wes-connors After seven grueling rounds with Muhammad Ali (as Cassius Clay), heavyweight boxer Anthony Quinn (as Louis "Mountain" Rivera) is knocked out. Told he with likely go blind if he fights again, due to optic nerve damage, Mr. Quinn must give up boxing. Displaying "punch drunk" behavior, Quinn is not exactly qualified to be anything other than a professional fighter. Pressured by gangsters, manager Jackie Gleason (as Maish Rennick) tries to get Quinn back in the ring, while trainer Mickey Rooney (as Army) encourages Quinn to try find another job. Thanks to kindly New York State employment worker Julie Harris (as Grace Miller), Quinn sets up an interview as summer camp counselor...The boxing profession takes another big hit, with this feature film version of writer Rod Serling's excellent 1956 "Playhouse 90" teleplay. Ironically, a couple of the profession's super-stars participate...This is essentially a four-person drama. All are re-cast from the original production, and all are outstanding. The "Film Daily" had Quinn finishing in the year's top five "Best Actor" performances, and Mr. Rooney was runner-up in the "Supporting Actor" category. Also award-worthy are Mr. Gleason and Ms. Harris. They are letter perfect in their supporting roles. TV director Ralph Nelson very successfully re-imagines the drama, enlarging the landscape while retaining intimacy. There is nothing new or original here, but that is only a minor deficiency. Interestingly, the "fight scenes" are memorable not for the fighting, but for the hideous spectators and the pathetic last impression of a boxer.******** Requiem for a Heavyweight (10/16/62) Ralph Nelson ~ Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris

LeonLouisRicci There is not one scene or one piece of dialog or one piece of this production that is nothing less than masterful. A perfect picture that demonstrates the ability and talent of all involved. The cinematography and set design are a norish display of a devilishness that pervades the urban decay and the decline of the species from ape to man to ape-man.All the performances are elegant and the musical score is biting with jazzy tones befitting the multi-cultural sport and the mayhem of the monsters and mobsters who inhabit this asphalt and canvas jungle. It is a riveting recital of the human condition that is part evolution and part separation from the Divine. Dignity and self respect, greed and vice, love and loathing, friendship and betrayal, hope and hopelessness. are all here and much more to contemplate. All from a low budget and high nobility.A survival of the fittest morality tale. Quite quintessentially Rod Serling.

MartinHafer This film begins at the very end of a boxer's career. After losing his fight, Man Mountain (Anthony Quinn) is told the fight doctor has de-certified him to box--saying he is physically unable to fight again. How this sweet man is able to assimilate to a normal life as well as the efforts of a nice woman (Julie Christie) to help him and his manager (Jackie Gleason) to exploit what's left of him.Like a lot of movies in the 1950s and 60s, this one was originally a live teleplay. This original version had a completely different cast--with Jack Palance playing lead and supported by Ed and Keenan Wynn as well as Kim Hunter. But this is not the only big difference--this version has a completely different ending that may leave you feeling VERY different from the first version. It's much, much more downbeat in this remake....much more so. Now you might like this, as it makes the boxing industry look even uglier. But as for me, I liked the hopeful ending in the TV version. Plus, while the acting in the movie was good, I don't think it was any better than the originals did. Too bad the original actors didn't get a chance to reprise their roles. Jack Palance, in particular, was superb and received an Emmy for his acting. Still, the film is interesting and makes you think about this soul-less 'sport'. I give it an 8...and the original a solid 10.

djkla Like so many others have already said, this is a great film, and one that I've watched many, many times since the late-1960's. Somewhere along the line, though, it was unceremoniously edited by someone who should've left it alone. The cut to which I refer involves an exchange between Maish Reynolds and Ma Greeney at the end of the film. Reynold's has narrowly escaped death at the hands of Greeney's goons, and in that moment, Reynold's vindictively intones to Greeney, "I wish you were a man." Greeney laughs out loud and replies, "Maishey darling, that's the nicest thing anyone ever said to me!" Maybe some of you remember it, but it has been many years since any version I've seen still has it.