GamerTab That was an excellent one.

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Claudio Carvalho While traveling to California in a cargo wagon, the clandestine Michael "Midge" Kelly (Kirk Douglas) and his crippled brother Connie Kelly (Arthur Kennedy) are robbed and thrown off the train. They hitchhike and get a lift from the famous boxer Johnny Dunne (John Daheim), who is traveling with his mistress Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell) to Kansas City for a fight. They explain that they have bought a share in a restaurant. In Kansas City, Midge gets in trouble while seeking a job and is invited to fight box for 35 dollars. He takes a beat and the promoter pays only 10 dollars to him, but the trainer Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart) invites Midge to go to his gym in Los Angeles to be trained in box. When the brothers arrive at the restaurant, they learn that they have been cheated in the business and the owner Lew Bryce (Harry Shannon) hires them to work in the restaurant waiting table and washing dishes. Soon Midge seduces Lew's daughter Emma Bryce (Ruth Roman) and when her father finds their affair, Emma with Midge are forced to get married to each other. However Midge decides to flee to seek out Tommy and leaves Emma alone after the wedding. He learns how to fight with Tommy and defeats several fighters. When he is scheduled to fight Johnny Dunne, the organized crime orders him to lose the fight. However Midge defeats Dunne and is black-listed and can not fight any more. But Grace convinces him to leave Tommy and be managed by Jerome Harris (Luis Van Rooten), who is connected to the crime world. Now Midge begins a successful career betraying his friends and stepping on women, including Harris' wife Palmer Harris (Lola Albright). How far will he go to make money and be champion? "Champion" is an awarded film-noir based on the story of an ambitious boxer that is capable to betray friend to climb in his career reaching fame and money. The direction and performances are excellent with good choreography in the fights, and the film was awarded in Film Editing category (Oscar) and Best Cinematography (Golden Globe). In addition, it achieved several nominations. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Invencível" ("The Invincible")

Riley Porter This movie is essentially a boxing noir where the emphasis is more on the characters than the boxing. If you have seen Ace in the Hole then the performance that Kirk Douglas gives in this movie will be very reminiscent of that. Midge Kelly, as played by Douglas, basically functions as a rags to riches villain who appears to onlookers as a people's champion, and appears to the people close to him as the actual person that he is. Much in the way that we treat our idols today, Midge Kelly is to the people whatever they want him to be, and like many idols his life outside of the ring is nothing to be sought after.This movie is a commentary on champions in sports and likely elsewhere, as well as a fine display of acting by Kirk Douglas and the supporting cast. This is basically the Kirk Douglas show as he occupies the majority of the screen and brings the bulk of the talent. The supporting cast does their part but are frankly overshadowed by Douglas, with his absences being fairly noticeable when they occur. The boxing will probably appear lack luster to fans of Rocky or actual boxing matches. Despite that, the important matches are engaging and the montage material gets the point across. This film is a hidden gem and is worth some recognition if nothing else but for a great performance and some intelligent insight on champions.

James.S.Davies If the boxing game has its own genre, and the sheer number of them compared to other sports certainly suggests it warrants one, then this is one of the best of them.Boxing has often been used to explore family values, moral disorder and the reality of an American dream that extols social climbing but, in this world at least, bounces you back like a ring rope. Certainly Midge Kelly, one of Kurt Douglas's great characters, finds hitting his opponents far easier than it is to punch through society's ceiling of power and fortune.The film sets itself up as the tale of a poor boy done good; a rags to riches story. Indeed, there are the now all too familiar training and fights' montages as we witness his endeavour and ascent up the middleweight rankings. However, it soon becomes clear that hard work in the ring isn't enough to climb society's own rankings ladder. Kelly ruthlessly turn his back on the people who helped him on his way including his own family, and we see that the higher he climbs the more corruptible he becomes – choosing money, sex and his name in the papers over moral value.The climb to the top has left him at odds to those closest to him, most notably his disabled brother Connie (movingly played by Arthur Kennedy). The film seems to extol the virtues its central protagonist has himself abandoned but at the same time suggests that without his ruthless streak he would have been left in the boxing wilderness without a shot at a title. Ultimately the system portrayed is corrupt and it seems that those trying to play it are destroyed by it. A bleak, dystopian conclusion, in keeping with the film noirs of that time.Champion, both stylistically and thematically, feels like a forerunner to Raging Bull and to a lesser extent, the more recent The Fighter. This alone would make it worth a look, but the film packs enough of a punch through the quality of its performances and style to make it recommendable viewing in its own right.

seymourblack-1 Kirk Douglas' Oscar nominated performance in "Champion" elevated him to star status and provided the platform on which the rest of his illustrious career was built. His trademark passion and intensity were strongly in evidence in this gripping "rags to riches" drama but he also showed very convincingly, the full range of his character's behaviours and emotions as he rose from being an impoverished drifter to become a successful boxer who rapidly made his way up the middleweight rankings to become a contender for the championship.This is a story which focuses on the unsavoury side of boxing as it depicts very realistically, the levels of brutality and corruption which were so commonplace in the sport, as well as the mob's involvement and the ways in which fighters were ripped off by their unscrupulous managers etc. Another important facet of the story, however, is its study of how success affects a man who rises from obscurity to high profile success in an incredibly short period of time.The action in this movie is delivered at a lively pace throughout and the fight scenes are particularly well set up and photographed. The cinematography is also excellent with skillful use of light and shadow being used to complement the story's dark and sometimes sinister mood.When Midge Kelly (Kirk Douglas) and his crippled brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy) arrive at a diner in which they'd jointly bought a one third share, they soon discover that they've been conned and the man who'd posed as the owner was actually an employee who'd since been fired. The genuine owner kindly gives them live-in jobs and Midge soon strikes up a friendship with Emma (Ruth Roman) who's a waitress and the owner's daughter. Their relationship turns sour when Emma's over protective father forces the couple to marry and Midge leaves immediately after to try to make a living as a boxer.Midge works and trains hard under the guidance of his manager Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart) and soon wins a series of fights. These earn him the chance to fight the main contender Johnny Dunne (John Daheim) but Midge is then told by Tommy that, as part of the deal, he has to let Dunne win. He agrees but knocks his opponent out in the first round and this leads to Midge, Connie and Tommy all being attacked by a bunch of heavies who work for the gambling interests who'd lost money as a result of Midge's actions.Dunne's mercenary girlfriend Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell) makes a deal with his manager, Jerome Harris (Luis Van Rooten), to persuade Midge to become his client. She succeeds in this endeavour and the disgusted Tommy and Connie both end their working associations with Midge soon after. Later, Midge dumps Grace when he starts an affair with Jerome's wife, Palmer (Lola Albight) and then dumps Palmer as part of a deal he strikes with Jerome to clear his considerable debts. Midge continues his single minded pursuit of success all the way up to the movie's final fight in which he displays all the courage and determination which made him such a great champion.It's evident from the start of "Champion" that Midge is determined to achieve success but the cheerful optimism that he initially displays soon develops into a far more ruthless attitude after his experience of being conned in the deal to buy into the diner business. Furthermore when he gets into the fight game, it brings out a side of him which Connie finds very disturbing and soon Midge goes on to pursue fame and fortune in a way which leads him to treat his friends and family despicably and also to become incredibly manipulative.Kirk Douglas' natural energy and dynamism made him the ideal choice for the part of Midge Kelly whose arrogance and intense ambition made him totally self centred and unprincipled. The remainder of the cast are also superb and deserve great praise for their contributions to this high quality low budget film.