Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)

Robert Wise, who directed the classic boxing noir The Set-Up in 1948, also made this 1956 biopic about the life of Rocky Graziano, a one-time juvenile delinquent from New York's back streets who became World Middleweight Champion. Paul Newman, though in the thick of his mannered, Method approach to acting in those days, is wonderful as the impoverished young Graziano, who finds success in the ring through a combination of talent, hope, and tenacity. The script by Ernest Lehman is layered with well-meaning social-consciousness and observations about the effects of poverty, but that is less impressive than cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg's outstanding footage of fight scenes. Steve McQueen and Robert Loggia made their screen debuts with this film. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Upbeat rags to riches ring saga

Director Robert Wise helmed the great boxing movie The Set-Up , a work scathing in its depiction of the seamy side of the sport .Somebody Up There Like Me takes an altogether more positive view of the noble art and is a thorougly entertaining biopic about Rocky Graziano .Graziano is splendidly played by Paul Newman making his second picture ,after the debacle that was The Silver Chalice,a movie that could have strangled his screen career at birth ,so bad was it .
Rocky was born in the slums of New York ,the son of a boxer whose own career stalled through several losing bouts with the bottle .In and out of trouble with the law as a youth and into young manhood ,encompassing a strech in reform school ,a dishonourable discharge from the Army and a spell in Leavenworth .Rocky eventually finds a route to success through prowess in the ring .He is taken under the wing of a small time manager ,Irving Cohen (Everett Sloane) and begins to build a career in the fight game and get some wins under his belt .He meets and falls in love with Norma (Pier Angeli)before eventually getting a title shot at champ Tony Zale
Newman spent some time with Graziano studying his speech patterns , mannerisms and movements as well as doing intensive physical preparation for the role .It paid handsome dividends as the performance of a tongue tied and likeable man was exceptional .Angeli gives a sensitive performance as do Eileen Heckhart and Harold J Stone as Rocky's parents and Sal Mineo as his childhood buddy .The luminous black and white photography by Joseph Rillenberg deservedly garnered him an Oscar

This is a spelendidly enjoyable movie and should appeal beyond the circle of boxing enthusiasts .I unresevedly recommend it . October 19, 2007

The story is in the tradition of a number of fifties movies about delinquency and rebellion...

Newman does succeed in capturing the familiar Graziano mannerisms: the crude, New York-Italian accent; the mumbling; the sneers and pouts; the gay and perky walk, with huddled shoulders and shuffling feet... He has a nervous energy, wiping his mouth and nose with his fingers, rubbing his hands together, scratching his neck, and dancing around in one place, as if constantly facing an opponent in the ring...

This perpetual motion--even when he is seated--suggests a potentially explosive force that naturally finds release in fighting, and it contrasts with the generally listless movement of Brando and Dean... The role is tremendously showy, and it gives Newman a chance to play an extrovert, as contrasted with his character in "The Rack." And whereas his soldier was an intelligent man, his Rocky is almost subhuman, a purely physical being...

The film follows Graziano's impoverished childhood in New York's East Side slums, where he grows up in the streets, among hoodlums and gangs... His father (Harold Stone), a disappointed, third-rate ex-boxer, takes out his frustrations by drinking and by beating up Rocky; his mother (Eileen Heckart), is an unhappy, nervous wreck...

As a result, Rocky becomes a brutal delinquent, spending most of his youth in reformatories and prisons... Defiant, impulsive, striking out with his fists at anyone, he is seemingly incorrigible... Even the Army can't tame him--he punches an officer, goes AWOL and is sentenced to hard labor--but in prison he learns that he can turn his hatred into a living: instead of fighting the world he can punch one man at a time in the ring... He becomes a successful fighter, marries a devoted woman, Norma (Pier Angeli), and eventually makes it in the world, becoming middleweight champion...

The story is in the tradition of a number of fifties movies about delinquency and rebellion... Newman's portrayal of Rocky as an inarticulate teenager is similar to Brando's motorcyclist in "The Wild One," who also rebels against anything convenient and practical... But unlike the Brando character, Rocky develops from a causeless rebel into someone with a clear goal--to become a respected member of society--and this strong ambition allies him with many of Newman's subsequent characters...

In "The Rack," Newman says he's "half my father's disappointment--half' my mother's hope," and the situation here is the same... Alienated from his vicious father, he runs out "to be something," and strikes back at the world... Their final confrontation, in which each recognizes his responsibility toward, and need for, the other, is a powerful moment; and the two reaching awkwardly for each other recalls the car scene in "The Rack." Another affecting scene is his mother's visit to him in prison, where she says he must help himself... This prefigures the mother-son confrontation in "Cool Hand Luke," except that in the latter, both realize that the rebel cannot change, whereas here there's hope that Rocky will "turn the leaf."

Newman effectively portrays Rocky's sincere but clumsy attempts at tenderness with Norma; in subsequent films he would play many men who have difficulty being tender... Rocky is made even more sympathetic by his genuine concern for a fellow hoodlum (Sal Mineo), whose idolatry of Rocky as a father-figure evokes the similar relationship between Mineo and James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause."

January 15, 2007

at least it made paul newman a star

i had always been intrigued by the idea of the gorgeous paul newman playing pug rocky graziano, and after finally seeing this movie, i remain wondering "what were they thinking?" newman does a fine job, but it still strains credulity to be watching him as (even a young version of) the man people of my generation best recall as merv griffins punchy sidekick. the movie itself is a decent straight biopic, and if youre a boxing fan, you will probably enjoy it.
December 5, 2006

Luther Vandross' Favorite Film

After James Dean's death, MGM insisted that the griefstricken survivors, Sal Mineo and Pier Angeli, fulfill their contracts, which they did unwillingly under penalty of law. As Romolo and Norma, Mineo and Angeli are uncharacteristically subdued, and in the judgment of MGM executives uncooperative. In a draconian moves, studio brass cancelled both their contracts shortly afterwards, and the careers of both actors were to plummet. Poor Pier Angeli left this world without regret, the victim of Hollywood excess and a suicide bid that told her fans there was no life left in her after James Dean. And of course the world knows what happened to Sal. The James Dean "curse" continued even into this film, in which he did not participate beyond some early script discussions with Ernest Lehman and director Robert Wise.

As a sidenote, several obituaries noted last year that SOMEMODY UP THERE LIKES ME was the late R&B master Luther Vandross' favorite movie and as a boy he caught it several times at revival houses, putchasing a VHS tape as soon as it was available. Odd because, for a boxing movie, there isn't much of a black presence in this film. (Chris Rock has said that ROCKY is his favorite film, even though, he says, it should be called APOLLO!)

When Luther worked with David Bowie on the UK singer's YOUNG AMERICANS album, his soul-drenched influence can be felt on the sizzling track, "Somebody Up There Likes Me," which contains some wonderfully inspirational lines reminiscent of the Wise film: "He's so divine/ His soul shines/ Breaks the night/ Sleeps tight." Funny the way a movie from way back in the 1950s showed up, twenty years later, in Bowie's "soul America" LP. November 11, 2005

GREAT PAUL NEWMAN FILM

This is a great boxing film starring Paul Newman. The acting is good (Paul in his early method acting era), the fight scenes are great and the story is great.
WHY IS THIS NOT ON DVD?????? CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN???
Im assuming there must be a legal lawsuit, dispute reason because if they have Showgirls VIP Edition out on DVD, it's a travesty to not release this!
I mean i can't even find it on region 0 from some Asian DVD Distributor

This is not an AMAZINGGG FILM THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY, and it was certainly overshadowed by the popularity of Rocky with Stallone, but this film is based on a true story which makes it very engaging and Paul Newman is the man. I had to purchase this on VHS from Ebay brand new but I got a great deal. You do not have to be a fan of Newman to enjoy this because its a great film anyway December 30, 2004

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