The Set-Up (1949)
Robert Wise
My first and only viewing of this excellent noir was eight years ago in the very first Noir HoF, hosted by me. It was Holden Pike's nomination and I was impressed. So much so that I've never forgotten it. Last night I revisited
The Set-Up and if anything was more impressed with the film.
I'm going to post my old review below but I do want to say I was utterly impressed at how polished the film was. The direction by Robert Wise is perfect. The performance by Robert Ryan was real, not acting, I believed him, the boxing looked real too. Audrey Totter is good here, I enjoyed here screen time as much as I did Robert Ryan's.
Talk about world building! The
Set-Up in just one long sequences in the locker room gives us so much insight into the comradery, hopes, dreams and fears of these boxers. We see what they have to go through in a hope to move up the ranks to the big time. I appreciated the sequences where Audrey Totter, who's too nervousness about the fight walks around Paradise City and is constantly reminded of the dangers who husband faces in the ring. Loved the realistic look of this dingy town and the people and places who inhabited it. The resolve at the end is perfect. I'm upping this by half a popcorn to
Actually that could be 5/5 as I didn't see one misstep or missed opportunity in this gem.
So you noir fans, watch it, consider it for your ballot if you really like it.
My old review, but it's a good one.
Premise
(spoiler free): A down and out aging boxer, Stoker (Robert Ryan) refuses to give up on his boxing career. His wife Julie (Audrey Totter) fears for his health and wants him to quit. A corrupt gambler bets heavily that Stoker will be knocked out in the next match and pays Stoker's boxing manager Tiny (George Tobias) to make sure the match is fixed. Tiny has such little faith in Stoker's boxing ability he doesn't even bother to tell the boxer to take a dive.
Everything that I covered in the premise takes place in the first few minutes on the film.
The Set-Up uniquely takes place in real time and covers 73 minutes from just before the boxing match to the minutes following the outcome. At the start of the movie a clock shows 9:05PM, at the end of the movie the same clock shows 10:16PM, (the other 2 minutes are for screen credits.)
The Set-Up is an early film noir directed by Robert Wise. What makes this film special is it's starkness. What you see is almost docudrama style and well done. The films focuses on just one event...the set-up in the boxing ring and it's final outcome.
Boxing fans should like this movie, but it offers much more than boxing. Robert Ryan takes what could be a two dimensional character and gives him soul. We see that Stoker is hopeful and we see that he knows he's one of the down and out boxers, with little hope. Audrey Totter also deserves credit for keeping her portrayal real. The scene with her standing at the freeway overpass, shows her skill as an actress. But that scene and others should also be credited to Robert Wise who understood the maxim 'less is more'.
The Set-Up is not a well known film noir but it should be.