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.

It was a typical day in the gym: the taptaptap of ropes being jumped, the bapbapbap of heavy bags being beaten, the ratatatatt of the noisy speedbag being belabored- and then, suddenly... silence. I looked around to see what had happened (the gym was NEVER quiet) and saw something I'll never forget: a man who appeared to be in his mid-30s, in fighting trim and dressed in boxing trunks and wearing a robe, a gym bag dangling from one hand. He walked through the dozens of silently staring young fighters and went to a heavy bag that hung unused in the middle of the room. He slipped on a pair of bag gloves and proceeded to throw punches at the bag. SLOWLY. One punch at a time. He TALKED to the bag as he worked, winding up and unloading heavy but very, very slow punches. He cursed the bag. Wound up. Drove in a hook, a looping right; paused; did it all again. We watched, in silence. The man was "punchy." He'd taken one too many shots to the head in his professional career and here he was, on the verge of homelessness, taking out his frustrations on the heavy bag. He didn't stay long, but he left a lasting impression on all of us. I quit the gym not long after. In THE HARDER THEY FALL, there's another fighter I'll never forget: he's the homeless man being interviewed for a television broadcast. It's a beautifully poignant scene, and it doesn't last long, but, for my money, it's the greatest scene in the movie. It concludes with the TV interviewer asking the old pug about his future plans. "WHAT future?" the man asks.

Directed by Mark Robson, "The Harder They Fall" stars the inimitable Humphrey Bogart as Eddie Willis, a washed up sports journalist who, out of desperation, takes on a job working as a boxing publicist."Fall" was Bogart's final film before his death. Much of the picture watches as Eddie works for the mob, who rig fights, bribe boxers and manipulate the Heavyweight Championship such that an unknown Argentinian boxer (Mike Lane), who can't fight at all, makes his way up the ranks. Bizarrely, the film then develops into a "social conscience message movie", Bogart becoming a mouthpiece who espouses the better treatment of boxers, who throughout Robson's film are exploited, underpaid, manipulated and then discarded. As a noirish crime drama, the film's excellent. As a message movie, it's poorly written, though Bogart's as smooth as ever.7.5/10 – Worth one viewing.

We live in a golden age for film buffs. The downside for those of us who are old is that we have a chance to easily see films that we once thought great, perhaps because of the effort it took to view them, but in review, do not live up to our memories. As a Bogart fan I had to see this forty years ago as it was his last screen appearance. I thought it a good film, but not remarkable. Now, having seen it twice in the last six months, it far exceeds my previous opinion. Eddie Willis is a complex character and anyone who has been downsized or laid off can identify with the struggle between ethics and the need to make a buck. The rest of the cast delivers at the least adequate, and at best memorable performances. Don't avoid it if you're not a sports fan (I'm not either.) Boxing is simply the setting for a great tale about corruption, rationalization, conflict and redemption. A great film and for Humphrey Bogart a great end to a great career.