Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

An absolute brilliant performance by Kirk Douglas as the ruthless fighter Midge, who attained success but at a cost finally to himself and others.The film would mark Kirk Douglas's Oscar nomination and it is only too bad that he had Broderick Crawford, the winner, in that category for the latter's magnificent performance as Willie Stark in "All the King's Men," that very same year of 1949.We see a very triumphant boxer and then through the art of flashbacks, the hurt that he invariably caused others.The boxing scenes were quite authentic to say the least and probably mirrored what Midge was doing during his lifetime-creating havoc for others.

I think the closest thing that Champion reminded me of when watching it was Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (which was made 31 years after Champion). Both films have the same common theme - both men reaching the top in the ring whilst destroying several people outside the ring. Anyway with that being said I'll give you my thoughts on this film...To me, the signs are evident early on that Midge may be a troubled person; he's money-obsessed and it seems to be the only thing that's important to him. He wants his name up in lights and wants everyone to remember him. Of course, people handle fame and success in different ways, but in Champion it's very much the dark side of fame and fortune which is explored here. Kirk Douglas is a key-strength to the film and carries the film and his character from his care-free beginnings to the obsessive and self-absorbed individual that we see in the latter stages of the film.Mark Robson's direction was competent and the boxing matches in particular were quite well-framed (considering the era that the film was made).As much as I liked this film I did have a couple of issues with it; firstly there were parts of the film that were a bit slushy and soapy which made Champion feel a bit cheesy at times. Secondly, it's another one of those films where the narrative bounces around a lot from person to person ,meaning Midge's treachery and double-crossing becomes hard to follow at times and perhaps a tad difficult to digest in one viewing. However, I'm sure the latter issue will be ironed out upon a second viewing - for the record it is a film that I would watch again.In summary then it is a bit slushy and soapy at times and yes the narrative jumps around a little too quickly, but it does work well as a character study as well as a cautionary tale.

Hollywood was never slow to exploit a cycle which accounts for several great screwball comedies in the thirties which alternated with aviation stories. Boxing movies tended to be thin on the ground in the early days of sound albeit titles like Kid Galahad and Golden Boy gave the impression they were about the subject but in the late forties three of the best movies in the genre turned up, The Set Up, Body And Soul and Mark Robson's Champion. You'll look in vain for anything remotely original here but you won't regret looking because what you'll find is a solid script interpreted by a highly talented cast of whom none was better than Paul Stewart as that rara avis a decent boxing manager. Arthur Kennedy was appearing on Broadway in Death Of A Salesman playing Biff Loman, a completely different role to his Connie, handicapped brother of 'Champ' Kirk Douglas. Ruth Roman is the best actress of the three women in the champ's life, and the way Douglas hits the canvas mirrors as well as prefiguring his falling into the camera in Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole shortly afterwards. Sixty years on it's still great to watch.

The film follows Michael 'Midge' Kelly, and his brother Connie (Kirk Douglas and Arthur Kennedy)- who walks with a cane throughout the film, although why is never answered, who bum across the country to L.A., after they buy into a scam. They are forced to work as hashslingers at a diner. Midge screws around with the owner's daughter, Emma, then dumps her after a shotgun wedding. Connie, however, is unrequitedly in love with Emma Bryce (Ruth Roman), but sticks with Midge when he tries to become a boxer, by tracking down a trainer/manager, Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart), they'd met on the way. Thus begins his career as an up and coming middleweight, all the while keeping his marriage a secret…. While the film's cinematography, and use of black and white shadows is first rate, the script is laden with the stylized writing style of the period, and works more as a moral melodrama than a film noir. The acting also suffers from the non-naturalistic acting style of the 1940s, as well as some very fake boxing sequences. In one particularly bad moment- where a newsreel sports reporter wants to show a devastating KO by Midge, there is a replay in slow motion that only highlights the obvious- that the punches thrown land a good foot or more from the actors. Midge also takes punches no mediocre boxer would take, much less a champion. The training sequences are much better, and editor Harry Gerstad won an Oscar for it. Yet, the acting by Douglas, despite the stylization, is far more rooted in the real world struggles of boxing.At its core, though, Champion- like Raging Bull, is not a boxing movie, merely a film whose structure uses boxing to tell its tale. Midge, like Jake La Motta, is not a nice guy. He's a user, a liar, and egoist, and a bit of a sadist. We learn, in early scenes with Emma, that he was abandoned as a child, by a father who left and a mother who could only take care of sickly Connie, and grew up in an orphanage. One merely needs to hear the word orphanage to understand the rage that lights Midge's eyes from the first shots of the film, as well as the few moments he speaks of his hatred for poverty and the condescension it brings. Yet, despite his personal decay, Midge is a savvy guy, realizing that boxing is 'like any other business, only here the blood shows.' And it does in this film, as well. If only Ron Howard's film had such sanguine hues I may have never rediscovered this gem of a film, and bravura performance by Douglas.