The Set-Up [Blu-ray]

Director: Robert Wise Robert Wise

Overview

As shown by the clock face that opens and closes the film, The Set-Up takes place within a compact 72 minutes, with the action played out in "real time." Robert Ryan plays Bill "Stoker" Thompson, a washed-up boxer who refuses to give up his career despite the pleas of his wife Julie (Audrey Totter). There's little chance that he's going to win this evening's bout; still, Stoker's manager Tiny (George Tobias) has secretly made a deal with a crooked gambler (Alan Baxter). Stoker is to take a dive, a fact withheld from him until the fight is well under way. His last vestige of pride is aroused in the ring, but the story doesn't end there. The fight sequence is one of the most brutal ever filmed, with close ups of Ryan's pummeled face intercut with shots of screaming spectators in the throes of bloodlust. Adapted by Art Cohn from a narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March, The Set-Up is arguably Robert Ryan's finest starring film.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/24/2019
UPC:	0888574770693
Original Release:	1949
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:12:00
Sales rank:	24,214

Special Features

Commentary by director Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Ryan	Actor
Alan Baxter	Actor
Audrey Totter	Actor
Wallace Ford	Actor
George Tobias	Tiny
Percy Helton	Red
Hal Baylor	Tiger Nelson
Darryl Hickman	Shanley
Kenny O'Morrison	Moore,Moore
James Edwards	Luther Hawkins
David Clarke	Gunboat Johnson
Phillip Pine	Souza
Edwin Max	Danny
David Fresco	Mickey
William E. Green	Doctor
Abe Dinovitch	Ring Caller
Jack Chase	Hawkins' Second
Mike Lally	Handler
Arthur Sullivan	Handler,Man
William McCather	Handler
Gene Delmont	Handler
Herbert Anderson	Husband
Jack Raymond	Husband
Helen Brown	Wive
Constance Worth	Wive
Walter Ridge	Manager
Jess Kirkpatrick	Gambler
Paul Dubov	Gambler
Frank Richards	Bat
Jack Stoney	Nelson's Second
Archie Leonard	Blind Man
John Butler	Man
Ralph Volkie	Man
Tony Merrill	Man
Carl Sklover	Man
Al Rhein	Man
Sammy Shack	Man
Herman Boden	Man
Andy Carillo	Man
Al Rehin	Man
Tommy Noonan	Man
Dan Foster	Man
Everett Smith	Man
Brian O'Hara	Man
Donald Kerr	Man
Lillian Castle	Woman
Frances Mack	Woman
Ruth Brennan	Woman
Lynne Millan	Bunny
Bernard Gorcey	Tobacco Man
Charles Wagenheim	Hamburger Man
Billy Snyder	Barker
W.J. O'Brien	Pitchman
Frank Mills	Photographer
Bobby Henshaw	Announcer
Dwight Martin	Glutton
Kid Chissel	Handler
Ben Moselle	Referee
Arthur Weegee Fellig	Timekeeper
C. Bakaleinikoff	Composer,Composer
Heinie Conklin	Fight Spectator
John Indrisano	Corner Man

Technical Credits

Joseph Moncure March

Art Cohn

Richard Goldstone	Producer
Robert Wise	Director
Joseph Moncure March	Screenwriter
Art Cohn	Screenwriter
Dore Schary	Executive Producer,Producer
Phil Brigandi	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Clem Portman	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Robert Wise's blistering tour de force on the fight game, a key influence on Martin Scorsese's seminal Raging Bull (1980), remains one of the best films on that world. An undefeated boxing champion while at Dartmouth, Robert Ryan gives what's likely his best performance as the over-the-hill pug who balks when ordered by his manager to throw a fight. Wise throws the harshest possible light not only on the well-known corruption of game, on the seediness of the milieu, and the grueling punishment absorbed by the fighters, but also on the febrile bloodlust of the fans, for whom the director reserves his greatest revulsion. As the film unfolds in "real" time, it touches briefly on the range of boxers on that night's card, and from the nervous young kid to the washed-up middle-weight, all are equally mesmerized by the mythology of their craft. In the main event, Ryan absorbs perhaps the worst pre-Scorsese battering on celluloid. Noir icon Audrey Totter evinces an unexpected tenderness as Ryan's concerned wife, and James Edwards is poignant as a fighter on the slide.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello