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'He didn't have 5 guys in the ring with him.'

posted 17 years ago by eadoe
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I just saw this film and now realize that Sly Stallone must have watched it about a hundred times before staging the fight scenes in Rocky – he even re-created the subtle touch when Toro’s coach cuts his eyelid in the fight to release the built-up blood (except in this film, you only see him go for the eye with a scalpel but don’t see him actually cut it as you do in Rocky). The final fight at the end of this movie is THE most gruesome fight ever filmed. Stallone tried to capture this in Rocky, but it has nowhere NEAR the realism of the fight in The Harder They Fall. This is partly because it is shot in black and white, which for some reason makes everything seem more gruesome than color; partly because of the foggy, staggering way it is shot, as if you are seeing the punches through the groggy boxer’s eyes; and partly because the actor who played Toro was not a star like Stallone or DeNiro in Raging Bull – they could make him look like a true wreck, a distorted, disfigured wreck – without fear of diminishing his “star” quality handsomeness.

My favorite line in this movie is when Bogart angrily asks Steiger how he’d like to have his jaw broken like Toro’s. Steiger’s henchmen immediately start to converge on Bogart, who says, “He didn’t have 5 guys in the ring with him.” It’s a great line that brings home how the powerful are protected from the very pain they inflict on others.

The movie’s title, from the old saying, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” is also very ironic, because the “big” guys – Steiger and the corrupt fight backers – actually never “fall” – it is only the “little” guys, like Toro, who fall the hardest.

By the way, it was really spooky seeing Max Baer himself re-create his historic fight with Primo Carnera in this film, which is based on Max Baer's historic fight with Primo Carnera! You can see a film of this 1934 fight online, in which Baer knocks Carnera down 11 times in 11 rounds. By round 2, Baer was actually chasing Carnera around the ring, and at least 3 times he knocked him down so hard that he actually fell on top of him!

Hard to believe that Max Baer is Jethro Clampett's father (Max Baer Jr. in the Beverly Hillbillies).

"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."
- Julius Caesar, act 2 sc 1

[–] JustPassingTime 16 years ago

That's interesting about Max Baer. I'll look for that video. When I watched the film on TCM last weekend I wasn't sure if he was an actual fighter or an actor (I wonder how he felt about portraying a vengeful, unsportsman-like champ). On the other hand I was sure Jersey Joe Walcott was a retired fighter. According to wikipedia he was the oldest man to become champ at 37 in 1951 until George Foreman became the oldest at 45 in 1994.

By the way, a friend introduced me to an old fighter named Roger Russell on a corner in South Philadelphia recently. Russell was a contender who fought some of the greats like Foreman and Floyd Patterson... a real sweet guy, around 60 now.

In closing I feel compelled to set the record straight on a very important matter; on the Beverly Hillbillies Jethro was a Bodine, not a Clampett. He was Jed's nephew. :p

[–] michaelannamarie 12 years ago

I absolutely LOVE this movie. My only critisism is the final fight scene. To be more precise, the 'air punches' thrown by Max Baer. I cant recall any punches actually making contact. That's the way boxing movies were made back then. I saw an interview with Stallone where he was working with the fight coordinator who actally worked on "Harder...". Sly wanted to have Apollo throw 3 or 4 rights in a row & the guy wouldn't do it. Said he'd been doing it his way for years & finally walked off the set. Movies like "Harder...", "Champion", etc. rarely showed any contact; I think it was due to the censors. The fights in "Raging Bull", "Rocky" & "The Fighter" are much more explicit.

That being said, Toro took a nasty beating & the makeup was very good. He really looked like he had the *beep* beaten out of him. The rest of the cast were great in their parts, especially Bogie. Would have loved to see him belt Steiger! This is one of my favorite Bogie films. Too bad it was his last. He had a lot of great roles ahead of him.