Director: MARK ROBSON. Screenplay: Philip Yordan. Based on the 1947 novel by Budd Schulberg. Director of photography: Burnett Guffey. Music by Hugo Friedhofer. Film editor: Jerome Thoms. Assistant director: Milton Feldman. Art director: William Flannery. Set decorations by William Kiernan and Alfred E. Spencer. Make-up artist: Clay Campbell. Hair styles by Helen Hunt. Sound recorder: Lambert Day. Orchestrations by Arthur Morton. Music conducted by Lionel Newman. Technical adviser, boxing coach and fight choreographer: John Indrisano. Westrex Sound System. Producer: Philip Yordan.Copyright 1956 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Astor: 9 May 1956. U.S. release: April 1956. U.K. release: 7 May 1956. Australian release: 8 March 1957. Sydney opening at the Capitol, a weekly-change, action grind-house at the unfashionable end of town. 109 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Nick Benko, head of a fight-promotion syndicate, imports an Argentinian giant named Toro Moreno, who looks formidable but actually has a "powder-puff punch and a glass jaw." To publicize the freak battler, Benko hires Eddie Willis, an ex-sports columnist, who accepts the job despite the misgivings of his wife, Beth. Fixing fight after fight, Benko eventually gets Toro a match with Gus Dundee, the ex-champ, but Dundee, having taken severe punishment from Buddy Brannen in his previous fight, collapses in the ring and dies of a brain hemorrhage. Thinking he has killed him, Toro refuses to appear in the title bout.NOTES: The script has a factual basis, namely the crime mob's promotion, and eventual elevation via a whole series of fixed fights, of Primo Carnera, who eventually lost his heavyweight crown to Max Baer in 1934. It was a masterstroke to get Baer to reprise his victory here, though of course he is no longer playing Baer but a fictitious composite. Baer looks great, though he was to die only a few years later in 1959.Humphrey Bogart's last film. The actor was dying of cancer before he even started the film, eventually passing away on 14 January 1957, shortly before his 58th birthday.Aside from newsreels and other actuality material, this is the only film appearance of former heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott.The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Black-and-white Cinematography (won by Joseph Ruttenberg for "Somebody Up There Likes Me").COMMENT: Hard-hitting fight drama, directed with astonishing speed and vigorous finesse by the often stodgy Mark Robson. Assisted by Burnett Guffey's superb location photography, a driving script and some of the finest performances this side of heavyweight heaven, The Harder They Fall is still a film of tremendous power and appalling excitement.The fighters themselves are uniformly superb. To see Max Baer and Jersey Joe Walcott in action — both on and off the ring (though the charismatic, well-spoken Jersey Joe is confined to sparring bouts) — is worth the price of admission alone. Humphrey Bogart has one of his most dynamic roles, whilst Rod Steiger, not to be outdone, really pours on the heat, delivering Yordan's dialogue with a riveting ego-maniacal authority. Nehemiah Persoff as yes-man Leo, Edward Andrews as an opportunistic manager and of course Mike Lane himself (this was his only important film role) excel in support.OTHER VIEWS: "The boxing business must rid itself of the evil influence of racketeers and crooked managers, even if it takes an Act of Congress to do it." As Bogart types this up at the fade-out, it forms our last image of him on the screen. Personally, I found the film not quite as punchy as I did in 1956. Maybe we've seen too many boxing exposes in the meantime. Robson's direction also appears slack in places (all the scenes with Stone who seems just too amateurish, even for TV, especially in his interview with a real- life punch-drunk). But aside from Stone, and also Sterling (admittedly her role is a cliché), Robson has drawn some mighty convincing performances all around. Especially memorable: Mike Lane as the glass-jawed giant, Max Baer as the sadistic, press-posing champ, and Edward Andrews in one of his most telling roles (he has some of the film's most caustic dialogue) as a repulsively sleazy manager. Ace cinematographer Burnett Guffey has lit the film with both admirable sharpness and starkly chilling atmosphere. Boxing veteran Johnny Indrisano has choreographed the fights for maximum impact (no doubt assisted by Robson's knowledge and experience as a former film editor). - John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.

about box. and moral values. great cast. high acting. and powerful emotions. a film about honesty. and a special Bogard who gives not only a good role but admirable legacy. admirable fresco of a world. cruelty and money, people as details in the interests of small circles, moral duties and the truth. one of great movies who reminds the right way. and that could be all. in fact, it is only a tool for understand reality from every day. and to admire a huge actor in his the last role, mixture of force and freshness, carefully exploring the details, using the nuances of character as precise picture for define a new Don Quijote and the American spirit. a film who must see. not only for the artistic value. but for its profound message. and for the admirable science/art to build it.

. . . on the Big Screen. Literally. Think Clark Gable in THE MISFITS, Heath Ledger in THE DARK KNIGHT, or, more recently, Philip Seymour Hoffman in A MOST WANTED MAN. As "Eddie Willis," Humphrey Bogart is not just passing his tough guy torch to Bruce. He's expending his final shot at the silver screen to crusade against the sham and shameful "sport" of boxing. Last year FOXCATCHER blew the whistle on Olympic wrestling (not long after Mickey Rourke shot down its "pro" spin-off in THE WRESTLER). Back in 1956, Bogart made the definitive expose against the pugilistic pursuit in THE HARDER THEY FALL. Most boxers wind up brain-damaged (think Muhammad Ali) if they're "lucky" enough NOT to die in the ring. Boxing accountants set the standard for Tinsel Town's bookkeepers, as Bogart's naive seven-foot friend, glass-jawed Toro Moreno, is offered a total of $49.07 as his "share" of the winnings for triumphing in 26 consecutive fixed fights before nearly being beaten to death by world heavyweight champion Max Baer in fight #27. Bogart gives Toro his own $26,000 cut, and threatens to expose the American boxing big shots. They vow to kill him, and he's dead in Real Life within weeks. Only the preordained fixed-fight losers "win" money here (up to $100,000 for one bogus bout). No wonder the U.S. never captures Olympic boxing medals any more.

Humphrey Bogart's final film pulls no punches in its indictment of boxing as it chronicles the career of an unfortunate pugilist who is duped into a series of tank jobs that get him a coveted but undeserved title shot. Bogart, an unemployed press agent, is hired to promote and build up the pretender at the request of an unscrupulous manager, played by Rod Steiger. The film notes the brutality, mob violence, insensitive owners and trainers, bookies, fixes, hopelessness and despair of fighters who take frightful punishment in the ring while managers and promoters profit. A brief segment of the picture dwells on the misfortunes of an ex fighter who wound up homeless, penniless and addle-brained after a career in the ring. The movie is grim and cynical, with a hard-edged undercurrent throughout. Bogart and Steiger have the expected showdown at the end as their differences clash but not before the dark underbelly of boxing has been exposed. Budd Schulberg's novel is the basis for this film and old pro Bogart is wonderful and gets strong support from Steiger and several others, especially Harold Stone and Nehemiah Persoff. Jersey Joe Walcott, in a few brief scenes, has a nice turn as a sympathetic trainer.