Knockout

In his first lead role stalwart actor Arthur Kennedy displays a cocky confidence as Johnny Rocket in Knockout, a film he carries into the late rounds before getting KO'd by an improbable but B picture demanding finish. It has early nor promise.

Johnny Rocket' s got a promising career as a fighter but calls it quits to avoid going punchy. After getting shortchanged on purchasing his contract an unscrupulous manager (Anthony Quinn) lures him back to the ring where his ego and a rich reporter dame get the best of him before he careens down hill.

Director Clemens does what he can most of the way with Knockout before it does so giving it a good pace with a pair of economic montages that move the story along and develop character. Quinn presents a suave snake and there is a performance of note by Cornel Wilde in a minor role but little support is offered from Olymbe Bradne's frozen performance as his wife and Virginia Fields jaded temptress.

There are newspaper headlines aplenty in this Bryan Foy produced programmer, but Knockout remains an above average 'B' film that will satisfy bottom of the bill fanciers. Arthur Kennedy stars as Johnny Rocket, a talented young pugilist who's got his eye on a new bride and a new job at a gym. But crafty manager Harry Trego(Anthony Quinn) soon intercedes in an effort to keep Rocket's golden gloves performing in the ring. Nicely shot by Ted McCord, the film is at its best when Rocket's life hits bottom when he gets in over his head with the smart set and wife Olympe Bradna leaves him. Bradna, a Frenchwoman, is the film's weak link, as she's unable to contain her Parisian accent whilst trying to portray the first generation daughter of a Brooklyn-based Italian immigrant. If you can overlook her shortcomings, however, you'll find this a satisfying example of the lost art of 'B' grade filmmaking.

Knockout is as you gather a boxing film fresh from the Warner Brothers B picture unit from Bryan Foy. It has the distinction of having three actors all of whom had long careers in the cinema, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony Quinn, and Cornel Wilde.

Kennedy is the star here, a rather arrogant young prizefrighter full of himself and thinking no one can lick him. He's going to get out of the fight racket before he becomes a punch drunk stumblebum. But he's got a young wife to support in Olympe Bradna so he reluctantly continues his career under a new manager Anthony Quinn. Wilde plays the decent young man who would like to get things going with Bradna, but she can only see Kennedy.

I think this film was once again something intended for James Cagney, but even Cagney with his street charm would have been hard pressed to make the character that Kennedy plays likable and sympathetic. Quinn as manager does do Kennedy dirt, but you almost can't blame him for what happens.

Kennedy and Quinn do manage to rise above their material and you can see why they became stars. Wilde just isn't given anything to work with and you can see Warner Brothers dropped him when he went off to World War II. No hint of the magnetism he showed later on when he became a lead.

There are a couple of other nice parts, Virginia Field as a smart mouth gossip columnist who starts her own gossip with Kennedy and Cliff Edwards as Kennedy's corner man.

Knockout had some potential, but it essentially remains a knockoff product from Warner Brothers assembly line.

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, if they said the name Johnny once they said it more than a thousand times in this short 73 minute cheap boxing film. Arthur Kennedy plays an arrogant boxing champ Johnny Rocket and his manager is a street smart guy named Trego, played by Anthony Quinn who likes to pick the round that Johnny can win or possibly lose his fight in. Of course Johnny has a couple of dames falling in and out of love with him, just like how Johnny goes down then up in the boxing ring until the doctor calls him out for good.

The film lacks everything except the script writing that is consistent with repeating the boxing champs first name "Johnny" over and over and over again to ad nauseam.

This is a cheap B movie at best and Arthur Kennedy is most difficult to envision as a winning ring pugilist. I give the film a 3 out of 10 rating, at the count of 10, you are OUT Johnny!

This is clearly a B-movie. Even though made by Warner Brothers and having a bit more glitz than many Bs, it's clearly a B when it comes to the script. While it's not true of all Bs, most were very hastily written. After all, they were intended as a second feature--a lesser film with a lesser budget. "Knockout" is a B, as the script is clearly slapped together. It lacks subtlety and makes a HUGE mistake--it has a leading character that is simply unlikable. So, when the fat-headed boxer (Arthur Kennedy) is working his way up through the rankings, you just don't care. He's arrogant and selfish--and those are some of his BETTER qualities! With good writers, this might have been toned down a bit and softened, but here the script just doesn't work--nor is it all that convincing that Kennedy could be a boxer (Kennedy?!).

Despite this serious problem, is the film worth your time? Well, aside from the bad leading character, the film still has serious writing problems--one of the worst of which is naming the boxer 'Johnny Rocket'! And this is supposed to be his REAL name! And the characters are pretty much one-dimensional. The long-suffering wife is 'nice', the boxing promoter is manipulative, etc.--all caricatures, not realistic people. Again, this is not all that unusual for a B, but good Bs don't do this. Predictable, a bit dull and hard to like...this is not a recipe for entertainment!