REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT
Filmfest 2018

The opening sequence is dazzling: a series of point-of-view shots, blows delivered straight into the camera, in your face, until vision blurs and a body hits the floor. Only after the knockout blow is delivered do we see, in the mirror, who the hero is: Anthony Quinn as Louis "Mountain" Rivera, his face demolished by an opponent who is briefly revealed to be Cassius Clay, the later Muhammad Ali. But this is Mountain's film, a film about a hulking man whose best boxing years are now definitely behind him. Already suffering from brain damage and with the risk that another fight could leave him blind in one eye, he's ready to look for a new line of work. A pleasant employment adviser (Julie Harris) looks after him, goes out with him, and arranges a job interview: Mountain could help run a children's summer camp. His longtime friend and manager Maish (Jackie Gleason) owes the Mafia some money and wants to earn it quickly by employing Mountain as a wrestler. This film is based on a live television drama from 1956, in which Jack Palance played the has-been boxer. Ralph Nelson directed both the television drama and dark film adaptation, in which Mickey Rooney plays Mountain's worried coach.