The Harder They Fall: "How much would you take?"

Mark Robson's The Harder They Fall, shifts the perception of the traditional boxing film from the boxer to the shady promotional organization standing behind him. Treading off the beaten path, it is at the same time very similar to it's contemporaries, yet also uniquely different. By having our protagonist be a sports writer, we can see the inner workings of the organizations our boxers have been contending with in other films, from an insider's point of view. In addition to this deviation, the film has the fixing of boxing matches work in the boxers favor, creating an interesting illusion of success and merit built on a foundation of corruption and trickery.

The relationship between Eddie and Toro builds as the film develops, with the characters growing on each other. Originally, as mentioned many times throughout the film, Eddie is only "in it for the money".  But as he has to trample his own morals and ethics in order to build up Toro into a champion, as well as witnessing first-hand the exploitative nature of the fight game on it's boxers, he takes Toro's side, and helps send him back home to Argentina. A fresh take on the traditional narrative, all the elements are still there. The typical corruption surrounding the sport is able to be isolated from Toro himself, thanks to his back story as an Argentinian immigrant who is still learning English. This alternate take on the corruption surrounding the industry leads to the film having even stronger socialist undertones than even the more heavy-handed boxing films. The story of a hard-working, if a little naive immigrant from humble origins, having his physical labor exploited by corrupt bourgeois capitalists while he receives a minuscule fraction of the fruits of his labor practically reeks of socialism even if I hadn't steered the discussion in that direction.

This clip, one of the most intense scenes from the whole movie, captures the behind the scenes technically-not-illegal exploitation that the movie is criticizing. Just as in On the Waterfront, the "gang" of people supposedly working in the best interest of Toro are actually splitting up his earnings so much, he ends up earning almost nothing.Eddie's response to th group of scammers: "he didn't have five guys in the ring with him", perfectly captures the conflicts outside the ring, that this film seems to be exploring. The argument for socialism often includes a criticism of the capitalist economic system, and it's seemingly parasitic, useless workforce of non-producers. The ideal is to unshackle the workers of the world from this wasteful system, and more equitably distribute that which they produced. Real life examples may have not turned out as perfectly as the theorists proposed, but that is a level of foresight to great to expect out of anyone, let alone filmmakers.

In the end, our noble boxer makes it home a success, and our fallen protagonist redeems himself by giving Toro his earnings rather than letting him return empty handed. Toro's success is tainted however, by the fact that the odds were stacked in his favor, a subtle but important lesson from the film. What may appear to be success, often comes at the expense of other's. What appears to you as the fruits of your labor and natural talent, may be the results of strings pulled by others on your behalf, but that does not make the crooked playing field you are on correct. Eddie also has a "happy" ending, in the optimistic fashion of these early films, he gives up his earnings from his shady enterprise to Toro, and after receiving threats from his previously friendly coworkers, is emboldened to write an expose. Having shaken off his sinful work, Eddie takes on an endeavor to return ethics to the fight game, likely making himself rich in the process as well.