In another few years coal miner turned boxer turned actor Charles Bronson would have been perfect to star in this film which was almost autobiographical in his case. Like Jeff Chandler in this film, Bronson was brought up in the Pennsylvania coal mining country and took up boxing before acting as a way out of some dire poverty. Chandler plays coal miner Coke Mason who only wants to earn enough money to start a business and get married to Evelyn Keyes. But his brother Stephen McNally sees a future in Chandler's fists and wants to manage him. Chandler has one thing that can't be taught. He has a murderous punch and a killer instinct in the ring. Lots of fighters have that, two of the most prominent were Jack Dempsey and Rocky Graziano. In fact in that aspect this version of Iron Man is close to the Graziano film Somebody Up There Likes Me.The main weakness in the film is there is no real explanation for why Chandler is such an animal in the ring. Especially since one of the supporting characters is Rock Hudson who is from those same mines and also becomes a boxer, but he uses skill and speed and is a fan favorite. Chandler is as unpopular as one of Vince McMahon's patented wresting villains.It's a good boxing film, but this version of Iron Man will never rank with a film like Champion where another prize fighter has a killer instinct.

***SPOILERS*** Working in the Coaltown Pennsylvania coal mines for a living Coke Mason, Jeff Chandler, looks forward to opening up his own business repairing and selling radios. It's later that Coke is forced into a boxing match with the far bigger Alax Mallick, James Arness, because Coke won a bet with him in who can mine more coal in a one hour period. Coke after taking it on the chine for the entire first round suddenly put the big guy away with a vicious left right combination.It seemed that the meek and pacifistic Coke had a mean streak under his harmless facade. That streak surfaced when Coke got pushed around which Mallick, in him being knocked unconscious, was unfortunate enough to find out. This wild and uncontrollable animal inside Coke had his older brother and coal mine foreman George, Steven McNally, as well as his fiancée Rose Warren, Evelyn Keys, come to see him as their meal ticket to get out of Coaltown and then start a new and much better life. The only problem with all this is that Coke is not exactly normal when he's fighting someone. With his cave man and animal like style of fighting he may very well end up killing someone in the boxing ring! Or even worse, for Coke, with his ability to take enormous amounts of punishment end up getting killed himself!The movie "Iron Man" has an at first reluctant Coke being matched up with a number of pushovers that he easily makes mincemeat out of until he's matched against Joe Savella, Steve Martin, for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Taking an unbelievable beating from the much more skillful Savella Coke ends up losing when his brother and manager, not being able to see Coke take any more punishment, throws in the towel thus ending the fight.Coke feeling both hurt and humiliated over his loss to Savella now becomes obsessed in having a rematch and evening the score with him. What Coke is totally unaware of is that things are being set up by not only his brother George and boxing promoter Max Watkins, Jim Backus, but Rose as well for Savella to throw his match with him thus making Coke the new Heavyweight Champion of the World. With Coke being the most hated and despised fighter in professional boxing due to his dirty like tactics, like rabbit punching and hitting his opponents when their still down, is a gold mine for promoters in getting the boxing arenas packed solid.Resentful in him being suspected in having his Heavyweight Championship Crown won undeserved, by Savella throwing the fight with him, Coke then instead of retiring from boxing, which he promised Rose he'll do, goes on a "Bum of the Month" campaign taking on all comers and, to the great disappointment of the boxing crowd and sports writers, knocking them out cold.It's when Coke is matched against his good friend and former sparing partner Tommy "Speed" O'Keefe, Rock Hudson, that a sudden change comes over him. Knowing that in his wild and unethical, as well as dirty, tactics in the ring he may well end up killing or permanently injuring Tommy. Trying for the first time in his professional boxing career to fight a good hard as well as clean fight Coke not only ends up getting a cheering ovation from the crowd, who at first hated his guts, but the love and respect of Tommy who used to looked up to Coke as a big brother as well as Rose who had earlier dumped him!Fine boxing action sequences done in newsreel, not Hollywood, style photography makes "Iron Man" one cut, or punch, above what your used to seeing in boxing films on the silver screen. Even though Jeff Chandler, who's in real life a strapping six foot four inch 200 pounds, was a bit awkward in his boxing scenes, he sometimes looked like he was standing and walking on stilts, he was still very believable in them.***SPOILERS*** The by far the best thing in the movie wasn't Jeff Chandler's, or Coke Mason's, fight scenes but his genuine humanity which was buried under the rage and fury that overtook him whenever he stepped into a boxing ring. It was those very noble and human feelings towards his opponent Tommy "Speed" O'Keefe that in the end brought the very best out of him. And despite him losing they Made Coke a true champion in the eyes of both his very few friends and many enemies that he, at that time, had in the world.

A well-cast Jeff Chandler, in his physical prime at about age 32, plays a Pennsylvania miner named "Coke" Mason who reluctantly becomes a boxer in order to earn some extra money. (He wants to use this money to marry girlfriend Evelyn Keyes and open up a radio store.) "Coke" is a mild-mannered fellow who proves to be an indifferent fighter until he's goaded into anger. Then, with an almost audible "click," he turns on his opponent in a murderous rage and attacks him without mercy. This streak of brutality quickly earns him the enmity of the crowd even as it causes his rapid rise in the standings. Meanwhile his friend and fellow boxer "Speed" O'Keefe (Rock Hudson) has the boyish good looks and clean-cut manner which make him a crowd favorite. Inevitably the two meet in the ring to decide the world heavyweight championship.These ingredients could easily be combined into a serviceable B-movie but there's a problem here: the character played by Evelyn Keyes. The script can't decide whether she's the faithful girlfriend who's appalled by the violence of the boxing ring or instead the greedy golddigger who sees her boyfriend as a means to a life of wealth and comfort. This confusion about her character proceeds to muddle the script's conception of other characters. Stephen McNally as Chandler's ambitious brother also has the makings of a villain as does Joyce Holden as the "other woman." However, since Keyes might (or might not) be the story's real villain, these two characters are often left in a state of limbo -- not quite good, not quite bad. An air of indecision thus lingers over many parts of the movie and keeps it from having the desired impact.The movie's fight scenes lack the gritty reality of those in, say, "Raging Bull," but this movie almost seems slanted at a female audience so instead of blood and bruises we get attractive "beefcake" shots of Chandler's and Hudson's bare torsos, gleaming with sweat and shaved of hair. (Knowing what we do now of these two actors' private lives, it's easy to imagine how much they enjoyed filming these "beefcake" scenes -- not to mention getting buck naked for the showers that followed!) Fans of "beefcake" get a bonus in also seeing James Arness stripped to the waist for an early fight scene with Chandler.Though it's hard to imagine Rock Hudson as the heavyweight champion of the world, he has an eager, likable quality that hasn't yet been hardened by the movie-star status soon to settle around him.This "Iron Man" is a re-make of a 1931 "Iron Man" starring Jean Harlow. Notes indicate that the Jean Harlow version was also re-made in 1937 under the title "Some Blondes Are Dangerous" but information on this movie seems to be missing from the files.Finally, you can tell how old this movie is by one simple fact: virtually all the boxers in it are white!

Jeff Chandler plays Coke Mason a coal miner who has a "killer like fighting instinct when provoked). His brother George (Stephen McNally) recognises this and convinces Coke that fighting will earn him more than enough money to open up the radio shop he dreams of owning with his Gal Rose (Evelyn Keyes).Thats about all of the plot I will give away. The movie also starred a young Rock Hudson who plays the "nice guy" Tommy Speed O'Keefe ( I can understand how Rock was a ladies favourite).The storyline did enough to keep me interested however the fight scenes which really are crucial to the character development of Coke Mason were atrocious. Yes the movie is 49 years old now, but Chandler's attempt at demonstrating ring skills were laughable. He looks more like the HunchBack of Notre Dame rather than a deranged "maniac fighter". His opponents would have more likely buckled over in laughter at seeing his stance.To ensure that Jeff Chandler came over as a nice guy by movies end and ensure a happy ending for all, Coke goes from dirty to clean by movies end and wins the respect of all. It would have been a better plot for Coke to self destruct and chronicle how the win at all costs attitude can destroy you. I assume however that at the time Chandler wanted to remain a fan favourite and good guys did that.I gave the movie a 6/10.