The Harder They Fall

Released May 9, 1956

1h 49m

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

80%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Broke and without work, newspaper reporter Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart) agrees to work for the corrupt boxing promoter Nick Benko (Rod Steiger) to help hype his new boxer, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). While Toro is beastly in appearance, he has no actual boxing talent, and all his fights are fixed. When Toro gets a shot at the title against the brutal Buddy Brannen (Max Baer), Willis is faced with the tough decision of whether or not to tell Toro that his entire career is a sham.

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Packs the ambient violence of a sports world and a media scene that are infested with gangsters; it’s an exposé not just of boxing but of the American way of business.

Jul 18, 2022

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

This hard-punching boxing-business picture... comes out swinging from the very beginning and doesn't stop until just before the end.

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

George N. Fenin

Film Culture

Robson and Yordan have fulfilled their aesthetic objectives, making The Harder They Fall one of the most honest American films in recent years. But in accordance with the limitation of their vision, they only scratched the corrupted crust of [boxing].

Mar 28, 2022

Full Review

Hoshi Soffen

Shin Nichibei/New Japanese American News

A lousy racket lurking around some of the prize fighting arenas of the country is being depicted in one of the most gripping films to come out of Hollywood crucible.

Nov 22, 2019

Full Review

Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

Honored as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema by the American Film Institute, the late iconic Humphrey Bogart is now similarly memorialized with the re-release of this screen classic compilation.

Dec 25, 2011

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

In this noir sports melodrama, which is his final screen role, Bogart gives a powerful performance.

Rated: B+

Jul 5, 2011

Full Review

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W B

This is Bogart's last movie before his untimely death. An obviously ill Bogart presents a powerful image of an individual coming to the realization that his favorite reporting sport (boxing) is rapidly deteriorating; it is fictionally as ill as he was in real life. The now puffy & prematurely wrinkle faced Bogart clearly demonstrates the dichotomy between the rapid decline in the purity of the sport and the growth of corruption as manifested by the prostitution of the skills of the individual boxers and their total abandonment once their “usefulness” is exhausted: “Boxers come and go but their managers go on forever!” Steiger presents as a thoroughly corrupt individual devoid of any human empathy. The only affection or “love” he demonstrates is that which is derived from a positive balance sheet and the misuse of every human being unfortunate enough to have fallen into his personal orbit. The oft quoted, “No one gets hurt” rapidly becomes a piece of farce; representing the ultimate prostitution of both the sport and those involved with it at all levels. It is an expose as valid today as it was 60+ years ago. W.D. Bruni

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

06/05/24

Full Review

Richard G. R

Bogart's last movie before his death, and a good one at that. Very strong performances by Bogie and Rod Sterling about the seedy side of professional boxing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/25/24

Full Review

Steve D

I am not a big boxing guy but this is one of the best of its kind.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/08/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Hard to watch. Script full of boring moments. Cliché. Bad acting. Fake violence in all the wrong places. Good music in all the wrong moments. Non plausible story, badly performed, but ambitious. Worst combo.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I feel this movie covered a lot, and showed a hidden history, very entertaining.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Worst movie all year

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Mark Robson

Director

Humphrey Bogart

Eddie Willis

Rod Steiger

Nick Benko

Jan Sterling

Beth Willis

Mike Lane

Toro Moreno

Max Baer

Buddy Brannen

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Synopsis

Broke and without work, newspaper reporter Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart) agrees to work for the corrupt boxing promoter Nick Benko (Rod Steiger) to help hype his new boxer, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). While Toro is beastly in appearance, he has no actual boxing talent, and all his fights are fixed. When Toro gets a shot at the title against the brutal Buddy Brannen (Max Baer), Willis is faced with the tough decision of whether or not to tell Toro that his entire career is a sham.

Director: Mark Robson
Producer: Philip Yordan
Screenwriter: Budd Schulberg, Philip Yordan
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Columbia TriStar Home Video
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 1956, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Runtime: 1h 49m
Sound Mix: Mono

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