THE SET-UP [1949 / 2019] [Blu-ray] [Warner Archive Collection] [USA Release]
The Boxing Movie To Lick All Others! Burns With Humanity!
Boxing Wednesdays. Wrestling on Fridays. Stoker Thompson is on Paradise City’s Wednesday card, fighting after the main event. Stoker Thompson has been 20 years in the game and is sure he’s just one punch away from big paydays. But there’s one thing Stoker Thompson doesn't yet know: his manager wants him to take a dive tonight.
‘THE SET-UP’ comes out swinging as one of the great films about the so called sweet science. Robert Wise directs, shaping real time events into an acclaimed and unsparing film noir look at the stale air venues, bloodthirsty fans, ring savagery and delusional dreams of boxing’s palooka [an inferior or average prize fighter] world. Robert Ryan embraces perhaps his finest screen hour as Stoker Thompson. Audrey Totter, an icon of the “film noir” genre like Robert Ryan, plays Stoker Thompson’s steadfast wife. In a sport that would take their last flicker of dignity, the Thompson’s are reclaiming theirs.
FILM FACT: The ‘THE SET-UP’ was the last film Robert Wise made for RKO Radio Pictures Inc., and he named it his favourite among the pictures he directed for the studio, as well as one of his top ten during his entire career. The screen adaptation included a number of alterations to the original text. The protagonist's name was changed from Pansy Jones to Stoker Thompson, his race was changed from black to white, he went from being a bigamist to being devotedly married, and his beating and subsequent death on a subway track was turned into an alley assault and a shattered hand. The opponent's name was changed from Sailor Gray to Tiger Nelson. In an audio commentary accompanying the 2004 DVD release of the film, Robert Wise attributes the change in the protagonist's race to the fact that RKO had no African-American star actors under contract. Although the film did have an African American actor James Edwards in a minor role as another boxer, James Edwards was not a "star" under the then existing studio rules. Joseph Moncure March later commented in an Ebony interview, saying: “not only [did they throw] away the mainspring of the story, they evaded the whole basic issue of discrimination against the Negro.... Hollywood’s attitude to the Negro in films has been dictated all too often by box-office considerations: they are afraid of losing money in the Jim Crow South. Robert Ryan, who was cast as Stoker Thompson, had boxing experience from his time at Dartmouth College, where he was heavyweight champion for four years in a row. Robert and Sid Rogell had first thought of Joan Blondell to play Julie, following her performance as Zeena Krumbein in Nightmare Alley, but RKO Radio Pictures owner Howard Hughes refused, saying. "Blondell looks like she was shot out of the wrong end of cannon now." Dore Schary, the uncredited executive producer who got the project going at RKO before his 1948 move to M-G-M, is credited with giving the film a real time narrative structure, three years before the device was used in High Noon. Viewers are shown the passage of time throughout the film.
Cast: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter, Wallace Ford, Percy Helton, Hal Fieberling, Darryl Hickman, Kevin O'Morrison, David Clarke, Phillip Pine, Edwin Max, Herbert Anderson (uncredited), Larry Anzalone (uncredited), Phil Bloom (uncredited), Burman Bodel (uncredited), Herman Boden (uncredited), Ruth Brennan (uncredited), Helen Brown (uncredited), John Butler (uncredited), Andy Carillo (uncredited), Lillian Castle (uncredited), Jack Chase (uncredited), Noble 'Kid' Chissell (uncredited), Bud Cokes (uncredited), Heinie Conklin (uncredited), Gene Delmont (uncredited), Abe Dinovitch (uncredited), Paul Dubov (uncredited), Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig (uncredited), Dan Foster (uncredited), David Fresco (uncredited), Joseph Glick (uncredited), Bernard Gorcey (uncredited), Vincent Graeff (uncredited), William E. Green (uncredited), Bobby Henshaw (uncredited), John Indrisano (uncredited), Michael Jeffers (uncredited), Maxine Johnston (uncredited), Dick Johnstone (uncredited), Donald Kerr (uncredited), Jess Kirkpatrick (uncredited), Joseph La Cava (uncredited), Mike Lally (uncredited), Richard LaMarr (uncredited), Archie Leonard (uncredited), Frances Mack (uncredited), Dwight Martin (uncredited), William McCarter (uncredited), Mathew McCue (uncredited), Walter Merrill (uncredited), Lynn Millan (uncredited), Frank Mills (uncredited), Ben Moselle (uncredited), Tommy Noonan (uncredited), Anton Northpole (uncredited), William J. O'Brien (uncredited), Brian O'Hara (uncredited), Jack Perry (uncredited), Jack Raymond (uncredited), Al Rhein (uncredited), Frank Richards (uncredited), Walter Ridge (uncredited), Tony Roux (uncredited), Sammy Shack (uncredited), Carl Sklover (uncredited), Emmett Smith (uncredited), Everett Smith (uncredited), Billy Snyder (uncredited), Ray Spiker (uncredited), Jack Stoney (uncredited), Arthur Sullivan (uncredited), Brick Sullivan (uncredited), Charles Sullivan (uncredited), Harry Tenbrook (uncredited), Ralph Volkie (uncredited), Charles Wagenheim (uncredited), Gay Waters (uncredited) and Constance Worth (uncredited)
Director: Robert Wise
Producers: Richard Goldstone and Dore Schary (uncredited)
Screenplay: Art Cohn (screenplay) and Joseph Moncure March (from the poem)
Composer: Constantin Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography: Milton R. Krasner (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Blank-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 72 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: RKO Radio Pictures / Warner Archive Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE SET-UP’ [1949] portrays the final fight in palooka pugilist Stoker Thompson’s [Robert Ryan] career. While Stoker Thompson’s wife Julie Thompson [Audrey Totter] implores him to give up the ring, and Stoker Thompson’s simple credo and mantra is of the “fighters gotta fight” keeps him tied to the squared circle. But Stoker Thompson is in the dark about this particular fight – his manager has promised a gangster that Stoker Thompson will take a dive, but too bad he didn’t tell Stoker Thompson.
This boxing film clearly is one of the sports that proves itself a total cinematic excellence time and time again. Over the years, many of them have been seen as prestige, having been a big presence ever since the days of the silent film. For many, they think it all started with the film ‘Rocky.’ But, no, the likes of director Alfred Hitchcock with his silent film ‘Ring’ and you should seek it out. There of course was Stanley Kubrick that had touched it before with his boxing film ‘Day of the Fight’ [1951].
Now enters legendary filmmaker Robert Wise and his film ‘THE SET-UP’ and if you are into films/film history on boxing, then watching the film ‘THE SET-UP’ is still somewhat of a marvel still in the 21st century boxing genre.
Technically, the Robert Wise film ‘THE SET-UP’ proves very entertaining in many modern aspects and his coverage in the boxing match is quite thrilling and almost ringside or for the perspective of the referee. Robert Wise gets many great frames of an artful look as well as a dirty, beaten one. There’s also the joy that one of the fights featured in the film goes for almost a full half hour and the way it is paced and told in the story is very entertaining as well.
Robert Wise portrays the parallels of the wife Julie Thompson who skips the fight and the fighter trying against the odds. Surprisingly it is as much the wife’s story as it is the palooka fighter. And one would think this era may have forgotten Julie Thompson, who is shown in an interesting way on the night of the fight.
‘THE SET-UP’ is pretty terrifically set up itself. Without the hand of Robert Wise behind the camera, who knows if it would have stood the test of time? But, to his testament, it does. If you are into boxing or sports cinema, you should really go back and check this possibly long forgotten film out and is well worth the effort and is definitely a forgotten classic gem of a film.
THE SET-UP MUSIC TRACK LIST
A TOUCH OF TEXAS (1942) (uncredited) (Music by Jimmy McHugh)
A LOVELY WAY TO SPEND AN EVENING (1943) (uncredited) (Music by Jimmy McHugh) [Played in the film score]
SPEAK YOUR HEART (1938) (uncredited) (Music by Allie Wrubel)
SIDEWALK BOOGIE (uncredited) (Music by Roy Webb)
PARADISE (1931) (uncredited) (Music by Nacio Herb Brown) [Played in the film score]
THE NEARNESS OF YOU (1938) (uncredited) (Music by Hoagy Carmichael) [Played in the film score]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Archive Collection presents us the film ‘THE SET-UP’ boasting a “Brand New Remaster” of the film. One could assume it is a 2K transfer. It looks lovely. Pretty clear, sharp and crisp with solid detail work throughout. Grain seems to have been left in place for the most part. It moves smoothly and cinematically and is probably the best we could ask for at this juncture. There is decent depth, especially with the amazing film restoration. Blacks are pretty decently saturated and time to time can carry a heavy grain. There is a good accentuation and help with image definition as well. Skin tones keep a nice white and grey tone throughout the black-and-white film. Facial features and textures are pretty decently captured in close ups. Some of the make-up effects show up really well in medium shots. So all in all, Warner Archive Collection have done some sterling work on making this film to look like it was made today and gets a five star rating from me.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Archive Collection brings us the film ‘THE SET-UP’ with an excellent 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience and gives us an audio track that is a very solid one and pretty decently polished sounding given the age of the film. There is also a nice analogue hiss as ambiance throughout. Aside from that, the only thing against it is how well the recording process and sounds were done at the time the film was made, as recording techniques were not as sophisticated like today’s recording. Despite this, vocals are clear and crisp with a faint hiss in the background. Again Warner Archive Collection have done some sterling work on making this film sound really good for today’s audiences and gets a five star rating from me.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Director Robert Wise and Director Martin Scorsese: Here we are introduced to Director Robert Wise and Director Martin Scorsese to talk about the film ‘THE SET-UP.’ Robert Wise informs us that at the time of the film he was working for RKO Radio Pictures Inc., and was sent the script for ‘THE SET-UP,’ and read the script and was very keen to direct the film, as he felt it was a marvellous story and had marvellous characters, and mentions about the poem by Joseph Moncure March, who in fact wrote two different long monologue poems, but Robert Wise was more interested in “The Set-Up” poem. At the start of the film you see the clock at 9:05pm in the street and Robert Wise uses this to emphasise the start of the actual time length of the film and especially when we see this same shot at the end of the film that shows the clock again, again to emphasise the length of the film. Also when we see all the people at the start of the film, all waiting to go into the boxing arena and buying their tickets, you see the camera gliding around all the people, well Robert Wise wanted to keep the camera moving like you view, so it looked fluid, and also did not want the people we view to feel very conscious of being filmed. At that point, Martin Scorsese comes in, and mentions that he saw this film in 16mm at the Washington Square College, and talks about other boxing films he has seen to compare them against the film ‘THE SET-UP.’ Martin Scorsese also comments on the film, saying it was an allegory of a world of chaos in life, like when the guy on the Arcade machine trying to secure the flask, but fails to win his prize. Robert Wise explains the reason why Robert Ryan was cast as the boxer Stoker Thompson, because originally they wanted an African American to play that character, but none were available at the time and the bonus out of this, was that Robert Ryan was under contract with RKO Radio Pictures Inc., and Robert Wise thought he was so ideal for the character Stoker Thompson. Robert Wise also talks about why he chose to film in black-and-white, because he feels it gives the film a lot of atmosphere like he did when he directed the film ‘The Haunting,’ and feels the same about the film ‘THE SET-UP’ and is one of his all-time favourite film, and especially he feels it his No.1 film out of the 10 other films he directed for RKO Radio Pictures. Robert Wise also comments about saying that youngsters today want all films to be in colour and they so not understand the aesthetics of filming in black-and-white and I put the blame it squarely on video games for this outcry in my opinion. Martin Scorsese says that the film depicts the reality of boxing, especially showing shirts that are slightly dirty, and feels that the talk you hear in the dressing room is what they talk about before the boxers go out to performing in the ring, like what Martin Scorsese would experience in New York and the Bowery, which of course is a street and neighbourhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. And especially shows what happens to Stoker Thompson when he is down on his luck. Martin Scorsese also feels Robert Wise is a master in directing films and especially with this one, where he does not waste a shot, and he feels Robert Wise has done this with this film and really pulls you into the action you are viewing with this film, and Martin Scorsese wishes the Robert Wise magic would rub onto him. But what Martin Scorsese really likes when directing his films is the editing process and loves to control an audience when viewing one of his films, and sometimes he likes to linger a lot on a particular scene, whereas other times he likes quick sharp editing. When we see Stoker Thompson’s wife Julie Thompson walking around the streets and finally stops on the bridge and looks down at the rail tram working, Martin Scorsese thinks that editing is really superb, and especially when she tears up the ticket and how it falls onto the rail tram going underneath her. When Stoker Thompson finally enters the boxing ring, Robert Wise informs us that they only had a certain amount of people in the audience, and when doing different shots, would move people around to make it look like it was a full house. When Robert Wise wanted to start shooting the film, suddenly RKO Radio Pictures had a complete shut down for some unknown reason, and Robert Wise wanted to get the film down and leave RKO Radio Pictures for good, as his contract had finished, but they tried to offer him an option to stay on, but was not interested, but then suddenly everything was back on track, and when Robert Wise had finally finished the film, left RKO Radio Pictures and escaped. With the dramatic fight scene in the ring with Robert Ryan, Robert Wise had three cameras strategically placed around the ring, so they were able to capture the whole atmosphere of Stoker Thompson fight for his life. But with some close-up shots around the ring and the boxers, they used hand held cameras, so they could capture the expressions of everyone and also the perspiration on everyone’s faces. Robert Wise says that with the boxing bout in the ring, they had to have a lot of rehearsals to get it all looking realistic and they brought in Johnny Hindrosano, who was an American welterweight boxer whose career spanned the period from 1923 to 1934 and helped to choreograph the boxing bouts in the ring. Martin Scorsese feels the fight scenes are very realistic and makes you feel you are actually there watching the boxing match and also experience everything as it happens, and especially experiencing the pain and suffering of the two boxers, and especially get the feeling of all the hard hitting punches the boxers are experiencing and that is why Robert Wise is such a brilliant director. When martin Scorsese was directing the film ‘The Aviator’ [2004] he especially made a lot of the cast watch ‘THE SET-UP’ and the next morning they all came to him to say the film was a total masterpiece and of course Martin Scorsese said each time, “I know,” and sort of laughed to himself. Robert Wise informs us that he showed ‘THE SET-UP’ in competition at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, but at the same time they showed in competition the Kirk Douglas boxing film ‘Champion’ [1949] and got much more attention and more reviews than the Robert Wise film, but despite this, ‘THE SET-UP’ got very good reception. Billy Wilder came up the Robert Wise and told him he had seen his film and said if the film had been made in either France or Italy it would have got rave reviews. But when Martin Scorsese comes back again, he just keeps doing his usual rambling on about nothing of interest, even though he is talking about certain scenes in ‘THE SET-UP.’ Again, Robert Wise comes back near the end of the film, and again informs us that out of all the films he directed for RKO Radio Pictures ‘THE SET-UP’ was his all-time favourite he directed. As the film finally comes to an end, Robert Wise says, “This is Robert Wise and wants to thank you for watching ‘THE SET-UP’ film.” And as the camera pulls back for final scene in the film, you once again get to see the clock, which says 10:14pm, by indicating the time length of the film. And so ends quite an interesting audio commentary with lots of fascinating in-depth about the film ‘THE SET-UP,’ despite at times you get lots of silent gaps in the audio commentary.
Finally, Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray release of the Robert Wise film, ‘THE SET-UP’ and was a film to be a very influential film for many other directors to follow. ‘THE SET-UP’ comes out swinging as one of the great films about the so-called darker and seedy side of boxing. Robert Wise directs, in shaping real-time events into an acclaimed and unsparing film-noir look at the stale-air venues, bloodthirsty fans, ring savagery and delusional dreams of boxing’s palooka [an inferior or average prize fighter] world. Robert Ryan embraces perhaps his finest screen hour as Stoker Thompson. Audrey Totter, an icon of the “film noir” genre, plays Stoker Thompson’s steadfast wife. In a sport that would take their last flicker of dignity, the Thompsons are reclaiming theirs at the bitter end of the film. And while the bonus extras seems sadly light, but the audio commentary with Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese is an interesting bonus to this Blu-ray disc release. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
