Cinema Revisited: The Harder They Fall (1956)

Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jan Sterling, Rod Steiger, Mike Lane, Jersey Joe Walcott, Edward Andrews, Max Baer, Harold J. Stone, Nehemiah Persoff, Herbie Faye, Jack Albertson. Released March 31, 1956. Running time: 109 minutes.

Humphrey Bogart may be the vintage Hollywood actor who has been in more all-time classic movies than anyone else. He spent his career playing everything from snarling gangsters to heroic good guys, and all points in between. "The Harder They Fall" was his final film, and contains one of the best performances of his long, illustrious career.

Bogart plays a former sportswriter whose newspaper has folded, leaving him out of a job. His penchant for edgy, controversial articles have blackballed him from journalism. In an effort to remain connected, relevant, and solvent, he hooks up with crooked fight manager Rod Steiger and agrees to act as the promo man for Toro -- a fighter from Argentina who has a large, commanding presence, but no discernible skill. Toro's fights are fixed, Bogie sells him as a human wrecking machine, and Steiger profits. Eventually Bogart does right by the fighter, who is being passionlessly used by the evil Steiger and his henchmen.

Dying from the cancer that killed him a year later, Bogart valiantly powers through his remarkable low key performance, offering a real dichotomy to the scenery-chewing Steiger. While Bogie's background is from classic Hollywood cinema, Steiger was a student of the method and it is a real contrast in styles that relate effectively on screen. One can only imagine what kind of energy was necessary from the ailing Bogart when he angrily confronts Steiger and calls up emotional capabilities he was still able to summon, even this late in his life and career. His brow is sweating, his eyes are watering, but Bogie maintains his anchoring presence, and commands each scene in which he appears.

Director Robson uses the negative space in each scene to show Toro's loneliness and unsettled presence, and smartly casts actual former boxers like Jersey Joe Walcott and Max Baer in roles that suit their talents. Both of these athletes had innate acting ability. Baer plays the smug, cocky champion (he was still in great shape despite being middle aged at the time of filming) while Jersey Joe is the kindly trainer who genuinely cares for Toro and has none of the cynicism of his employers. When Toro finally gets a shot at the title, in a fight that isn't fixed but nets big money for Steiger and company, the beating he takes from Baer is brutal. As he recovers in his dressing room, Robson offers a shot of a teary-eyed Walcott that caps the scene.

Bogart culminates his screen career by having his sportswriter character give Toro his own share of the loot (the fighter's take is less than 50 bucks due to fixed bookkeeping), and puts him on a ship headed home. Steiger is furious, but Bogie is unafraid, planning to write a series of articles exposing corruption in the seamy underbelly of the fight game.

The story for "The Harder They Fall" was adapted from a book by Budd Schulberg, which was based on the life of fighter Primo Carnera. There are boxing historians who believe much of Carnera's early success was due to fixed fights of which he remained unaware. Thus, Carnera tried to sue the filmmakers for insinuating he was involved in fixed fights. He lost his suit.

To single out "The Harder They Fall" as among the best films featuring Humphrey Bogart is pretty high praise when considering "Dead End," "High Sierra," "The Maltese Falcon," "Casablanca," "Key Largo," "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "Deadline USA," "The African Queen," and even the film previous to this, "The Desperate Hours." But this quintessential actor's swan song deserves that praise.