The Boxer

Just another boxer movie. Blake is framed. He needs to find out who did it. There are some murders committed. There are some really ugly bad guys. The plot is sort of convoluted. Blake can be seen as a pretty handsome, Brandoesque kind of figure.The cinematography is pretty kind to him. He is a man of few words (mostly because he probably doesn't know many), and he must get the law off his back so he can get to the person who framed him. There is little suspense. There is a surprise. Where'd that come from? I just can't watch Blake playing a violent character without thinking of his current situation. He's a pretty good actor who peaked early with "In Cold Blood," did a little television, and then pretty much disappeared. The movie is dull and seemingly unending.

Saw this in 1978 in Houston at The McClendon Triple Drive In on South Main as "Bummer". I was an amateur boxing champion at the time and this was the filler for "Massacre At Central High". I was a big Robert Blake fan and was disappointed as I thought this was going to be another "Rocky" which was the reason this film was re-released to Drive Ins to try and piggyback on the Oscar winner to make a few bucks. Blake tries and is his usual cool self, but the fight scenes are not well staged and it is very hoaky looking. Completely hack job in terms of editing - just a piece of Italian junk an amateur could do a better job of making. Still, the 70's memories are nostalgic and it is fun to see the old cars again and what the heck, if you are home sick from work like I am, give it an hour and 14 minutes of your time. I do miss ol' Blake after watching this as he gave so many people a lot of joy on television.

To call Ripped Off the second half an adequate drive-in double feature is being charitable. However, the movie does have some redeeming qualities for the Drive-In community. One redeeming quality is the appearance of Catherine Spaak. If you are familiar with her, you might be entertained.

As for the movie itself, Robert Blake was probably in a career slump and did this Italian action drama filmed in Albuquerque, NM. The film was shelved or played in second-rate drive-in/walk-in grindhouse theaters and quickly disappeared from the screen. A few years later, Robert Blake hit it big with Baretta, and this film was reissued to the same type of theaters for another go-round for newfound Robert Blake fans.

A decent action film with Blake giving it his all, but I think this is the TV edit I saw a while back. I would like to see its original edit.

As of this writing, I believe Camille Keaton is in the official eighty-two-minute version of this film. My copy runs seventy-three minutes.

UN UOMO DALLA PELLE DURA stars Robert Blake as Teddy, a down-on-his-luck university grad who wound up a low-level boxer. He finds out that his manager has been lying about money, so he hits the road in search of opportunity. Teddy runs into an old college buddy, who steers him toward a new boxing manager. The manager and Teddy hit it off, and things seem too good to be true. The resulting partnership leads to a string of vicious killings, Teddy's involvement with a determined police detective (Ernest Borgnine), and a budding romance with the new manager's daughter (Catherine Spaak). Fans of the great Tomas Milian will get a kick out of his creepy, funny, mysterious hippie who may be involved with all of the murder and mayhem.

Much of the fun is not knowing where the narrative will lead, and which genre it will touch upon. It starts as a noirish road movie, with a drifter comes to realize there's an array of characters out to get him. His novice sleuthing, coupled with some horror elements (jump scares, bloody murder sequences, creepy music, etc.), gives much of the film a strong giallo (Italian murder-mystery) feel, a sub-genre that was popular at the time. There are occasional action moments, in the form of fighting (both in and out of the ring) and some jarring gun violence, giving the film a strong eurocrime/poliziotteschi vibe.

The performances are all uniformly fine. Blake is particularly good here, presenting us with a likable central character who isn't without faults. The writing is surprisingly sharp, filled with memorable dialogue, especially Teddy's colorful, profane, occasionally hilarious verbiage.

I'm not surprised by the negative reviews here. The movie is almost solely available in a highly truncated and censored version. If people could finally see director Francesco Prosperi's cut, this would likely garner a sizable following.

I've seen this one a number of times. It's a favorite. It's clear that no one involved set out to make a masterpiece, just a tough, clever, scary, entertaining movie. I think it wound up being a masterpiece.

Barely released italian crime-drama boxing film, and watching the film shows why it took so long to get the film released. Choppy looking film (U.S. distributor seems to have edited it) that headlines Robert Blake, Thomas Milian and Ernest Borgnine in a dull and badly put together would be drama. The film is muddy looking, as if the American distributor had no care to transfer the italian negative correctly. The video print runs if it was a TV print and had a very short running time.

The film played in Seattle in 1978 as BUMMER, a second feature to MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH with no ad slick of showing what BUMMER was. Sitting watching this film is a real bummer, and I guess the independent film company that pick this film up in the late 70's was probably trying to release it as if it was "Baretta" stars new film, which it wasn't. Blake is a underrated actor, and this film isn't good.