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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Harder They Fall (1956)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Pug Shots

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Harder They Fall on DVD.

Humphrey Bogart appears in his very last film as a down on his luck sportswriter who takes a job as a press agent for a South American giant-turned-fighter, Toro (Mike Lane). The guy can't punch at all, but Bogey and Rod Steiger fix a series of fights in order to get Toro a shot at the championship. Trouble eventually sets in when Toro must face the honest-to-goodness champ. Fairly gritty and potent for its time, director Mark Robson (The Seventh Victim) delivers some terrifically brutal fight footage; at one point he shows us a realistic "documentary" about a retired fighter whose brains are so scrambled that he can't even get a real job. Sometimes the picture veers off track into preachiness, but all in all, it's a solid film. Columbia/TriStar's DVD ($24.95) comes with a lovely black-and-white transfer and trailers.

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, Max Baer Jr., Albert "Poppy" Popwell
Written by: Philip Yordan
Directed by: Mark Robson
MPAA Rating: NR
Running Time: 109 minutes
Date: February 13, 2003