THE SET-UP: Blu-ray (RKO, 1949) Warner Archive

Robert Wise’s The Set-Up (1949) is a taut and pulsating 71-minutes of intense drama – a hard-hitting masterpiece that pulls no punches in exposing the seedy underworld of racketeering in professional boxing. All the essentials are present in this one-of-a-kind drama - an undisputed, if as little revived, film noir classic. With such monumental entertainments as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1955), West Side Story (1961), The Sound of Music (1965) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) to his credit, it is easy to let Wise’s early career – and its myriad of ‘little gems’ like The Set-Up slip through the subconscious. And Wise, who began as a lowly ‘cutter’, then editor, entrusted with the job of shaping Orson Welles’ opus magnum, Citizen Kane (1941 and for which he was Oscar-nominated), and some would argue, bastardized Welles’ follow-up, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), has so much in his repertoire, the staggering girth of his accomplishments leave one with the awe-inspiring gush of not even knowing where precisely to begin. The Indiana-born Wise, later to serve as president of both the Directors Guild and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, had an inauspicious beginning at RKO as their sound and music editor in the mid-1930’s. As a budget-conscious studio, Wise’s work ethic and willingness to take artistic risks was highly valued.

Soon, he became an assistant to the studio’s sound-effects editor, T.K. Wood, and later, producer, William Hamilton. It was on Hamilton’s spate of studio-grown projects where Wise honed his craft, applying due diligence to The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (both in 1939). Also, that same year, Wise was let loose on his first solo film editing job - Bachelor Mother and then, My Favorite Wife, two of RKO’s brightest money-makers.  Wise would later credit his work on Citizen Kane as influencing his sound innovations on The Set-Up (1949), one of the first movies to incorporate music only from diegetic sources. In hindsight, The Set-Up also seems to inform Wise’s work on the Paul Newman classic, Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) – following the highs and lows in the boxing career of Rocky Graziano. More lows than highs forthcoming in The Set-Up as its nominal ‘hero’, Bill ‘Stoker’ Thompson (played with affecting mislaid loyalties by a weathered Robert Ryan) endures the humiliation of a boxing career as everyone’s favorite punching bag, but refuses to surrender his dream to the greed and graft of spurious mob influences, conspiring to destroy him for his naïve arrogance to defy them.  

The Set-Up is based on Joseph Moncure March's narrative poem – the movie, nearly a full two decades removed from its source by the time RKO paid $1,000 for the rights to the piece. Despite March’s decade-long tenure in Hollywood, adapting screenplays for largely forgettable B-movies, RKO somehow did not see fit to have him adapt his own work for the screen.  Instead, the honors went to Art Cohn, a renowned sports writer with screenplay credentials, regrettably, best remembered today as the other tragic victim of a plane crash to claim the life of producer, Michael Todd in 1958. Cohn’s transmutation of March’s poem includes a number of alterations, starting with the protagonist’s name; in the poem – Pansy Jones, re-made as the more butch and weather-beaten, ‘Stoker’ Thompson. Also, Jones is clearly non-Caucasian in the poem, a bigamist too, who meets his untimely end, beaten to a pulp on the subway tracks. In reflecting on the change of race, Wise optimistically reasoned RKO had no African-American star under contract, suitable for the part. He might have further considered, no black actor of the period, whether suitable or ‘un-’ would have been afforded the opportunity to play outside of the ‘domestic’ or the ‘slave’ – much less, given a starring role as the sympathetic fallen, though nevertheless, leading man, in order to appease viewers in the Jim Crow South.  In the movie, Stoker’s end never comes. But his brutal assault results in a swollen eye, split lip, perhaps a few broken ribs and a shattered wrist. Finally, the opponent’s name in the poem – Sailor Gray, was changed in the movie to Tiger Nelson, played with affecting menace by Hal Harvey Fieberling, a former pugilist with a lucrative career in the movies – mostly as an extra, appearing in such memorable outings as Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Big Jim McLain (1952), Island in the Sky (1953), River of No Return (1954) and countless other film and TV shows.

In casting Robert Ryan, RKO was on very solid ground. Not only had Ryan firmly established himself in Hollywood, usually as ‘the heavy’, he also possessed the necessary boxer’s acumen and training, having been heavyweight champion four years running at Dartmouth College. As Stoker’s empathetic wife, Julie, Wise and producer, Sid Rogell first considered Joan Blondell, whose post Warner Bros. career had stalled, thanks to her electrifying turn as the fake clairvoyant, Zeena Krumbein in 1947’s Nightmare Alley – the picture that was intended to expand the range and screen appeal of Fox’s heartthrob, Tyrone Power. Alas, RKO owner, Howard Hughes absolutely refused to cast Blondell, adding in a memo that she looked “like she was shot out of the wrong end of a cannon.” Instead, the part of Julie Thompson went to Audrey Totter, who had taken great comfort in playing ‘bad girls’ in the movies since 1947’s Lady in the Lake, and, Alias, Nick Beale (1949).  The Set-Up finds Totter in rare form, exuding uncharacteristic empathy for the man she so clearly loves, yet cannot bear to watch being destroyed by his own abject refusal to accept that the proverbial ship he so desperately wishes to still be on, has otherwise clearly left port for some time without him.  In the canon of great film noirs, The Set-Up is unique, owing to executive producer, Dore Schary’s insistence that the movie’s run time mirror ‘real time’. Schary would depart RKO for temporarily greener pastures at MGM and never see The Set-Up to its conclusion. But his influence is felt in the picture’s time line and the fight scene, choreographed with strict adherence to its description in March’s poem, and staged by pro-boxer, Johnny Indrisano; Wise, employing 3-cameras to capture the action simultaneously from various angles.  

Immediately following the main titles, we are introduced to Stoker, a once optimistic pugilist who has fallen prey to two unscrupulous promoters fronting for gambler, Little Boy Jo (Alan Baxter). The fix will make Jo rich and he will pass on a percentage to Stoker for his ‘efforts.’ In fact, Stoker hasn’t had a victory in a very long time. Moreover, the odds are not in his favor. Newer, fresher, angrier competitors are on the rise. Although still a relatively ‘young’ man at age thirty-five, Stoker’s days in the ring are numbered. Better to get something out of this tenure besides a split lip and wounded pride. Nevertheless, Stoker is not privy to this bribe. Ah, but then he acquires his ounce of integrity and thereafter becomes even more driven to beat the odds set against him and win. Win, lose or draw, Julia would rather her husband be a bum than a boxer. She loves him dearly and wants him to come to her in one piece, unaware how completely fragmented his fragile ego already is. Julie implores Stoker not to fight – then diligently stands beside him when the chips are down. Meanwhile, Stoker’s oily manager, Tiny (George Tobias) has everything invested in Stoker throwing the match. Why be virtuous and poor, when one can just as easily play a percentage and be flush – at least, for the time being?

Tiny has already convinced Stoker’s trainer, Red (Percy Helton) that the fight is in the bag. But only a few moments later, we see Tiny accepting a $50 bribe from Little Boy at the Ringside Café. Afterward, Tiny informs Red he intends to leave Stoker out of the loop, as the has-been will likely lose the fight anyway. Meanwhile, Stoker – refreshed and ready to fight, continues under the misguided delirium he is one fight away from the big time. Julie, who has dutifully shored up her husband’s waning optimism is now unmoved by his promises. After all, she has heard it all before. Unable to stomach another humiliating defeat, Julie informs her husband she will not be at ringside to witness his humiliation. Shaken by what he perceives to be her ‘sudden’ lack of faith in him, Stoker becomes more agitated as the big moment approaches.  Meanwhile, a young, but nervous buck, Shanley (Darryl Hickman) prepares to enter the ring for the first time. Stoker encourages the novice who, indeed, returns victorious after his first bout. No such luck for Gunboat Johnson (David Clarke), a middle-weight has-been, who is ruthlessly pummeled into a crushing defeat. Fidgety and despondent, Julie paces the gritty streets just outside the arena, unable to bring herself to enter. Meanwhile, approaching the ring, Stoker is disheartened to find Julie's seat empty. Now, as Stoker receives his last-minute rubdown from Tiny, Little Boy and his gal-pal, Bunny (Lynn Millan) callously bet against him.

As yet unaware of Tiny’s arrangement with Little Boy, Stoker ignores Red’s advice and goes after Nelson with a rather ruthless conviction to win. As Little Boy told Nelson to go easy on Stoker for the first two rounds – to make it all look legit – Stoker firmly believes he is gaining the upper hand in their match.  But in round three, Nelson brings out the big guns and nearly obliterates Stoker. Fearing Stoker may win on his own terms, Tiny confesses his arrangement with Little Boy, pleading with Stoker to throw the fight. Bloodied, but unbowed, Stoker instead viciously hammers away at Nelson until he is knocked out cold. The crowd loves it, and Stoker, for the first time in a very long while, can feel the heart of a champion beating from within. Alas, his glory is short-lived as Little Boy and his goon squad are waiting out back to settle the score. Stoker tries to sneak away but gets cornered in the alley. Badly beaten and pinned to the ground by Little Boy’s thugs, Stoker nevertheless manages to slug the mobster in the face. Enraged, Little Boy crushes Stoker's hand with a brick, thereby ending his career. Seeing Stoker stumbling, dazed and confused, from the alley, Julie rushes to his aid. Coddling her husband in her arms, Julie begs his forgiveness, assuring him they “both won tonight.”

The Set-Up is an exhilarating picture: Robert Ryan, still lean and well-muscled from his boxing years, cuts a formidable figure, both in the ring, but moreover, as the ailing man of integrity, before and after he exits it. Shot in B&W, with a stark realism achieved by cinematographer, Milton R. Krasner, The Set-Up achieves its gut-wrenching thrills as a little programmer from RKO that comes out swinging and leaves a winner. When it premiered, The Set-Up received rave reviews as a ‘sizzling melodrama’, capturing all of the sweat-soaked and cigar-stale atmosphere of a small arena, with the movie audience given ringside seats to their fictional counterparts’ blood lust, built into an even more ‘savage frenzy’ to see these lives torn asunder behind the scenes. After a decades’ worth of solid craftsmanship, The Set-Up marked Robert Wise’s last movie for RKO, punctuated in a flourish of meticulously thought-out, though seemingly spontaneous perfectionism, proving just how far his prowess as both an editor and director had advanced in a relatively short period of time. Viewed today, The Set-Up has lost none of its powerhouse appeal as a heavy-hitting drama with exceptionally fine performances; proof positive that, given the right assets at its disposal, when Hollywood wanted to, it could still make high art, even on a shoestring budget.

The Warner Archive unveils The Set-Up in a spiffy new 1080p transfer that is quite stunning. Derived from a new 2K scan of the master positive, on which major digital remastering and cleanup have been performed, this results herein are pristine; the B&W image roiling in oodles of finely textured film grain, minus age-related dirt and scratches. This is a gorgeous presentation, evoking velvety dark shadows, excellent contrast, and tons of fine detail. Close-ups show off a startling amount of detail; all the grit, sweat and haze of the stadium perfectly captured for posterity. The DTS 2.0 audio is effective, with uncanny clarity, given that Wise chose to record mostly diegetic dialogue and SFX without any post-sync overdub.  This just sounds magnificent and - ‘wow’ - is the first-time viewer in for a distinct treat. Extras are, as before, limited to an audio commentary from director, Robert Wise, recorded for the DVD release back in 2001. Wise seems to delay his reflections repeatedly, but has an accurate recall about the picture he made more than 50 years earlier. We also get a theatrical trailer. Bottom line: for those who enjoy sports movies in general, film noir, or just the great – and sadly underrated Robert Ryan, The Set-Up on Blu from WAC comes very highly recommended. Buy today. Treasure forever.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

2.5