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Friday, January 24, 2020

THE RING (1952)

Conventional, slightly amateurish, this sweet-natured little boxing pic holds interest less as drama than as ‘50s L.A. social marker. Lalo Rios, very winning, is the featherweight fighter discovered by Gerald Mohr’s manager as he dukes it out on the sidewalk with a pair of white toughs. The kid’s got something. With Dad out of work and money tight, why not go for the ring? But can he summon a boxer’s discipline before taking on too much and losing it all? Irving Shulman’s script, which could have been all clichés, keeps taking smart turns, finding legit problems to tackle even when folks do right by the kid. Like a local cop, called in to march the boy & his noisy pals out of an unwelcoming Beverly Hills diner, surprises by sticking around to make sure they all get served. And it doesn’t hurt to have young Rita Moreno as the nice girlfriend (at the time, a ringer for her latter WEST SIDE STORY co-star Natalie Wood) nor classy lenser Harlan Russell on a film with such a modest budget. Under Kurt Neumann’s direction, the boxing scenes really pop without being overdone. Even when our featherweight hero goes against a welterweight at the climax. There's real social history in every location shot & cultural attitude. With a narrator to explain that in some neighborhoods, Spanish is the only language you’ll hear. Imagine that!

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The poster is all hype. No one calls the kid ’a dirty Mex,’ his nom de la ring is Tommy Kansas! And not a single white guy goes chasing after his girl.

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