Champion

Released two years after BODY AND SOUL and based on a Ring Lardner short story, CHAMPION is another truly great boxing film. Midge Kelly (Douglas) travels to California with his crippled brother Connie (Kennedy), hoping to buy a diner but ending up working there and falling for the owner's daughter, Emma (Roman), who becomes his shotgun bride. Soon Midge decides to put his boxing skills to use as a professional, and leaves Emma. Managed by Tommy Haley (Stewart), Midge rises through the middleweight ranks until he gets a title shot, which, true to boxing-film formula, he is supposed to throw but doesn't. Nonetheless, he becomes the crime syndicate's boy, growing mor...