Champion Quiz

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 23 Sep 2004, 00:47

What fictional movie had a former world champion and the current (for at least part of its theatrical run) world champion acting in it, had guest appearances by over a half-dozen greats of the day, and starred the NEXT world champion?
Added bonus question: in the great fight that ended the movie, who were the judges?
(No Google cheating now.

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Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » 23 Sep 2004, 01:13

The Prizefighter and the Lady?

If that's it, I only know it because someone brought it up on the forum yesterday.

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 23 Sep 2004, 01:39

johnny carwasher...right. hell, i just posted a thread a few days ago announcing this picture was going to be on turner classic movies. just watched it about an hour ago, after having not seen it for nearly 20 years. i may do some comments on it on the thread mentioned.

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 23 Sep 2004, 23:31

I had not seen your earlier thread, Jaclem. I had never seen this movie before, and saw it, too, on Turner Classic Movies. Dempsey and Carnera had a few lines in this movie, and Max Baer was the male lead in his debut. Baer was a surprisingly good actor.

It was fun immediately before the title fight at the end of the flick to see great stars introduced, such as Frank Moran, Jackie Fields, Jim Jeffries, Joe Rivers, Jess Willard, and a couple of more.

But did you catch who were the two judges (and the timekeeper)?

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 24 Sep 2004, 19:45

OK, the judges were--
Ed (Gunboat) Smith:
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=011290

And George Blake:
http://www.boxrec.com/ref_search.php?referee_id=458

You got brief glimpes of them.
The time-keeper was Billy Conn, but I do not think he was shown, except, perhaps, from behind briefly:
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=009007

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 25 Sep 2004, 01:21

....now i feel better. i was resisting the tempatation to play the tape i made of thje movie to catch the judges names. i caught blake when i watched it but missed gunboat smith.

re: billy conn. surely this couldn't be THE billy conn, as he he would have been just 17 when the picture was made and hadn't turned pro yet .

while we're on the subject of this movie....i wonder how many younger viewers caught the significance of the two quick shots of the African/americans cheering during the scenes when carnera was taking a pasting. the was the time frame when mussolini was invading ethiopa, and italy was hugely unpopular with black people. so much so that when joe louis fought carnera in new york, the ring announcer called for fair play and an absence of hostility from the crowd. it might be in leibling's sweet science...not sure...but i read about a cab driver telling the writer that "they poisoned Joe's mind against Carnera" for the reasons mentioned. no idea if the cabbie knew what he was talking about...just passsing it along.

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 01 Oct 2004, 01:41

...just recalled a max baer quote i thought i'd toss in....max said " i trained a lot harder for the movie than i did for the [Carnera] fight...and in the movie i just got a draw."