The Big Chance

Boring, workmanlike programmer boxing film fails to deliver on its punches. Not that it doesn't try to dump buckets of melodrama on the masses, but the boxing footage sucks, there's no star in sight (except Rooney, who's very touchy-feely with all the boxers for a spunky little boy!) and the prevailing mood is drek. Standard mobsters inspire the boxer to make the usual decision to win the "big fight" despite the fix, although in this case there's no consequence to the boxer. A loser.

This B-feature has a solid if largely familiar setup, and the story line is all right, though rather predictable. But in many other respects, this could have been a better movie. The production values are quite weak, and most of the characters are strictly one-dimensional cardboard figures. The script has a couple of good moments, but many more dry stretches.

The story centers on a young boxer who is made the beneficiary of a series of fixed fights, so that a crime boss can get him a championship fight. Along the way, the boxer gets a girlfriend of whom the boss disapproves, and she and her younger brother cause complications as the big fight approaches.

There's little new in the story, but such a story can easily lead to enjoyable drama with a decent cast and production. But except for Hank Mann, who does a solid job as the boxer's loyal trainer, and a very young Mickey Rooney, who shows some energy as the girlfriend's younger brother, the cast is adequate but generally nondescript.

The production values are also noticeably low. Except for a briefly entertaining verbal exchange during the opening bout, the boxing scenes don't work well at all, as they consist mostly of low-quality stock footage being edited together in a generally unconvincing fashion with shots of the actors attempting to look as if they are boxing. The script also misses some opportunities, prematurely resolving some potentially interesting tensions, and wasting time on a digression with a vamp hired by the boss, which leads to little of dramatic interest.

It does move fairly quickly, and it lasts less than an hour. And there are certainly worse things you could do with your time. But there are a great many movies, even those with limited budgets, that work much better than this one does.

The trouble with this old film, is that the basic premise has been done so many times since. The underdog with the final chance of glory or redemption gets to do so in the end. Most noticeably of all in the first 'Rocky' film and all the following (far too) many sequels.

I saw this on a '3 Classic Films on 1 DVD' cheapie and none of them were classics of any description! But they did pass the time amiably and this one was the shortest running of the three. For the time it was made and the minuscule money spent, it works well enough.

Taken from an old (out of copyright) print, the DVD copy here skipped in parts and some dialogue was lost but not enough to make any difference, films were made fast and cheap in the old days! This would have been very much a B-movie filler when it was made, like the straight-to-video/DVD of today and it would be unfair to expect too much of quality there.

There is more interest here in the sexual mores of the day, a police officer coming over to the hero's car while he is with his girlfriend, telling him not to 'carry on.' He was kissing her...

Or the 'bad girl' in the film, name of 'Babe,' who really is a floozy as she is still sleeping in bed in late morning. What a complete slut! lol. Of course, this was movie shorthand for the time, that this was a wicked woman who was no good. How times have changed when they want to show how bad a woman can be nowadays.

This is a production of the Morris Shiller Company—a minor entity indeed. However, in the opening credits I saw two reasons to stick with the film—Mickey Rooney (in one of his earliest roles) and J. Carroll Naish—two actors that can almost make anything worth watching---well, maybe not this one! The film begins with a fixed boxing match. I was surprised that although they did film footage of a fight, they also used stock footage in a clumsy attempt to cut costs. From here, the story becomes a pretty standard film about the boxer falling in love with a sweet girl and wanting to give up his crooked life. Naturally his 'friends' don't like this and eventually resort to a kidnapping to keep the boxer in their clutches. But, naturally, by the end all is swell.

The problem with this film is that it just isn't particularly exciting to watch—a definite problem with a boxing film. Poor acting and a sluggish plot don't help any and it's a pretty much forgettable film aside from Rooney. As for Naish, well, he did go on to better things.

The Big Chance were it not for the presence of 13 year old Mickey Rooney in a supporting role would have been consigned to the Hollywood dustbin years ago. The film was produced by a poverty row outfit called Eagle Studios and it shows.

Johnny Darrow who plays the lead is a young boxer who's being built up as a contender by a crooked promoter with a series of set up wins. The promoter Matthew Betz has it in mind that Darrow get a match with the champion and then it would be Darrow's turn to dive. Just make it all look good.

Things do go awry when Darrow meets and falls for country girl Merna Kennedy who starts keeping company with him even though she has a bible beating father who when he first meets Darrow objects to him doing road work on the Sabbath. Kennedy's younger brother Mickey Rooney comes to idolize Darrow as well, all of these people not realizing Darrow is not on the up and up.

The Big Chance will follow in the normal parameters of boxing films. If this had been done at Warner Brothers James Cagney would have been the star. Its lack of production values don't warrant it given much of a rating. However with the presence of the eternal Mick in the cast The Big Chance will be preserved and seen for generations.