Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Charming and brutal

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I cannot stop but thinking if there is a chocolate called The Champ, the "I want The Champ!" scene will be a great pun. The Champ is a good film that it makes you cry (I guess everybody knows that by now) but really, the inconsolable T.J. (Ricky Schroder) makes the room really dusty all of a sudden. But what's important in this movie is the relationship between a boy and his father, packed with 'cryable' scenes.The story revolves around the relationship of a boy named T.J. with his father - T.J. loved him so much that he will do everything for his father (aww such a great kid) and his father couldn't be more bad ass but responsible. Pain in the ass. It stretches him between his bad habit and his responsibility as a father which later led him back into boxing to improve their life.I won't say much because you have to watch it in spite of the poor rating of this amazing film.

The Champ is by far the saddest film I have ever seen. If you want to cry your eyes out, this is the film for you. It follows the story of Billy Flynn (Jon Voight) , an ex-boxer who is struggling to make a life for himself and his young son (Ricky Schroder) . Billy is very well played by Voight; he has just the right mix of tough guy and loving father.Faye Dunaway and Jack Warden both do a good job in their roles as well, but Ricky Schroder steals the show, in one of the finest performances from a child actor ever. The last 10 minutes of the film are guaranteed to make even the most hardened people weep. The director of the film, Franco Zeffirelli, is known for his film adaptations of Shakespeare plays, and indeed this film feels like it would make a good play. With a charming score by Dave Grusin, and some beautiful cinematography, it's a wonder how more people haven't seen this film. I recommend it to anyone willing to bring a set of Kleenex along!

The Champ (1979)** (out of 4)Remake of the 1931 film that got star Wallace Beery his Oscar. This time it's Jon Voight playing the washed up boxer taking care of his young son (Ricky Schroder) who decides to try and make a comeback so that he can do something good for the kid. Along the way he gets involved with his ex-wife (Faye Dunaway) who left him and the kid years earlier and he also can't escape his destructive nature. The original version of this story was quite good and of course it contained the now famous ending, which is pretty much kept here. Look, there's no question that the final five-minutes here are incredibly powerful but they still can't make up for the previous 116-minutes that are pretty manipulative and flat. There are all sorts of problems with THE CHAMP and while it's certainly not a bad movie it just doesn't have what it takes to overcome all the flaws. One major flaw is the screenplay. You can give the producers credit for not delivering a scene-for-scene remake but the new stuff they added simply doesn't work. This includes all the time spent with the horses as well as the relationship between Voight and Dunaway that constantly builds up. I really didn't care for their early conflicts and I certainly didn't care for the directions their relationship goes through towards the end. It's almost as if the filmmakers threw in a bit of KRAMER VS. KRAMER (which was released the same year) to try and sell a romance side. Another thing that doesn't work is some of the casting. Voight is one of my favorite actors and he delivers a good performance here but I think he was miscast. I think he's simply too smart and this comes across so the destructive nature of this character just doesn't suit him. I also thought Dunaway was good in her part but it probably should have gone to someone else. Schroder, on the other hand, clearly steals the film with his touching performance and he's certainly a knockout at the end. We get some terrific character actors in supporting roles including Jack Warden, Strother Martin, Arthur Hiller and Elisha Cook. Joan Blondell, in one of her final films, has a small part as well. Again, the ending is what this movie is known for and it's a great one. It's just too bad the rest of the film didn't live up to it and the countless manipulation scenes early on just don't work and they certainly miss the emotional connection that they try for.

Details are a little vague (I saw this back in 1979) but here's what I remember: Story about an ex-boxer (Jon Voight) who's bringing up his son (Ricky Schroder) alone when his wife (Fay Dunaway) left them. Then she returns and wants her son back. She's rich now. Voight has to become a boxer again to provide for his kid...but it might kill him. OK--it's well acted (all three leads are great) and well-done but man is it SYRUPY! The movie is just so cloying and sweet that I started to get annoyed watching it. Also the story is old and has been done many times before. You know how it's going to end. And yeah--I cried at the end but how could you not? This movie went out of its way to wring tears from the audience. I don't mind tearjerkers but this one is so openly trying to make you cry that it gets ridiculous. When a movie starts forcing reactions from its audience that's not good. This gets a 3 only for the actors and a well-done production.