Champion

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Champion, which was released in 1949, is a precursor to Raging Bull as it shows a man whose anger fuels his boxing but makes him unfit to exist with the rest of society. What we see here, as opposed to Jake LaMotta in the Martin Scorsese film, is that the main character suffers injustices earlier on that bring his violent and selfish aspects to the forefront. The title of the film is ironic because the price to pay for becoming a champion sometimes is one’s humanity. The movie was based on a Ring Lardner story, and although Mark Robson is the director, producer Stanley Kramer was very involved in the production, directing the fight sequences. 

Kirk Douglas became a star after this movie, earning an Oscar nomination for his role of Midge Kelly (the first name sounds like the offensive term “midget” which is not what the boxer is physically, but he is short on integrity and unselfishness). Midge’s rise in popularity which thrusts him into the spotlight where the cheering is loud makes an already large ego stretch to intolerable size. The film starts with Midge as a very popular champion, but the public image of him is very different from what those close to him know. After the announcer says Midge emerged from extreme poverty to reach his celebrated place atop all other contenders, we then get a flashback of how he came to this point.

Midge and his brother, Connie (Arthur Kennedy), who uses a cane because of a bad leg, but turns out to be more upstanding than his brother, are riding a boxcar when they are mugged by other men on the train. After jumping and being thrown off, they catch a ride to Kansas City with a boxer, Johnny Dunne (John Daheim), who has a bout in Kansas City. His girlfriend, Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell) has disdain for these two hitchhikers. The brothers say they have plans to open a sandwich shop they bought in Los Angeles. At Dunne’s suggestion, they try to get jobs serving drinks at the arena where the fight is to be held, but the boss there won’t hire outsiders. When he calls Midge’s brother a “gimp, Midge gets rough with the man and bottles of soda are smashed, showing how explosive Midge’s temper can be. While the altercation is going on, one of the fighters in a preliminary bout is removed by the doctor because of a cut around his eye (a foreshadowing). When the Kelly brothers are brought in by security, the manager, who needs a replacement, sizes up Midge and says they won’t owe for the broken bottles and can make thirty-five dollars if Midge goes four rounds in the ring. Midge agrees.

Midge doesn’t know anything about boxing and swings wildly while getting knocked around by his opponent, but he hangs on for the four rounds. Dunne’s girlfriend seems to enjoy Midge's torment and acts dismissive when he exits the ring. Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart) stops Midge and says he has “a lot of guts,” and says he’ll manage him if he is in LA and goes to Bradey’s Gym. Midge is not interested after the beating he took, but Haley says there can be a lot of money to be made in boxing. When Midge goes to collect his money he only gets ten dollars because of fees. Angry at being cheated, Midge punches the arena manager before running away from the other men present.

The brothers get rides to the sandwich shop in LA. They think they bought a piece of the restaurant from a guy who turns out to be a crooked worker that the real owner, Lew (Harry Shannon), fired. Since there is a “Help Wanted” sign posted in the window, Lew gives them jobs cleaning dishes and tables, along with room and board. He tells the brothers to stay away from his daughter, Emma (Ruth Roman), who is a waitress there. Midge eventually flirts with Emma and convinces her to meet him at the beach in the evening. His brother sees them together. He is in the background, literally and figuratively in relation to the bigger-than-life Midge. Midge starts to kiss Emma and she says that he’s like “the rest of them,” which means that men in her past only wanted physical gratification. He says he’s “special” and she calls him “conceited,” so she knows what kind of person he is. But, she submits to his kisses, seemingly unable to resist his powerful masculinity. 

Emma asks Midge why he isn’t happy and he talks about what it was like to be so poor that he knew what it was like to suffer from hunger. He notes that his father ran out on them and his mother couldn’t take care of both brothers so she sent him to an orphanage. Emma also had a parent leave, her mother, but she says her hate for her turned to understanding. His father leaving formed his cold, practical view of what is needed to get by. He dreamed of becoming rich but in a way for him it’s a revenge fantasy for getting back at those that hurt him. He sees life as an “every man for himself” survival test. He looks to make something of himself and gain respect for all of those years that he was marginalized.

Lew is angry about Emma coming in late and says he might have to fire the Kelly brothers if she is going to carry on like her mother. She continues to sneak around to be with Midge. However, when she brings up marriage, he shows that is not part of his selfish plans. He dodges the issue by saying he doesn’t have any money so it would be bad timing at the present to consider matrimony. But Lew is there with a gun and imposes what amounts to a shotgun wedding probably to make a “honest woman” of his daughter in these unevolved times. Midge looks miserable and angry during the wedding ceremony. He most likely sees the situation as a big obstacle of responsibility along his path to success. Emma says she didn’t want a marriage this way, but says she can make him happy, which is all she really wants to do. Her unselfishness is met with just the opposite behavior as Midge runs out right after the ceremony. Lew only cares about what looks like “the right thing” to do, and appearances mean more to him than his daughter’s happiness, Connie tries to console Emma, but she is bitter from the hurt of rejection. Connie tries to advocate for Emma, but Midge says she and her father worked together to trap him. He automatically creates conspiracies because of his past as he sees himself as the victim in all cases. He says he’s “tired of being pushed around,” which is the large chip he carries on his shoulder. Since Midge is the dominant brother, Connie goes along with him, even when he knows Midge isn’t doing what’s right.

They see a sign for Bradey’s Gym, which is where Tommy Haley told Midge to go if he was in LA. At the gym, there are many boxers working out, trying for that chance to gain fame. Haley tells Midge he’s retired and is sick of boxing. His comments resonate with discussions today concerning sports injuries. He warns Midge that the blows to the head can “scramble” one’s brains, and maybe even kill a man. He notes that boxers get paid for the kind of brutality that if it was done on the street, those involved would be arrested. As he speaks, a man walks by, looking feeble and using a cane, which suggests he used to be a boxer and he sustained the damage that Haley is talking about (more foreshadowing). Midge rightly calls Haley on his hypocrisy, asking him if he’s so down on the game, why does he hang around the gym. Haley admits it’s like an addiction to him as he still likes seeing two good fighters showing their skills. Midge dismisses Haley’s suggestion that he get a regular job, since Midge knows that with his background and lack of viable skills, he will just remain poor. His passion about making a lot of money for the both of them wins Haley over.

Haley states that he will only manage Midge for bigger contests, which suggests that he has to make it worth his while to get back into a business that lately disgusts him. So, Midge will have to work very hard at learning how to fight at a higher level of competition. There are several shots of Midge doing calisthenics and jumping rope. Douglas was in prime physical condition when he did this film, and his muscular physique and abilities are on display. Haley says what amounts to the destructive purpose of boxing, which is to work until one’s bones hurt so the fighter can “learn to break the other guy’s bones.” As his words are spoken, Midge is throwing punches, and it looks like he is punching the camera, which in effect, means he is punching the audience. The effect is to show that encouraging this gladiatorial behavior means advancing violence in society. 

Midge has his first fight under Haley and he knocks the opponent out. During the match Connie is disturbed when he sees the look of rage on Midge’s face. After the bout, he tells Midge that it looked like he would have killed the other boxer if he had the chance. Midge questions if there’s anything wrong with that. He sees the desire to destroy as necessary to make it in boxing. It is for that reason that Connie admits that he doesn’t like the business Midge is now in. But Midge makes a cynical but accurate observation about the nastiness of capitalism when he says, “It’s like any other business, only here the blood shows.” Connie also feels as if Midge is trying to take out his anger on a stranger for how badly he has been treated in his life. He says Midge wants to hit, “all the guys that ever hurt you.” Connie is the ethical heart of the story, and represents Midge’s conscience that the boxer will not listen to. Midge now only hears the cheers of the crowd that validate his existence which occur only when he brutally vanquishes another man. Boxing becomes a symbol for a culture that rewards winners not through accomplishments that help others but by crushing those that are less cruel. Midge is drunk on power and tells Connie to breathe in that sweet smell of success, and that they are not “hitchhiking” anymore; they are the ones doing the “riding.” The movie suggests that when competition becomes extreme, there are only winners and losers.

Connie has been sending letters to Emma, but they all come back as returned mail. Connie still cares about what has happened to her and is worried because he can’t get in touch. In contrast, Midge never mentions her. Midge wins a series of fights around the country and winds up back in Kansas City where he had his first four round bout. He gets the twenty-five dollars owed to him from the manager who cheated him back then, exacting some revenge. Midge makes enough money to help out his mother, so he isn’t totally selfish. Haley says that he’ll also take some beatings along the way, and we see Midge knocked down, but he continues to win. The number one contender is Johnny Dunne, the man who Midge met in Kansas City and which led to Midge’s initiation into the fight game. It has been three years now and Midge deserves a shot at Dunne. But the gangsters running the fight game want Midge to throw the contest so Dunne can take on the worn-down current champion and win. Midge is justifiably outraged at the unfairness of the situation, but Haley says that if he doesn’t cooperate, his career will be ruined. The corrupt nature of the boxing business is displayed here where even if a boxer endures the savage nature of the sport, others in power still can deny him his earned rewards. Haley tells Midge he’s the best fighter he ever had, but says he has to lose the bout with Dunne to continue to fight.

At the boxing match, Midge sees the same condescending blonde, Grace Diamond (whose first name here is ironic, since she has no grace except superficially and certainly has no spiritual quality. Her last name tells us what she is after). She was with Dunne in Kansas City. She now sits with an older man who looks like a bigshot and whose name is Jerry Harris (Luis Van Rooten), a fight manager. The uppity appearance of the two infuriates Midge. Instead of losing, Midge knocks out Dunne in the first round. Haley knows they are in trouble, and tries to get Midge out of the arena quickly. But the goons working for the gamblers attack Connie and Haley, and, although he does a good job of defending himself, Midge is outnumbered, and is also beaten. The press paint Midge as a hero who defied the crooked men running the boxing game and rightly earned a shot at the middleweight title. A female newsperson interviewed Midge and found him to be almost shy, so skilled is Midge at presenting a positive image of himself. He uses the press, as many have done since, to optimize his brand, and he tells Connie and Haley they have the public and the media to back up his defiance of the gangsters. 

Midge gave his phone number to Grace and she calls Midge. He not only wanted to beat his opponent he also wants to score a conquest over the woman who was his rival’s girlfriend. It is all part of his vengeful drive to feed his ego by showing those who did not value him that he is a winner. When they meet, she tells Midge that Dunne is in the hospital after the beating that Midge doled out. Such is the extreme nature of the effects of losing in this game. When Midge tries to kiss her, she smacks him saying she invested a lot of time in Dunne and he can’t just walk in and expect to be the winner that “takes all.” She is willing to be with Midge as long as he realizes that she is an expensive companion. In her own way, she has no compassion in her selfish quest to succeed financially. 

Grace meets with Harris. She finds out that to square things with the gangsters Midge would have to put up $130,000 to the gamblers who bet on Dunne, or else Midge will be blacklisted. Grace wants Harris, who we learn she was involved with despite Harris being married, to put up the funds if she can get Midge to change managers. That way Harris can cash in on Midge's success. Grace won't return Midge’s calls, making him so desperate to see her that he will agree to her terms. She says he can’t get a fight because of the men running the game, despite the fact that he is popular with the people and the press. She urged that he meet with Harris before, but he refused. He says he has a manager, but she smartly says, “You’ve got an appendix, too. But it’ll never make you rich.” Midge seems loyal, saying Haley gave him the opportunity to be a success. He says he won’t talk to Harris, but we next see him in Harris’s office. They look out of his upper story window and Harris says that the people on the street look very small. He says that there are only two types of people, “the big and the little,” and Midge has the rare opportunity to change places and become “big.” We again have the size metaphor employed. Harris is espousing the same alternatives that the fight game offers, and, by extension, what is also found in a competitive society. Harris pitches that he will handle Midge’s money so that he can retire before he goes into physical decline. Harris also tells Midge he’ll always be called “Mister,” offering the respect that Midge always wanted. Midge capitulates and accepts the money Harris offers that allows him to get fights again, with Harris as his new manager.

Haley finds out in the newspaper that Midge was given a fight for the championship, which is strange since Haley is his manager. But he realizes quickly that Midge doesn’t want him around anymore, and he knew the kind of opportunistic person Grace is. So, he admits he shouldn’t be surprised because of the shady way the boxing business works. He asks Midge if he knows what a golem is (which is a creature made from clay, an imperfect substance). Haley says he created one, likening himself possibly to Dr. Frankenstein and Midge as his monster. Connie doesn’t accept the ends justifies the means argument that Midge offers as the reason to ditch Haley for Harris. He says that nothing stands in his way, implying that everyone else is disposable, since Midge disposed of Emma, Dunne, and then Haley since they were obstacles, not people to Midge. Midge tells him nobody is keeping Connie there, and he is abusive as he tells Connie he’ll have to make it on his own for a change. Connie says he would rather go because he didn’t like waiting until he would be the next to be dismissed. Midge has turned into what he hated, a powerful person who has no time for those further down the food chain.

Connie tracks down Emma who is working as a server at a restaurant. She has taken several low paying jobs along the way, and she has been discarded by her harsh, judgmental father, Lew, who remarried. So, she knows what it’s like to be rejected, but, she hasn’t lost her ability to feel for others. She never divorced Midge because the wedding ring kept her company as a fantasy to fight off loneliness. Connie says he came on his own, not at Midge’s bidding to ask for a divorce. Despite admitting to how he has romantic feelings for Emma, Connie also says his mother is ailing, and if Emma would come to help her, she will probably meet up with Midge again. Because of his unselfish ways, Connie is willing to give Emma another opportunity to be with the narcissistic Midge. 

Midge wins the title fight, getting in a punch after the bell rings in one round while falsely acting regretful as he pretends he cares about fair play. He meets Dunne after the fight, who has healed and is making a comeback. Harris introduces Midge to his young wife, Palmer (Lola Albright), who Midge is immediately attracted to. The two dance, and Palmer says she is a sculptor. She wants Midge to be her model so she can make a sculpture of him out of clay (which goes along with the golem reference that Haley made). In answer to his question, Palmer says she married Harris because her family had lost all their money and she married Harris based mainly on economics. In a way, she compromised herself, just like Midge, to rise up out of poverty. He is very sure of the sexual impact he is making on her. After posing for a session, he starts to twist off the head of the sculpture of himself in a symbolic defiance of someone wanting to control his body. He also tells her she has been with statues too long, suggesting that she needs a real man. She says she doesn’t fall in love easily, so she doesn’t want to just be a fling for Midge. The whole scene seems to reference the Pygmalion myth, where the statue of a woman comes to life for the artist. But here, ironically, it is more of a match made with a monster. 

Grace confronts Midge and is angry because now he is the one not responding to calls. She says they are supposed to get married, and Midge drops the bomb that he is already married. He says their relationship was mutually beneficial since Grace has furs and other things that he gave her. But Midge isn’t really independently wealthy as Harris lent him money for his lavish lifestyle, showing how he still is indebted to others. Midge is nasty to Grace, saying how she isn’t sophisticated, and doesn’t know about sculpture or the other arts. He is now getting his revenge on her, as he says she “dumped” him and now he is “dumping” her. With him, life is always about payback. 

Midge knows how to work the media by hiding his nasty side as he acts humble while accepting the Athlete of the Year award, saying they are applauding the sport and not him. The film shows how good looks can present a facade that hides the ugliness underneath. When asked when is he going to fight Dunne again, he deflects the question by being funny. He says he has defended his middleweight title four times and is tired because he just had to fight a “tough steak.” 

In contrast to Midge’s enjoying the spotlight focused on him, the story moves to his mother, Margaret (Esther Howard), sick in bed, as Emma and Connie are the ones actually present to take care of her while not thinking of themselves. The mother still wants to believe that her boxer son is “a good boy,” and will be home soon. Connie continues to reinforce the illusion about Midge’s good intentions, but when he and Emma are alone she wants to face reality about Midge. The mother may have a physical illness, but Emma says that she and Connie have a psychological addiction to Midge’s charismatic personality. She says she now feels cured of it, but worries that Connie is still kidding himself about making excuses for his brother. She shows how she has developed feelings for Connie, who finally no longer feels he is betraying Midge, and the couple embrace.  

At Harris’s office, he is writing another check to support Midge’s expensive lifestyle as Midge has gone to extremes to make up for his impoverished past. Palmer is there and Harris admits to his wife that he knows about her relationship with Midge. She says, like the other women before her taken in by Midge’s infectious charm, that it isn’t just an affair and that she is going to marry Midge. Harris is immune to any such sway that Midge has, and tells Palmer that he sees Midge for what he is, just a “bargain basement” guy under the surface. He tells her he will show her what kind of selfish man he really is. Midge shows up to get his check. Harris says he will forget all his debts and will allow Midge to take the whole purse in the fight he has scheduled with Dunne if Midge stays away from Palmer. Midge now acts like he shouldn’t have come between Palmer and her husband, as he presents a moral side after the financial fact that allows him to profit from doing the right thing. Palmer, like Emma and Grace were, is shocked and hurt by Midge’s cold actions.

Midge’s ego still has room in it to clearly see risk to his situation. Harris warned him about Dunne’s comeback. Midge contacts Haley and pays him what he owed him for his advances of funds while he managed Midge. It is a way for him to ask Haley to prepare him for the Dunne fight. Midge offers his former manager ten per cent of the prize money, which is a disrespectful sum to pay the man who made him successful. Midge always wanted respect but he has no problem disrespecting others. Haley will only do it for a third of the purse which is what a manager usually receives. But Midge needs some time to finally return home since he received a telegram from Connie that states that their mother is dying.

Midge arrives home, but he doesn’t even make it in time to see his mother before she dies. Typically, he doesn’t seem contrite about not seeing her even though a while back he told Connie that all he cared about was their family. After Connie tells him that Emma is going to divorce him and she and Connie will marry, Midge looks relieved, thinking it’s a good idea. That is until he looks into the eyes of the beautiful Emma again, and then he puts on an act that will delay the wedding, thinking that his presence will persuade Emma to come back to him. He says that he knows that his fight against Dunne will be tough. He mentions that Haley is back with him, which shows Connie that Midge may be changing his discarding of people along the way. He says he wants Connie and Emma to join him to add to the support for the fight. He notes that it might be his last bout, which appeals to Connie, who never liked the fight game. To add pathos to his pitch, he says their mother would have wanted them to be together again. But, for Midge, his wanting Emma back is just a way to win another contest, this time with his brother as the competitor and Emma as the prize. 

At the training camp Midge keeps trying to win over Emma with his flashing smile and bodybuilding, but she keeps avoiding him. When the training is over and he is alone with Emma, he says there is still that spark between them. He kisses her and she responds, and it is implied that they have a sexual encounter. Connie enters Midge’s locker room before his fight and he is in a rage himself this time. He says that Emma has left and he knows his brother betrayed him. He calls Midge “worse than a murderer. You’re a grave robber.” Midge overkills by continually hurting the same people. They fight, and Connie hits Midge with his cane, a symbolic act that shows he no longer will be handicapped by his association with his brother. But Midge is the boxer, and knocks Connie down, with no guilt about using his unfair advantage.

The story now returns to where it began, in the ring for this championship fight. In the attendance are most of the people Midge has wronged: Connie; Haley; Grace; Harris; Palmer. Midge’s invulnerability is crumbling here as witnessed by the beating he takes as the bout proceeds. Dunne gets in a punch after the bell at one point, which reminds us of how Midge did the same thing to another fighter. The suggestion here is what goes around comes around. Dunne opens a cut over Midge’s eye (reminiscent of the boxer who was sidelined because of a cut around the eye, and possibly symbolic of Midge’s failed moral vision). The facial pounding he sustains creates an ugly visage, revealing the monster that hid behind the handsome mask. Midge gets knocked down repeatedly, but refuses to give up. He hears the radio announcer say that Midge is “through,” and “all washed up.” That rage against being marginalized ignites his adrenaline. He gets up and knocks out Dunne. But back in the locker room, Midge shows signs of brain damage (which is what Haley warned about) as he thinks he is talking to Connie after he won his first fight and how they won’t be hitchhiking anymore. It's as if his future is still ahead of him, as he declares that he can beat those that mocked him in his past, while in fact he and the fight business have turned his dream into a solitary nightmare. He then collapses.

Emma shows up at the arena after hearing about Midge’s injury. Haley comes out of the locker room and says Midge died from a brain hemorrhage. Before Connie and Emma walk off together, a reporter asks Connie to say something about his brother. Connie seems prepared to spill all the ugly truths about Midge, but Emma touches his arm. Connie, always going high while his brother went low, doesn’t betray Midge in death. He says he was a “champion.” That he was, but only within the brutal confines of the ring.

The next film is Silver Linings Playbook.