The Set-Up

Simply put, this is one of the all-time best boxing films. It is the story of a washed-up prizefighter (Robert Ryan) that, wanting one more “last chance,” goes into the ring not knowing that he has been set up by his manager to take a fall. When he is finally told this, his pride and self-respect will not allow him to lose and the resultant consequences are devastating.

Ryan, who had been a boxer early in his life, is superb in this role. So is the highly under appreciated Audrey Totter as his long-suffering wife who only wants a normal life for them.

Robert Wise, who would later win Oscars for “West Side Story” and “The Sound of Music,” gets every detail correct in this look at the seamier side of the boxing world – from the seedy neighborhood and fight arena to the reactions of the bloodthirsty crowd. He also shot the movie in “real time,” a technique whereby the events of the story occur in approximately the same amount of time as the film itself.