Punhos de Ouro

I just caught this movie on TCM not long ago and it features some of the best boxing sequences ever filmed. Starring Mickey Rooney, Ann Blythe and Brian Doneley. Mickey Rooney was in top form here and was very good in this film. It's easy to see why he was and is one of the most loved actors of all time. The movie is entertaining from beginning to end. Another great boxing film that also starring Mickey Rooney along side Anthony Quinn is Requiem For A Heavyweight made in 1963. (I believe that was the year.)Mickey Rooney plays the boxer's sympathetic trainer and is also very good in this one. Check Killer McCoy out the next time it plays on TCM.

A slum kid fights his way to the top despite an alcoholic dad and a bunch of tricky gamblers.

MGM does a boxing movie, not exactly its usual glamorous fare. And though the movie suffers in comparison with the gritty, noirish classics of the time, Body and Soul (1947) and The Set-Up (1949), Rooney lends a kind of manic energy that remains compelling. In fact, the film's shrewdly cast, from bit parts to leads, making it easy to overlook the film's theatrical over-tones. Sure, it's a vehicle for Rooney, to toughen his Andy Hardy image, but the producers have surrounded him with a first-rate cast, and a pretty good story that's got just enough twists to carry past the many clichés.

My favorite parts are surprisingly some of the talky parts—the two gamblers Tully and Donlevy, each thinking he's outfoxing the other; or the two boxers Rooney and Steele, buddying up in the nightclub after their match; or a cynical Rooney finding out the chippie waitress does have more on her mind than casual sex. Each is cleverly written and expertly performed. I just wish Rooney had hooked himself to a generator where all that energy could have lit up a city.

No, the movie's neither memorable nor a boxing classic, but it does make it as 100-minutes of colorful entertainment.

In the first few minutes of Killer McCoy, Mickey Rooney sings, dances, shoots some sharp pool, shows a range of emotions, and takes his shirt off to work a speed bag. Now I finally understand why he was able to get busy with Ava Gardner. He's a total stud.

This cynical boxing movie features fine work from Sam Levene, Brian Donlevy and Tom Tully, plus some showy acting from James Dunn.

Problem starts when Ann Blyth shows up. As with most gritty movies that shoehorn in a love interest, it falls apart quickly. We have to sit through a romance montage. And the movie loses its focus, turning into a chick flick where Rooney and Donleavy are focused on protecting the sweet, innocent Blyth. Snooze-O-rama.

What started out as a cynical look at poverty and the choices we make to escape it, ends up so soft and rounded and middle America it could have been made by Disney.

This 1947 boxing flick, seems to have been an attempt by MGM to save the career of their former top box-office attraction, Mickey Rooney, by toughening up his image. Had the script been better, and the direction more interesting, they could well have succeeded.

The 27 year old Rooney couldn't play kids any more, and so MGM cast him as a young man literally fighting his way out of the slums by becoming a boxer. And he's very convincing in the role. He was always a sensitive performer, but this time he displays a maturity and a restraint that is remarkable. He is really listening and giving his all to his fellow actors, and so to the audience.

And he has some great actors to work with. The entire cast is very strong, but special mention should be made of the excellent Brian Donlevy, and, most especially the brilliant James Dunn. Playing Rooney's washed-out Vaudevillian father, Dunn is truly unforgettable - making the character both immensely likeable and totally loathsome.

Apart from the performances we also get some very nicely filmed, and exciting, boxing sequences. On the downside, the script is rather ordinary, the ending a bit sappy, and the direction unimaginative. But the film is well worth seeing for Rooney and Dunn at their best!

This is Mickey Rooney's first true adult role, just a year after his final appearance as Andy Hardy until a final film in the 1960s. This entry has lots going for it, not the least being a terrific performance by Rooney as the title character. At age 27, Rooney was trying to rid himself of MGM's image and McCoy was probably a godsend role for him, bridging the squeaky-clean image that he had with something a bit more adult. Rooney here is still boyish and starts the films as the dutiful son of a no-good drunk father (James Dunn) and a mother who literally works herself to death providing for the family and making excuses for her wastrel of a husband.

The local priest, as an act of charity, tells Rooney and Dunn about a need for a song and dance number to open for a fight that night with the job paying ten dollars. After the fight, Rooney says he'd like a turn at the winner, and he does manage to knock the guy out. This causes someone who sees the fight to take him under his wing and teach him the ropes of the trade. At one point down the line Rooney kills a guy with his punch and that earns him the nickname "Killer".

All the while Mickey's dad is causing problems - drinking heavily, running up big debts to gamblers that eat up the purses that Mickey wins, until his dad sells Mickey's contract to a crooked gambler (Brian Donlevy) who is living a double life that includes a daughter nobody knows about who is attending an elite finishing school (Ann Blythe). Complications ensue, not the least of which is that Rooney's father has a big mouth in the presence of the wrong people about everything that is going on.

Look fast for Shelley Winters in a non-speaking bit as one of Rooney's groupies as he trains for a championship.

What I've described sounds pretty formulaic except maybe for the crooked gambler living a double life, but it is very well done and is an excellent showcase for an adult Rooney in an adult role. He's convincingly hard boiled when he needs to be. The only thing negative I can say is how the conclusion seemed rushed - like the writers really didn't know quite how to end it.

Strangely enough, Rooney and the director of this film had a big argument on the set about how bad Rooney's acting was which caused him to walk off the set. Rooney angrily recalled the incident 50 years later when Robert Osborne interviewed him on Turner Classic Movies. Osborne sat perfectly still while Rooney ranted about the situation, later saying he was afraid Rooney would have hit him if he moved or spoke.