Somebody Up There Likes Me

Somebody Up There Likes Me. 1956 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckardt, Sal Mineo, Ray Stricklyn
Director: Robert Wise
Currently available only as part of the Paul Newman Collection.

This film adaptation of boxing legend Rocky Graziano's autobiography was originally intended to star James Dean, but he died before production began, so Paul Newman was asked to take his place. This film was just his third role in Hollywood. Steve McQueen, Frank Campanella, Robert Loggia and Dean Jones all appear in bit parts.

Graziano has a difficult childhood, and is often beaten by his father. As he grows older, Rocky joins a gang and embarks on a life of petty crime, which ends in a prison sentence, where he isn't exactly a model prisoner. After being released, he is drafted into the Army, but he eventually goes AWOL after numerous scrapes with authority figures. Deciding the only way he could ever make an honest living is with his fists, Rocky decides to become a boxer, discovering his natural talent. After winning six matches in a row, Rocky is found by the Army, dishonorably discharged, and sent to Leavenworth for a year.

After his release, Graziano resumes his career, and meets his sister's friend Norma (Angeli), who he falls in love with and later marries. Norma helps Rocky, who carried his bad attitude into his boxing career, develop a conscience and some self-respect. Graziano eventually defeats Tony Zale for the middleweight championship, who had earlier beaten him. After losing to Zale the first time, Rocky is blackmailed by an old prison acquaintance, but he refuses to name his blackmailer, which briefly gets his license suspended.

Recommended film.