Somebody Up There Likes Me

This kicks off a retrospective on the work of the recently departed Paul Newman (a review of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof can be found a few weeks back). His role as boxer Rocky Graziano was his first big splash in Hollywood (his first role, in The Silver Chalice, was an embarrassment to him).

The film was directed by Robert Wise, who had already made one of the best boxing films ever made, The Set-Up, and this one is right up there with it. It won Oscars for best black and white cinematography and art direction, and though it adhered to the production code (Graziano and his wife sleep in separate beds), it has a grittiness and honesty. Clearly Martin Scorsese was inspired by it when he made Raging Bull.

Graziano's real name was Rocky Barbella, and he grew up a street hoodlum in Little Italy before World War II. His father was a fighter, but gave it up when his wife insisted on it, which she always regretted, since it made the old man a bitter drunk. Spending his time in reform schools and prisons, Graziano was an incorrigible, and seemed headed for life in prison pr the electric chair. What's remarkable about Newman's performance, along with his wise-guy elocution, is that he manages to make such a common criminal so utterly charming. There isn't a moment when you're not rooting for this guy.

After getting a dishonorable discharge from the Army and serving time at Leavenworth, Graziano took up boxing in prison, and then began a professional career. He married a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn and went totally straight. But the public, who grew to adore him, didn't know about his nefarious past, and an old acquaintance tries to blackmail him into throwing a fight. But all is well and the film ends with his title fight against Tony Zale, which is one of the more thrilling and well-shot sports scenes I've seen in films.

Though the film is at times overly sentimental and moralizing, it has undeniable power, most of it due to Newman and Wise. A reconciliation seen between Graziano and his father (played well by Harold J. Stone) would get a tear from the hard-heartest viewer. Also, there's a nice verisimilitude about the tough New York streets, which hooked a young Scorsese, as he admits on the DVD commentary.

Someone Up There Likes Me also has a lot of familiar faces in supporting roles. Eileen Heckart played Graziano's long-suffering mother. Everett Sloane from Citizen Kane is his manager (who has a great line--"I should have stayed in the lingerie business. I was the happiest man in ladies underwear"). Sal Mineo and Steve McQueen are members of the street gang, and Robert Loggia is the hood who attempts to blackmail Graziano. This film is a lot of fun, and certainly was an indication of the greatness Newman was about to reveal to the world.