Gary Dennis’ New York City Movie Place

This is the best way to honor a legend, watch some of his best work. This the way I want to remember Paul Newman. Absolutely.

This was another constantly viewed picture at the store. It had 4 important elements; great acting, great script, great boxing scenes and great location shooting in the New York of 1956. In fact it was all shot here. As far as bio pics go I am sure that there is a great deal of glossing over but that does not mean that the hero of the picture is portrayed as a wonderful guy.

“This the way I remember it” is a quote from Rocky Graziano in the opening credits. The story is of his rise from street thug to world champion prize fighter. He was a Mike Tyson for the late 40’s, a guy who learned to fight on the street. The picture shows Mr. Graziano’s (whose real last name was Barbella) home life and abusive drunken father. In fact the picture opens up with a fairly disturbing scene of the father, a failed prize fighter himself, boxing a very young Rocky while being egged on by a bunch drunken “friends”. When his skill is questioned by one of his drinking buddies the father lets loose and sends Rocky out into the night with a bloody nose and a greater hatred towards his father. This of course leads to a life of crime and nothing but trouble.

The years pass as do many criminal acts and many encounters with the law. Rocky has become notorious in his lower eastside neighborhood. He has also grown into Paul Newman. While walking down the street with his cohorts (which includes a young and uncredited Steve McQueen and the ever tough Sal Mineo) the camera leads them through the crowd. At one point they pass a stoop where a man calls out (in a heavy New York / Italian accent) “Hey bigga man, who you gonna rob now huh?”. Beautiful touch as it speaks volumes about the neighborhood and Rocky.

Rocky is finally caught and sent to a reform school and then to Rikers Island for a long stretch where he starts to hone his fighting skills. Upon his release however he is picked up immediately, as he gets off the ferry yet (as there was no Rikers Island bridge at that point), for Army service. World War Two has begun and is in full swing. Not being able to tolerate the structured life of the Army, Rocky goes AWOL. Once back in his old stomping ground he discovers that he can make quick cash as a sparing partner for boxers at Stillman’s Gym. This is where he is discovered by the world weary, former ladies lingerie salesman, manager Irving Cohen (Everett Sloane). After accidentally knocking out the boxer he was only supposed to spar with, Irving realizes that this could be the boxer of a lifetime. Being AWOL from the Army, Rocky assumes a different last name and the road to greatness, all though incredibly bumpy, and a stretch at Leavenworth where he really hones his boxing skills, lies ahead.

The beautiful Pier Angeli is Norma, the nice girl who Rocky falls in love with. Introduced to Norma by his sister Rocky at first feigns disinterest. They meet again as she starts to head home to Brooklyn and Rocky ends up taking her all the way home after initially just walking her to the subway. This was one of the few films Miss Angeli made in Hollywood. She worked primarily in Europe after getting her start in Italy at age 16. Just before her tragic end at age 39 in 1971 Miss Angeli wrote that James Dean was the only man she ever loved. Her mother intervened in their romance because James Dean was not Catholic. It was such a shame that this beautiful talented actress did not work more here.

Not for young kids as there is some violence, the boxing is tough but that first scene is pretty rough. I however saw this film when I was quite young when they used to show movies (real movies-not made for TV movies) on TV. However the things I most remembered about it was that first scene, the relationship with the father and all the location shooting that was done here. I also remember thinking that Rocky was not the most wonderful guy in the world. As I grew older, watched more of these bio pics, I figured out that there was a huge amount of glossing over done to the real stories. Glenn Miller, as portrayed by James Stewart in The Glenn Miller Story was the nicest guy in the world. Everybody loved him. I read one story however, that there were members of his band that cheered when Miller’s plane was reported missing. So I always take these films with a grain of salt the size of a grapefruit. This picture does not gloss over too much. Every thing looks dirty and sweaty before Rocky hits the bigtime. And I am sure, just on the basis of it’s being there in a main stream Hollywood film of the 50’s that the child abuse was real (and probably worse in real life). I am sure that Mr. Graziano was guilty of many crimes that went un punished, that he was probably not the most wonderful human being that ever walked down the street but if the movie portrays his reality half way close to the truth, then you can understand (not forgive) Rocky Graziano for his indiscretions.

This is a great picture, one of the better bio pics made during the late golden age of Hollywood and obviously an influence on Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull.

Sunday October 12^th at 8:00 PM on Turner Classic Movies.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Set Your Recorders, Drama, New York, True Story, Tribute. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.