The Harder They Fall (1956)

Directed by Mark Robson; produced by Philip Jordan

Out of money and with the years advancing, Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart), a respected but unemployed sports writer, takes a job with the unscrupulous promoter Nick Benko (Rod Steiger), working as a press agent to a new fighter, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). It takes only a minute of seeing the boxer in the ring for Willis to realise that he’s been hired to propagandise a talentless sucker for the enrichment of ruthless managers.

The Harder They Fall is Bogart’s final film, and made me wish his penultimate movie, The Desparate Hours, had been his last instead. The Harder They Fall is not bad but, had it not come as Bogey’s valedictory, it would have been, I think, one of his forgotten works.

Bogart handles himself well, as he usually does, but there is nothing remarkable in his performance. He is matched with Steiger, and seeing the two of them together is like seeing two eras of Hollywood film-making, one ending, one beginning, and the newer is not the better. It doesn’t help that Steiger indulges in his trademark histrionics, though he doesn’t reach the stages of over-acting he achieved later. Certainly, he was capable of excellent performances (eg. In the Heat of the Night), and he is fittingly malevolent here. The acting styles, though, highlight changing tastes - perhaps more with actors than with audiences. The other performers acquit themselves decently but no more. Jan Sterling, as Willis’s wife, is wasted; her role had little point.

The script is good, with some memorable lines, but the story is straightforward and predictable. Willis is seduced by the sudden wealth that comes with his position: he needs “not just money, but a bank account”. The question isn’t whether he will stay on the wrong side - the viewer knows he’s too moral for that - but what will happen to make him switch, and even that question isn’t very involving.

The premise of boxing management exploiting the fighters to the umpteenth degree is an obvious one, and the audience is hit over the head with it. The promoters and contract-owners think of their boxers as lazy, stupid, worthless, and say so. There is some interest in how Bogart’s character tries to maintain his job while wringing some concessions out of managers for the people they exploit, but the means the movie uses to push its point is typically shown in one long scene in which a sports writer (Harold J Stone) with a television series shows his filmed interview with a former fighter. There is no subtlety to the screenplay.

As well, I find it hard to believe that Benko and his stable of paid fall-guys could stage twenty or more faked victories in the ring for Moreno without fight-fans catching on. Sports writers see that Moreno’s opponents are taking dives, other boxers see it; people who watch boxing devotedly must realise something is up by the powerless style of Moreno’s punching and his clumsy moves. As well, he is touted as South America’s heavyweight champion, with thirty-six knock-outs, yet no reporter investigates a claim that could be easily dismissed.

While The Harder They Fall has something to say, it says it with sledgehammer punches, instead of fancy footwork. It’s nothing very bad, but not much more than acceptable, either.