The Harder They Fall (1956) on Netflix
Out of work, sportswriter Eddie Willis takes a job promoting Toro Moreno, a huge Argentine with a weak punch and a fragile jaw. Nick Benko plans to build him into a contender.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.5/1010,496 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Eddie Willis is broke and out of work, so he takes a publicist's job from Nick Benko, a fight promoter launching a new fighter. Toro Moreno, brought up from Argentina, is enormous, and he cannot fight. Benko plans to use his size to draw crowds, and he wants Eddie's name, which still stands for honest reporting, attached to the buildup. Eddie has misgivings about the scheme, but he is promised a large payday. Traveling the country in a bus covered with advertising, Eddie negotiates with rival managers so that Toro's opponents go down as arranged and the Argentine climbs the rankings. Neither Toro nor his manager, Luís Agrandi, knows that the fights are fixed.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Harder They Fall (1956)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While making the film, Humphrey Bogart stayed on the lot for retakes because his eyes were too watery for his closeups; after his death, co-star Rod Steiger realized the watering was from pain caused by his cancer.
- Boxer Primo Carnera sued Columbia Pictures for $1.5 million in damages, arguing the film was based on him and invaded his privacy; the lawsuit failed, and boxer Joe Greb also sued for invasion of privacy.
- Screenwriter Philip Yordan wanted Victor Mature to play the prize fighter, but director Mark Robson insisted on a real boxer, Mike Lane, a choice Yordan said ruined the picture because Lane could not act.
- Screenwriter Philip Yordan recalled that Humphrey Bogart, under contract to Columbia, had to do the picture but had no role, so he raised hell, behaved badly because it was not his picture, and was cast as a weak man who sold out.
- Budd Schulberg said he turned down Columbia's request to write the screenplay because the studio insisted he come to Hollywood, where Harry Cohn liked to look at the script every two or three days.
