Kick-Back Friday: #29

You're a has-been loser on the small-town boxing circuit.

How much of a has-been loser? 

So much of a has-been loser that your manager doesn't even let you in on the fix that you'll go down in the third round. He's relying on your clued-in opponent to clean up when the time's ripe.

That's the end-of-the-road life for aging boxer Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan) in The Set-Up (1949), a tight-as-a-drum noir story from director Robert Wise (The Andromeda Strain, The Sound of Music). Wise, a former editor,* constructs the night of Stoker's rigged fight in real time—cutting between Stoker, his dispirited wife (Audrey Totter), and great shots of nutty boxing fans.

Among the many quotable lines from the film is this Sisyphean warning: "You'll always be just one punch away." Story of my life.

P.S. Boomers will recognize Stoker's manager, played by George Tobias, as Abner Kravitz on "Bewitched."

* Of Citizen Kane, for example.