Requiem for a Heavyweight

******SPOILERS****** Getting knocked out by Cassius Clay in the seventh round proved to be the end of the line for former heavyweight contender Louis "Mountain" Rivera, Anthony Quinn. After the fight in Mountain's dressing room the fight doctor checking the damage to his left eye tells his manager and trainer Maish and Army, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney, that he can't allow Mountain to fight anymore. The next punch to his head can very well bind or even kill him.

His brains scrambled his fists busted in danger of losing his eyesight 17 years in the fight game is all the battering that Mountain's body could take. Now after 17 years it was time for Mountain to hang up his boxing gloves and go into another line of work, but what kind of work could Mountain do? Unknown to Mountain and his trainer Army his manager Maish had given the Ma Greeny mob the word that his fighter won't last more then 4 rounds with the young and hard hitting Cassius Clay and they place a lot of money on the tip that Maish gave them. Mountain going more then 4 rounds with Clay cost the Greeny mob big and it was up to Maish to come up with the money by the end of the month or else Maish won't ever have any need for money again. Without Mountain being able to fight anymore the only way Maish can get the money for the Greeny mob is for Mountain to become a professional wrestler and thus making a joke of himself entertaining the public. This time instead of taking punches Mountain will be taking laughs.

Rod Serling's hard hitting screen-play about the fight game and how it chews up and spits out those who are in it like Louis "Mountain" Rivera when it no longer has any use for them. Touching performance by Anthony Quinn as the broken down Mountain who has to humiliate himself by being a clown in the ring as a wrestler after being a proud warrior in the ring as a boxer. Also very moving is Julie Harris as Grace Miller the social worker who does her best to get Mountain a job as a youth consular only to have him lose it by getting drunk celebrating getting it.

As hard hitting as the punches thrown in the ring and as powerful as those boxers in the ring taking them. Mountain makes a fool of himself to save his crooked managers, Maish, hide so he could have the money to pay back the mob that he owes them, but that ended his friendship with Maish. It also educated Maish about being honest and loyal to those who trust and depend on him which is something that he didn't know about up till then. The film ends with Mountain swallowing his pride and accepting what fate had in store for him.

It's easy to pick out Jack Dempsey and Muhammed Ali, but there are many others in the cast. The movie fades in on a tracking shot running the length of a hotel bar, examining the faces of a bunch of retired boxers watching the Clay-Rivera fight on TV. In order of appearance: Alex Miteff (wearing a beret), Abe Simon (with an eyebrow bandage), Gus Lesnevich (holding a cigarette lighter), Steve Belloise (bald guy; he later plays the hotel bar desk clerk in a short exchange with Mickey Rooney), Rory Calhoun (black guy with a beer), Paolo Rossi (big Italian-looking guy with a beer), Willie Pep (wearing a fedora), and Barney Ross (the older guy in the suit, sweater, and tie).

This Rod Serling written story originally was televised on the old CBS Playhouse 90 program which was live TV. This film produced by David Susskind sticks pretty much to the Playhouse 90 version with a few variations and a couple of characters. Anthony Quinn seems more like a heavyweight than Jack Palance did for one thing and the individual that Maish Rennick is in debt to is also more colorful than in the Teleplay. Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris are as good in their roles as the actors who were in the Teleplay. The ending is slightly different and I found it to have more stark realism than the Teleplay. Check out the fighter that Mountain is in the ring with when the film starts.

I don't think I had ever seen this movie from beginning to end before but had the chance to do so when it came up recently on a cable channel. One feels, after watching it in its entirety, as one does after having listened to Mahler's 9th symphony - you are emotionally drained and devastated. The movie is Exhibit A in the prosecution's case that movies were better made in the past than today. It is impossible to imagine something this excellent being produced today. The movie makes no plays for cuteness or humor, and never seeks to soften its razor-sharp edges. It is grittily real from beginning to end. Actually, it surpasses reality, as all great art does, in letting us look starkly into the cruel realities of human existence. The acting is absolutely top-notch from all the leads. One is reminded that Jackie Gleason, after all the eye-popping excesses of "The Honetmooners" (as great as that series was, for what it was) was a truly superb actor. I cannot think of a movie in which Anthony Quinn surpassed himself in his role as Mountain Rivera - tough, beaten up, beaten down, loyal, honest and yet with a sensitive core deep within. Mickey Rooney shines just as brightly. The script is brilliant, economical, realistic, and revelatory of the characters; we forget just what a brilliant writer Rod Serling was. Of course one of the reasons the movie could not be made today is that it forgoes the obligatory happy ending (which was used, evidently, in the TV version); the movie follows its dark logic all the way to the final, devastating scene.

A sad, heartbreaking, and somewhat disturbing story. Quinn is totally believable as Mountain Rivera, a boxer who, perhaps, has been in the game too long and finds himself forced out. While his world-weary cut man (Rooney) is protective of him to an extent, his manager (Gleason) only views Rivera as a paycheck. An unemployment agency staff person (Miller) sees something in Rivera that prompts him to go above and beyond the call of duty to help him get a job. All of the leads are extremely good. It appears that most of the film takes place in the dark, highlighting the seamy side of boxing. The only daytime scene is when Rivera visits the unemployment office, and even then, it appears that the place has no windows to see outside. The office is just as closed up and restricted as Rivera's limited choices after his career ends. The actress who portrayed the underworld figure that Rivera's manager has a connection to was appropriately evil and creepy. The very last scene, filled with a sense of finality and resignation, is powerful.