Sorry, this movie sucks

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Robert Rossen's look at the unbridled pursuit of wealth and prestige casts John Garfield as a man who goes into boxing, only to see his egotism cause tragedies for those around him. It's worth noting that a number of the people involved in the production later got blacklisted. No doubt HUAC saw the movie's condemnation of greed as anti-American (and the Bill O'Reilly types probably STILL think so). Garfield, once a popular actor, saw his career ruined and remains mostly forgotten today.On its own, "Body and Soul" is a gritty focus on the underworld of boxing. It's close to a film noir, with sultry women and sleazy thugs. But more than anything it's a good movie. Watch it and see if you don't feel as if you're walking on eggshells.PS: William Conrad (Quinn) later narrated "Rocky and Bullwinkle". Crew member Robert Aldrich later directed "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Longest Yard", while crew member Nathan Juran later directed "Attack of the 50-ft Woman" and "Jack the Giant Killer".

Charley Davis, a young working-class Jewish New Yorker, takes up a career in boxing, a sport for which he proves to have a talent. After a series of victories he rises steadily through the ranks and is eventually rewarded with a shot at the championship. He wins, but success, and the wealth that comes with it, lead to deterioration in his character. He becomes estranged from his mother and his girlfriend Peg, finds himself a mistress, and becomes involved with a shady promoter named Roberts, who has links with the underworld. Roberts arranges for Charley to defend his title against a challenger named Jack Marlowe, but then orders him to throw the fight; the promising but less experienced Marlowe is the underdog so Roberts and his cronies stand to make a lot of money by betting on him. "Body and Soul" has a lot in common with "Champion", another boxing film from the late forties, which tells a broadly similar story. That film too dealt with the rise of a boxing champion who goes off the rails, becomes alienated from his loved ones and allows himself to be drawn into the web of gambling-inspired corruption which afflicted the sport at this period. In both films the hero sees his final fight as a chance to regain his lost self-respect. "Champion" was made two years later, so it was no doubt heavily indebted to the earlier movie. Of the two films I would prefer "Champion"; John Garfield certainly gives a good performance here as Charley, but Kirk Douglas gives a truly great one, one of the best of his career, in the later film. The ending of "Champion" also has a tragic power greater than the more optimistic conclusion of "Body and Soul". Some of the minor characters here are less good; I felt that the German-born British actress Lilli Palmer was miscast as Peg, who is supposed to be an all-American girl-next-door type, and the rather contrived explanation of her accent by reference to a European education was not convincing. ("Devotion", a biopic of the Bronte sisters from around this period, used a similar device to explain why Charlotte's British husband Arthur Nicholls was speaking with a heavy German accent). Nevertheless, there are some interesting things about this movie. There is a genuinely tragic character in Ben Chaplin, Charley's predecessor as champion and later his friend, who is forced by Roberts to fight when medically unfit to do so, and suffers the consequences. Chaplin is played by the black actor Canada Lee, and this was a surprisingly major role for a black character at a time when Hollywood operated an unofficial colour bar and black actors were generally confined to minor roles. The dramatic fight sequences, especially during Charley's final bout with Marlowe, are well done; they are said to have influenced the fight scenes in Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull". Like a number of other boxing pictures, including "Champion" and "Raging Bull", "Body and Soul" is about more than the sport itself. It is also a parable about the power of money and success to corrupt and a human story about a man's struggle to retain his integrity in the face of temptation. As such it works very well- taut, fast-paced and well put together. 7/10

Body and Soul (1947) *** (out of 4) John Garfield plays a poor kid from the slums who starts boxing and soon rises to the top where the only place to go is down. This is a highly impressive film that manages to be quite effective even though the story isn't anything original. It's easy to see the influence this film had on Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull and I'd say the Scorsese picture follows this one quite closely. There are also a few more sequences, which were borrowed in Rocky. The most impressive thing about this movie are the boxing scenes, which are the most realistic and violent of any early boxing film I've seen. I'd say they've only been topped by the Scorsese film. Garfield is terrific as usual and really sells his character's many different feelings. Garfield perfectly captures the out of control scenes but he's also very good in the more tender moments involving a used up black boxer. The supporting cast is also very good with Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, William Conrad and Joseph Pevney turning in fine work. The films one weakness is that it drags before the start of the final act but there's still plenty here to enjoy.

Great film, and was any Hollywood actor in the 1940's more magnetic than John Garfield? It is the boxing movie on which all other boxing movies have drawn elements from ever since- the poor kid made good by his talent for boxing yet who is exploited by corrupt fight managers and his own material greed, the faithful girlfriend/wife out of the ring, the scenes showing the lure of riches and the moral decay it brings.The film opens with Garfield waking from a troubled dream, calling out for "Ben!". In the middle of the night he rushes to his mother's (Ann Revere) apartment where his faithful girlfriend Lilli Palmer burst into tears upon seeing him. Revere tells Garfield to go. We soon find out, through flashback, just what has happened to Garfield and his body has been used at the expense of his soul.While the film may seem formulaic now...let's remember it started the boxing formula! Great performances all round. Garfield is intense and charismatic, Palmer is sympathetic and warm yet also keenly intelligent and aware and Canada Lee gets a striking role as Ben, the role being a major move forward for the portrayal of African-Americans on-screen. The film is well-written (Polonsky would make the excellent Force Of Evil with Garfield in the following year) and contains many memorable scenes, and the editing in that final fight scene is top-notch. Compulsive and compulsory viewing.