Please don't spend money on this.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Much of the Success that can be Found in this Biopic of Hoodlum Turned Middleweight Champ Rocky Graziano, must go to Director Robert Wise. His Decision to Film only the Night Scenes at the Studio and the Daytime Scenes on Location, add a Noirish Look and Enhances the Films Success.Paul Newman is OK Playing the Larger than Life Boxer and Manages to keep just a Heartbeat from Caricature. The Outstanding Supporting Cast is Highlighted by Pierre Angeli and Everett Sloane with Good Work from everyone else, contribute to the overall Verismillitude, Dramatized Sure, but Not too Much.The Fight Scenes are Great and Work just Fine and the Editing throughout the Picture is Excellent Moving things along at a Stunning Pace. Everything Comes Together to make this a Fine Fight Film.Made Paul Newman a Star. It Set the Box-Office Champ on a Career and He Never Looked Back. The whole Production Team seems to be On the Same Card and They Made this an Above Average Boxing Movie and a Very Good Movie Overall.

I find it amazing that for a sport I truly abhor that there are so many great movies about professional fighting-from "Golden Boy", "The Set-Up", "Body and Soul" and "Champion" to "The Harder They Fall" and the much later classic "Rocky", these movies delve into the psychology of the men who turn usually from the violence of the streets to end up getting paid for it. The young Paul Newman is a unique choice to be cast as the young Italian street thug who spends time in prison, gets dishonorably discharged while in basic training for World War II, yet ends up the prize-fighting champion of the world. This story of one man's rise over adversity has been told so many times, but this one avoids being manipulative in trying to win our sympathy for him. Initially, there is no sympathy for him as you see his horrendous series of street crimes, but what will win you over is his desire to change his situation, and ultimately himself. Newman, still looking far from Italian in his Chico Marx hairstyle, manages to be convincing, so eventually you forget about his famous blonde hair and blue eyes. Still in the infancy of his film career, Newman was cast in several "thug" roles ("The Desperate Hours" on Broadway and "The Helen Morgan Story" for example) before switching to troubled romantic heroes.Harold J. Stone and Eileen Heckart are outstanding as his troubled parents who seem so far apart that you instantly understand why Rocky has turned out the way he is. Stone, being cold throughout most of the film as the embittered father who was forced to give up his own career as a boxer, is first seen brutalizing the young Rocky (Terry Rangno) who breaks a shop window with boxing gloves in it, after which the cop chasing him gives up, claiming that the boy'll end up on death row at Sing Sing anyway. Heckart's mama is so grasping in a loving manner that when she finally tells Rocky that she's prepared to disown him, it is almost heartbreaking. In a year full of four outstanding movie performances, stage legend Heckart shows why she could steal every scene she ever played. Recognized for an Oscar Nomination for that year's "The Bad Seed", her grieving mother in that could be sister to this character, yet her supportive friend in "Miracle in the Rain" and the earthy waitress in "Bus Stop" show her incredible range. Heckart could take the most pathetic actors and make them identifiable.Young Sal Mineo manages to look the same throughout the film (which takes place obviously over a long period of time) but his intensity is tremendous. The gritty cinematography captures the rough lower east side, and the violence of that neighborhood (overlooked in the fun but unrealistic "Bowery Boys" movies) gives the movie a "film noir" edge. The fight scenes are truly intense and show the brutality of the sport, as well as the outrageous fans who clamor for more carnage as the blows continue to get harder and the desperation of the fighters explode. As the young wife who struggles with her own conflicting feelings towards Rocky's profession, Pier Angeli has the difficult task of taking her character past the obvious direction. She manages to instill her with a variety of strengths, weaknesses and most importantly, the love and caring that Rocky needs to feel. An important scene between Angeli and Heckart is the key to stressing how she rises above a potentially one dimensional meaningless role.Director Robert Wise, who so brilliantly directed the prize-fighting "B" feature "The Set-Up", increases the intensity here. There are many elements utilized in his treatment of tough teen New Yorkers that would be evident in his film version of the musical masterpiece "West Side Story".

"Somebody Up There Likes Me" is the second film Paul Newman starred as leading actor and the first to become a hit making him a great movie star. Here he plays the legendary boxer Rocky Graziano in his long and very difficult journey to be a recognized boxer. The movie begins showing his tough childhood in Bronx where he participated in robberies, and then went to prison because of his long list of crimes. After he went out of prison, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. His luck seems to change when he discover that he can get fast money winning boxing fights. His first friend is Irving Cohen (Everett Sloane, the eternal Mr. Bernstein from "Citizen Kane"), who became his coach, arranging more and more fights to the young talented man. Just like Rocky Balboa who finds Adrienne, suddenly Graziano finds his first love, a young Jewish girl called Norma (Pier Angeli), who like him very much but can't stand his boxing.But the biggest challenge to Rocky isn't in the fighting but it's something more deep. A guy (Robert Loggia) that he met in prison reappears and then makes an offer to the boxer: he must lose a important fight. Why? Because his past on robbery and in the Army may be revealed to the public that really likes this guy. Rocky's always battling with himself trying to understand why bad things happens to him over and over again. OK, you might find the plot very obvious, something that you've seen before, but it has it's good moments and some originality. Newman's performance is a great asset to the film. He is conflicted, lost, sympathetic, angry and yet the audience always like him. Even that the boxing scenes doesn't work so well like in "Raging Bull" it's still worth watching the story of a man who's been beaten too much but don't give up so easily. Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Sal Mineo (Rocky's friend), Eileen Heckart and Robert Loggia (in his film debut) are very good in strong supporting roles. Pay attention to Steve McQueen participation as Fidel, one of the members of the gang in the beginning of the movie. Well directed by Robert Wise. 10/10

Director Robert Wise's second movie about boxing, "Somebody Up There Likes Me" is just as gritty as his earlier movie "The Set Up" with Robert Ryan. "Somebody Up There Likes Me" is a biography of 'the hard knocks' life that real-life boxer Rocky Graziano rebounded from to become a media celebrity in the ring. Paul Newman steps outside of his usual easy going demeanor to play Rocky as a tough guy who got a lot of bad breaks, especially from his pugilist pop who socked him around as a kid, before things got better for him.Indeed, this MGM movie is a formulaic biography with all the right elements and some contrivances to boot, but Wise directs it well, particularly the boxing scenes, and he benefits from a strong cast, especially McQueen in a pre "Blob" role as a juvenile delinquent. Rocky really had a terrible upbringing and a mean-spirited dad (Harold J. Stone at his meanest), but he manages to hold on long enough to win in the end. He suffers through prison as well as a military court-martial with a dishonorable discharge. Gripping black & white photography gives this movie a memorable look and the skyline shots of New York with the bridges looming up in the distance over the tops of the tenements are evocative.Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Sal Mineo and Eileen Herckart round out a solid cast. There are is inevitable scene where Rocky has to refuse taking a dive. He winds up behind bars early on as a rebellious youth. Newman proves that he can be as good if not better than Marlon Brando here as he portrays a character who isn't the brightest bulb in the lighting system. Definitely worth watching.