Champion
Based on a Ring Lardner story, Champion is the film that elevated Kirk Douglas to stardom. Douglas plays a determined prize fighter, Midge Kelly, whose ruthlessness is both despicable and compelling. The graphic intensity of the scenes of boxing life and of the matches themselves equals the force of Douglas' performance. "Champion remains an exceptional film; it is brutal, realistic and uncompromising in telling the story of a boxer who batters his way to the top.... The film, admirably paced and developed by (Director Mark) Robson, begins with the night of his greatest triumph in the ring, and recounts his story in flashbacks" --"The Films of Kirk Douglas"