight as an opportunity to elevate his status and make some real money. Without his wife's support he is determined to put on a good show regardless of the consequences.

Wise did an excellent job in his portrayal of the blood thirsty boxing crowd reminiscent of the Roman forum. The gritty nature of this dark drama is very well expressed in the sets. The acting gives this flick an unmistakable air of authenticity. An underated Ryan is excellent in this role.