Cinema Revisited: The Wrestler (1974)

Directed by Jim Westman. Cast: Edward Asner, Elaine Giftos, Verne Gagne, Billy Robinson, Sam Menacker, Harold Sakata. Released February 15, 1974.

Low budget indie production from Verne Gagne's old American Wrestling Alliance territory, this is a real curio now. Made back when pro wrestling was being sold as legit, and not considered "sports entertainment," this low budget B movie has a cheap, aggressive feel that makes it something of a throwback to the old poverty row dramas.

Verne Gagne plays Mike Bullard, a wrestling champion who is considering retirement. But first he wants to have a wrestling Super Bowl tourney where champions from other territories battle each other in a series of matches. Bullard believes that he would win, be named the finest wrestler in the world, and can the retire with that ultimate satisfaction.

British wrestler Billy Robinson plays Billy Taylor, a young hotshot from the UK who stands in Bullard's way. He is a more-than-competent shoot wrestler who works his way up to a big match against Bullard, where each man needs to prove something.

For name value, the film features Ed Asner, then popular on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which was set in Gagne's home of Minneapolis. He plays a promoter who deals not only with the wrestlers' troubles, but must hold things together when there is a death in the ring, and the sportswriters ignore it; exhibiting the dismissive attitude that legit sports had with wrestling at that time. Retired wrestler Sam Menacker is impressive as a mobster who wants to make bets on matches via odds that could result in a big payday. Menacker had done some film work in the old days (he appears in "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" and "Mighty Joe Young," among others) so he pulls off the mobster role effectively. And, because wrestlers are essentially actors, Gagne and Robinson are effective playing extensions of themselves. Elaine Giftos is the femme attraction -- pretty, competent, given little to do. Sarah Miller as Bullard's long suffering wife is quite good, and should have been given more footage.

There are some fun set pieces involving Reggie "The Crusher" Lisowski, Dick "The Bruiser" Afflis, Dick Murdoch, and Dusty Rhodes. Harold Sakata of the James Bond classic "Goldfinger" has a neat cameo, and a young rookie named Ric Flair can be seen in some shots.

For wrestling fans who remember these grapplers from 50 years ago, the nostalgia element is at the forefront. Most of these men have passed on, but they once represented the very best of the "sport."

On its own level, "The Wrestler," works as a 70s-era B movie with a pretty basic script, point-and-shoot direction, a hollow soundtrack, and blurred shots (it looks like it was blown up from 16mm). It is simple, and oddly entertaining, its abrupt editing seeming almost arty in its presentation of wrestling's ambiguity.

"The Wrestler" is not great cinema by any means. But it is a good movie on its own terms. It is obvious that everyone involved is working hard to make a decent film, each of them committed to their roles. A serious narrative with comic set-pieces, and an earnestness in its attempt to maintain the illusion that wrestling is real, "The Wrestler" represents a lot of elements that have long since passed us by.

It should be noted that the similarly titled Darren Aronofsky film, starring Mickey Rourke, is not a remake.