The Set-Up

It's hard to imagine a boxing movie much better than this. The film plays out entirely in real time. The fight itself is brilliantly staged and expertly shot, tense and gripping. The brutality is heightened by the shots of the bloodthirsty crowd. It all gels together and makes a thoroughly compelling and very grim and gritty tale, with solid writing, direction and performances all around. Ryan does an average joe quite well, without dumbing it down too much. Excellent stuff.

A surprising little gem of a film noir. Ryan is excellent, and the narrative gimmick of showing the story in real-time works to excellent effect. Not the greatest of stories, but a damn fine picture.

Fine washed-up boxer movie. In real time. Ryan is great in this.

A hidden little gem, this film-noir boxing movie boasts an inelaborate but great script - a real-time narrative, great acting from Robert Ryan and exemplary directing from Robert Wise, including what must be one of the best bout scenes ever put to celluloid.

One of those noirs where the feeling of doom doesn’t come from some grandiose plan. Doesn’t come from the trick of a femme fatale or wanton greed it comes from time. It comes from what time does hope and what unanswered dreams do to hope. Ryan wears this perfectly on his face. Weathered but still able to see what makes him such an intriguing star. Able to play the faded working man who has traded everything in life for a career of brutalized flesh. Photographed beautifully.

In the end most of us are trying to stay in the fight and convincing ourselves that we have a chance. When it’s been long enough even your wins end up as losses. You’re always one punch away/I can’t fight no more.

A really straightforward movie that manages to be incredibly tense and well-crafted. The centerpiece fight is gripping, and most of the scenes surrounding it are just as good.

This movie perfectly shows the brutal side of the boxing world. You really feel for the main character by the end of the film. This one great dark film about boxing, aging and refusing to give up.

Pretty much every boxing movie has the same message and general plot structure, but this one was tight, engaging and really well shot, which puts up near the top of the heap.

Textbook example of how you can have no money and one of the oldest premises in fiction and still make a very good little picture

I admire how this is in real time. You're basically watching a chaotic slugfest at the end like you're tuning in on a Saturday night. The stuff before the fight is cool because you see the pre-fight activities. The acting is solid all around. It's predictable and outside of how it's shot, doesn't do much different, but hell, it's entertaining.

Lean, efficient, great noir that doesn't try to do too much and in the process does plenty. The choice to show essentially the whole boxing match in real time (or even slower than real time) is a bold one but I think it works very well and builds the suspense, even though we kind of know where it's going. Ryan is good and they do a good job of making the arena, the area around the arena, and the locker room feel lived in and like real places that exist outside the movie. Great stuff.

With a straightforward story, the difference is often in how you tell it. In the book's case, it was a poem. In this film's case, it's the cinematography that does it, quickly hopping in real time though an impressive array of shots as we spend an hour and change up close with all these sweaty people glistening under bright lights in the shadows; that's what really sells the distinct world of this seedy little Paradise more than anything.

Fish wrestling? What more could you want?

Although the story is fairly predictable, this film is so beautifully executed that it's predictability becomes a virtue. Playing out in real time, we see all the fight preparation and the interaction between all the boxers fighting that night, and it's all inexorably leading to an almost pre-ordained conclusion ... Ryan's big hope for one more win to set up his future will lead to his downfall. The film's adapted from a narrative poem and there's definite poetry in the way it's executed.

There's no crying in boxing. The end was telegraphed like a left jab, the key relationship worryingly underplayed and blaming the crowd for the mayhem overcooked. Overrated.

A very riveting and intense movie that was well acted and I didn't know how it was going to turn out which was a huge plus. Another thing I really liked was the fact that there was a distinct lack of melodrama when it would've been so easy to throw it in.

The Set-Up (1949) was wonderful! Such a close and intimate look at a evening of a boxer. Shot in the most filthy and raw way possible, while keeping with the simplest of narratives one could imagine for a boxing event. Superb job by Robert Wise and heartfelt performances by Robert Ryan & Audrey Totter delivering the punch to this story.

Robert Wise crams a lot of emotions into this relatively short film: Anger, fear, disappointment, hope, greed, love, and pride. It even makes time for sociological criticism. The ending is as clear as day from the beginning, yet the characters are so relatable, and the story is so humane that you don't mind the predictability. Masterly crafted!

one of the best boxing films ever made. while it spends most of its time with the actual fight (which isn't the most enjoyable fight scene but still manages to hold the attention) it accounts for almost every single element involved in the fighting scene and uses the fight as nice way to make a point.

Filmed so unbelievably well, the shadows, the lighting, the way the camera moves, all that is impeccably done. The fight scene is extremely well crafted, and barely far removed at all from modern fight scenes. The script is great and tight, and each character no matter how minor has a distinctive personality. Robert Ryan kills it in this role, as do most of the other actors. There are some faults but they are too minor to mention. For an hour and thirteen minutes, this is not far from perfect.

Very simple and classic; like a fresh hot dog on film.

Nifty little boxing film is short and sweet, but manages to pack considerable punch into its 'real-time' 70-odd minutes, thanks to Wise's always moving camera (raising the tension considerably, especially in the still quite brutal boxing scenes) and Ryan's excellent performance as the ageing, has-been boxer. Bleak, nihilistic finale is a chilling capper, though it's a shame leading lady Totter's performance is a weak link, failing to bring much colour or distinction to the 'wife-at-home' part.

Ingeniously filmed but kind of slight. Robert Ryan is pretty great.

Executed nearly to perfection and the acting is on point, too.

82.500

83.500

Awesome little movie. Plays out in real time. The fight is excellent - great job by Robert Wise in that regard.

Excellent execution of a familiar story. A little goes a long way here.

Ryan makes the film.

The boxing scenes are incredible. There's a real violence to the way the fight is portrayed, and the real-time aspect means you get a good feel for the ebb and flow of the bout. It's almost like watching a real fight - I was wincing with each punch and cheering when Stoker landed a good one. All exacerbated by the bloodlust of the audience. You can almost smell the sweat and taste the blood. The story is good, too; a simple but effective morality tale with a typical noir bittersweet ending.

It's good for what it is, which is a standard boxing film with a obvious and simple message about integrity and honor. The acting is great, but none of the characters have much personality. This might be blamed on the fact that everything takes place in a brief seventy minutes of real time, an interesting, though ultimately limiting, gimmick. Doesn't help that most of those seventy minutes take place in the ring. Not a lot of drama or depth here. Photography is impressive, though.

Enjoyable little noir, but never much more than that. The fight scenes were boring and overlong but Wise's direction was nothing short of electric.

Excellent, original if somewhat overwrought morality tale about integrity set in the world of boxing. Filmed as a continuous narrative covering only 72 minutes in the life of aging fighter Stoker Thompson (Ryan). Powerful, with fine performances, especially from Ryan in the lead.

Punhos de campeão tinha sua première há 75 anos em New York. Não via esse desde o centenário do Robert Ryan, tenho pouca simpatia por filmes sobre esportes em geral, mas esse é meu filme favorito sobre boxe de sempre, se assim ele já é perfeito, imagine se ele tivesse seguido os parâmetros do poema narrativo em que é baseado de ser um boxer negro bígamo que morre no final? Tem o livro no archive.org, mas não vou reclamar da obra-prima do Wise, não. ABSOLUTE CINEMA. Box Versátil Noir Volume 16.

Excellent delivery in all fields.

Solid film that never tries to do too much. Pretty good acting and some really impressive directing. The real-time flow was a neat idea that works out well here.

Tightly paced boxing picture/film noir that plays out in real time. Robert Ryan is fantastic as the washed up Stoker Thompson.