Requiem for a Heavyweight

I saw that the Anthony Quinn movie The Shoes of the Fisherman was on TCM recently. I have that movie on my DVR already, and was thinking of watching it to do a review here but decided to hold off because I had just the day before I noticed it watched Requiem for a Heavyweight. So now you get the blog post on that Anthony Quinn movie.

Quinn plays the heavyweight, a man named Mountain Rivera. Mountain is a boxer at the end of his career (Quinn was 46 at the time he made the movie), getting the crap beat out of him by Cassius Clay. In fact, he's beat up so bad that he's got a retina dangerously close to being detached. The doctor won't allow him to fight any more, and if he can't get a license to fight in New York, he won't be able to fight anywhere.

This is terrifying for Mountain, since he doesn't know anything other than boxing, having done it for 17 years and gotten to as high as #5 in the rankings. Mountain's one best friend is his trainer, Army (Mickey Rooney). But Mountain thinks that his real best friend is his manager, Maish Rennick (Jackie Gleason). How wrong he is.

We quickly learn that Maish is running away from a couple of professional gamblers whom he had told that there was no way Mountain could survive more than four rounds with Cassius Clay. They bet on the fight lasting four rounds or fewer, while Mountain, not having been told any of this, fought until the bitter end and lasted into the seventh round. The gamblers would like their money back, thank you very much. And Maish isn't much of a friend to Mountain if he's willing to do this to Mountain.

Army tries to get Mountain some work post-boxing, and takes Mountain to the state Department of Labor, where he gets Grace Miller (Julie Harris) as a case worker. She doesn't really know how to help somebody like Mountain, but she feels an animal attraction toward him -- at least, that's the only explanation I could think of, since there's no other logical reason for her to go above and beyond the call of duty to try to help Mountain. She's got a couple of friends who run a summer camp, and might be able to use Mountain as one of the phys ed instructors.

Maish wouldn't be having any of that if he finds out. He knows a wrestling promoter who could get Mountain a truly degrading job doing fixed wrestling matches where Mountain dresses up as an Indian while his opponent dresses up as a cowboy and they alternate which one wins on any given night. Mountain doesn't want to do this, but Maish is his best friend, or so he thinks.

Requiem for a Heavyweight is one of those grown-up dramas that, despite being about a boxer, really isn't about the action. It's much more an intelligent movie that actually requires some thinking and engagement on the part of the viewer, and is dependent on the performances of the actors as much as it is on the plot. Thankfully, we get a series of fine performances here from all four of the main players.

The production design also captures the thoroughly inglamorous world behind professional boxing as, after fighting for 17 years, Mountain has almost nothing to show for it. He's living in one of those fading apartment hotels, going to cheap bars for his drinks and meals. No pretty women hangers-on for Mountain.

If you want an intelligent movie, then Requiem for a Heavyweight is one that I can highly recommend.