Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) (Ws Sub)

Starring:Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris, Stanley Adams, Madame Spivy, Val Avery, Herbie Faye, Jack Dempsey, Barney Ross, Alex Miteff, Rory Calhoun (II), Muhammad Ali, Gus Lesnevich, Willie Pep, Steve Belloise, J.J. Ballargeon, Paoli Rossi, Michael Conrad, Abe Simon
Director: Ralph Nelson
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

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This feature version of Rod Serling's memorable teleplay, theatrically released in 1962, was previously produced in 1956 for live television. The grim tale stars Anthony Quinn as a brain-damaged fighter suffering from too many years in the ring yet pushed into another and yet another punishing round by his corrupt manager (Jackie Gleason). Yearning for a life of his own, Quinn's burned-out hitter falls for a shy social worker (Julie Harris), while Gleason's small-timer tries fending off the pressures of truly bad guys who want the money he owes them. Directed by Ralph Nelson (who also made the TV version), this Requiem opens up into a powerful piece of social realism with the undercurrent of a cautionary fable. The characters are almost archetypal, the story never stops moving, the acting is superb (Mickey Rooney is very good as Quinn's reluctant trainer), and the ending is nightmarishly apt. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Powerful movie........2007-01-10

I feel that this is one of the most powerful movies that Anthony Quinn has ever starred in.I recomend viewing it to everyone;also all the supporting cast is absolutely wonderful. I'm glad I bought this DVD.

Brutalization of innocence.......2006-09-18

"Requiem for a Heavyweight" is a number one contender for the best movie concerning the "sweet science" that I have ever seen, along with Scorsese's "Raging Bull". Trademark Rod Serling, this powerful little film (originally made for TV) is a remorseless and scathing indictment of a society that worships force while it flourishes and edges toward the top, then is quick to jeer when it falls to the inexorable canvas of nature.

Anthony Quinn gives a gut wrenching performance as the quirky, sensitive and slightly punch-drunk Mountain Rivera, an aging prizefighter who falls at the hands of a young Muhammad Ali (still Cassius Clay at the time this film was made) at the beginning of the film and suffers a detached retina. From the opening scene to the last, "Requiem" is determined to give the viewer a bitter taste of what it meant to be a boxer when mafia thugs controlled the sport and fighters were chewed up and spat out with all the grace and empathy of an ugly car accident. Here Quinn transcends even his portrayal as Zampano the Australian strongman in Fellini's "La Strada".

The forces that control Rivera's destiny are pitiless (his manager Maish, played by Jackie Gleason, is a self-divided man occasionally showing signs of real tenderness toward Rivera but ultimately interested in saving his own neck) and only one other man in this whole tragic story seems to understand his plight--a young Mickey Rooney, turning in an Oscar worthy performance as his trainer Army, a former fighter turned cut-man who despises Maish for his cruel manipulation of Mountain's almost childlike loyalty to him for his own purposes. Unfortunately, Army doesn't have much say in what happens and only has the guts to stand up to Maish in spurts, his resignation getting the better of him as he carts the old pug from employment agency to employment agency, trying to make him understand that the world is no longer his oyster and hasn't been for quite awhile.

Rivera's abrupt and somewhat unrealistic relationship with social worker Grace Miller played by Julie Harris ("The Haunting"), is possibly the only real spark of hope in Rivera's doomed life. I don't see where Mountain couldn't have become a camp counselor or something to that effect: he does not seem so incapacitated or punch-drunk that this would be an impossibility. Maish, with the mob breathing down his neck for the money he lost betting against his own fighter, makes sure that this doesn't happen, getting him drunk on the night of his appointment with yet another famous guest star of boxing lore, the huge Jack Dempsey.

Each scene of this film is an excruciating exercise in degradation, but somehow we feel compelled to watch. You almost hate Serling for getting us to identify so strongly with this tough but very innocent shell of a man, and then throwing him into a pressure cooker he is neither smart enough nor mature enough to even glimpse a way out of. That is real talent.

The ending is perhaps the strongest part of the film and is achingly honest. When faced with the decision to pursue his own dubious prospects in life or save his manager's skin--by extension sacrificing every value he has lived by his entire ugly, violent life--the decision is inevitable. An unforgettable, heart rending artistic accomplishment and more evidence that Serling could have been much more than the creator of that groundbreaking television series "The Twilight Zone".

requiem for a heavyweight.......2006-07-23

Rod Serling's screen play for one of the 3 greatest fight movies ever made.

See It For The Cameo Appearence By Young Cascius Clay.......2006-06-20

Requiem For A Heaveyweight, the feature-length movie was released in 1962. It was initially written for television three years earlier by none other than Rod Serling. It aired on Playhouse 90 in the Fall of 1958. That production starred Keenyn Wynn in the role of Mesch, the desperate and mercinary fight manager. His dad, legendary comic, Ed Wynn played Armie, Mountain Rivera's sympathetic handler. Jack Palance was cast in the lead role of the over-the-hill pugilist, Mountain Rivera. It was shot live and played to a national auidence, a daring event for actors in the primitive new media.

The casting of the movie release is considerablly more inspired. Jackie Gleason stars as Mesch, a man desperatly attempting to stay one step ahead of the bookies and willing to sell the soul of his washed-up fighter to save his own skin. Mickey Rooney turns in an oscar worthy supporting role as Armie, Mountain's handler, confidant and "brother's keeper". And in the lead role we have one of Hollywood's finest dramatic actors, the inimitable, Anthony Quinn. Julie Harris plays a supporting role, as the Social Worker trying to save Mountain from becomming the side show attraction, Mesch has in store for him.

Requiem is a fascinating look at the seemey underbelly of the world of prize fighting. Like the Bogart movie "The Harder They Fall" Requiem loosely resembles the story of former Heavey Weight Champion, Primo Carnarra. Canarra, a giant of a man from Italy who faced a seires of bum-of-the-month has-beens to climb to the heavey weight crown. Many of these bouts were perported to be fixed. Carnara it was said had a glass jaw. Fighters then were viewed largely as commodities, expendable and easily replaced. Both movies speak directly to the heart of the grim reality of the "sweet science", during one of boxing's darkest periods. The film still packs an enormous punch, (pardon the pun) and holds up remarkably well over the years. See it for the great story-telling by Sterling, the brilliant acting by Gleason, Quinn, Rooney and Julie Harris. And finally catch it for the marvelous cameo by a very young and irrasable Cascius Clay.

Would Be 5 Stars If The Film Was Complete!.......2006-04-05

I love this movie. Although I prefer the orginal TV version because the ending is more upbeat, this is still a powerful film that really does not get its due. Even on DVD. The picture is suberb, having been remastered. BUT this edited version of the film leaves out too much. With a run-time of only 86 mintues, you'd think the dim bulbs behind the DVD would want to "pad" the release with everything they could find. And the scenes they left out are anything but padding. Gleason's speech at the end completes his character. We see that he has been ripped apart by the last 17 years and what he was forced to do to Mountain to save his life. The scene is only 1 minute long. Would it really have been so difficult to include this?

In closing, this is a great, great movie. Rod Serling was the best tv writer of his time -- one of the great writers of all time -- and Requiem is one of his best. I recommend BOTH versions. If the DVD was a complete version of the film with some extras about the film, then it would get my highest recommendation! I was fortunate enough to get this second hand for only $4.99 and still feel let down by what is not included in the release.

The movie is worth watching. Make no mistake. If you've never seen it before, it will rip your guts out. But for long-time fans of the film, this DVD release just doesn't measure up. Great picture and sound. Great viewing experience. Incomplete movie. Here's hoping a future relase will correct the mistakes made on this one. The film deserves it.

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