The Set-Up (1949 film)

The Set-Up is a 1949 American film noir boxing drama directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. The screenplay was adapted by Art Cohn from a 1928 narrative poem of the same name by Joseph Moncure March. The Set-Up was the last film Wise made for RKO, and he named it his favorite of the pictures he directed for the studio, as well as one of his top ten of his career.

Plot

Bill "Stoker" Thompson, a 35-year-old has-been boxer, is about to take on a 23-year old, gangster-backed opponent called Tiger Nelson, at the Paradise City Arena. His wife, Julie, fears that this fight may be his last and wants him to forfeit the match. Tiny, Stoker's manager, is sure he will continue to lose fights, so he takes money for a "dive" from a mobster. He is so certain of Stoker's failure that he does not inform the boxer of the set-up.

Stoker and Julie passionately debate whether he should participate in the fight. Julie tells him that she has a headache and won't attend. Stoker says that winning tonight's fight might let him "get a top spot" in his next fight, a fight which might pay him $500 or $600. A $500 prize could allow them to buy a cigar stand or invest in another boxer, Tony Martinez, and start a new life. Julie says she cares more about his well-being than money, but Stoker responds: "If you're a fighter, you gotta fight."

After Stoker departs for the arena, Julie continues to struggle with her fear and desire to support his boxing. Ultimately she doesn't use her ticket to the event, and instead roams the streets surrounding the arena.

At the beginning of the fourth round of what is a vicious match with the much younger and heavily favored Tiger Nelson, Stoker learns about the fix. Even though he is told that Little Boy, a feared gangster, is behind the set-up, he refuses to give up the fight.

Stoker wins the vocal support of blood-thirsty fans who had at first rooted against him. He eventually defeats Nelson. Little Boy exacts revenge by having him beaten in an alley outside the arena. In spite of his gameness against the thugs he is overcome and has his hand irreparably smashed with a brick.

He staggers out of the alley and collapses into Julie's arms. "I won tonight," he tells her, both of them realizing he can never fight again. "Yes," she answers. "You won tonight. We both won tonight."

Cast

Production

Background

In 1947, almost two decades after March's poem was published, RKO paid him approximately $1,000 for the rights.

Wise and Sid Rogell wanted Joan Blondell to play Julie following her performance as Zeena Krumbein in Nightmare Alley, but RKO owner Howard Hughes refused, saying "Blondell looks like she was shot out of the wrong end of a cannon now."

Filming

Dore Schary, the uncredited executive producer who launched the project at RKO before his 1948 move to MGM, In response, in March 1949, RKO rushed The Set-Up for release and sued the filmmakers of Champion in federal court for $500,000 in damages and petitioned for an injunction to halt the release of Champion. Later in the month, RKO and United Artists settled out of court when United Artists agreed to remove 101 feet of film from Champion (approximately 1% of its total length) and two additional words of dialogue.

RKO and United Artists had been involved in a similar dispute the previous year regarding RKO's The Outlaw (1943) and United Artists' Red River (1948). The case was resolved when United Artists agreed to remove a scene from Red River.

Critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote:<blockquote>This is no ordinary feature dealing with winner take all. It is about as non-American as a picture can be from a sports standpoint. ... [The] film is not for sensitive souls but it will make those who see it think—about what the fight game is all about. Ryan scores terrifically. He is so dominant in his portrayal, so excellent and so real that he sometimes seems almost alone in the screen unfoldment. This is the kind of effort that should bid for an Academy Award.</blockquote>

Box office

The film opened in 13 key markets and grossed $245,000 for the week, becoming the top film in the United States for two weeks.

Awards

Wins

1949 Cannes Film Festival: Best Cinematography, Milton R. Krasner; FIPRESCI Prize, Robert Wise; 1949.

Nominated

British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from Any Source, United States; 1950.