THE SET-UP

From the moment that Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan) steps into the ring, with the crowd roaring its blood lust to see him bloodied and beaten, Thompson knows this fight is going to go badly. He doesn't know his manager has taken a bribe for him to lose the fight: The manager is so sure Thompson will lose, that he's going to keep the whole bribe when Thompson is knocked out. But when the aging fighter discovers the fix, he brutally pummels his opponent … without realizing that by winning the bout he's crossing the mob--or that there will be terrible consequences for his victory in the ring. THE SET-UP, directed by Robert Wise and produced on a shoestring and a small RKO backlot in 1949, is an epic and deeply personal B-picture about the heartbreaking disappointments of fighting to create your own victories.

"One for the Ten Best lists. This is the boxing movie to lick all others, with Ryan impeccable as the ageing fighter gearing up for a bout he’s expected to lose; Audrey Totter leaving him because she can’t stand the mental and physical battering of the fight business, wandering the streets amid snatches of ringside radio commentary; and an invading sense of desolation the result. Great blue moments in black-and-white from a director whose early work is still outstanding: the film burns with the humanity that RAGING BULL never quite achieves, an expression of masochism mixed with futile pride that is the essence of boxing as a movie myth." – Time Out