Winner Take All

I have a prejudice about boxing films. I prefer films that show the ugly side of the sport...the damage being done on the boxers and the corruption among those staging the fights. However, "Winner Take All" is one that is a bit more idealistic...to a point.

Steve (Tony Martin) is oddly cast as a cowboy who is stranded in New York City when the rodeo folds. He's forced to wait tables and soon he becomes slightly famous when he agrees to box in a charity match. He does great and soon he has an agent and is going professional. Steve does great...though his head has begun to swell AND he doesn't realize his matches have all been set-ups where his opponents are paid to take a dive! Will Steve ever receive his comeuppance? And, if he does, what is he doing next?

This B-movie is full of cliches and is pretty easy to predict. This isn't a terrible thing but don't expect any surprises. And, like most Bs of the 1930s and 40s, a nice timepasser but nothing more.

Tony Martin was stranded in New York when the rodeo he was appearing in went bust. He gets a job waiting at Henry Armetta's deli/restaurant. Armetta is trying to raise money for a local club for the young people, and is given the idea of running an event. When one of the boxers can't appear, Martin steps in and gets a surprise KO of his opponent. Despite the advice of newspaperwoman Gloria Stuart, he signs a contract with Robert Allen, who builds him up for a few matches by paying off his opponents. When the crash comes, Martin is out in the cold.

There's a lot of warmth for the variety of urban people in this 20th Century-Fox B movie directed by Otto Brower. That's at least partially because Sol Wurtzel could call on a lot of talent in front of the camera, like Slim Summerville, Kane Richmond, Pedro de Cordoba, and Gino Corrado, and also behind it. It's because of that, and the solid financials of series like the Charlie Chan and Jane Withers movies, that producer Sol Wurtzel, despite his reputation as one of the worst vulgarians in Hollywood, ran such a lively B division.