THE CHAMP
US, 1931, 86 minutes. Black and white.
Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Jesse Scott, Marcia Mae Jones.
Directed by King Vidor.
The Champ is considered something of a classic. It won an Oscar for Wallace Beery (who tied with Fredric March for Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde), won an Oscar for its writer Frances Marion and received nomination for best director and best film. The direction is by King Vidor, a veteran director from silent days (The Big Parade) who went on to make many striking, even melodramatic films including Stella Dallas, Duel in the Sun, War and Peace.
Wallace Beery gives his usual performance as The Champ, a washed-out heavyweight champion who gambles and is alcoholic. He is matched by Jackie Cooper (who had been Oscar-nominated the year before for best actor in Skippy) who gives a very persuasive performance as a strong-minded young boy. His best friend is a young boy who is described as coloured. It is interesting, in terms of the presentation of African Americans on screen, to find a sympathetic young boy as early as 1931.
The film shows the relationship between father and son, the son really looking after the irresponsible father. When the father wins a racehorse in gambling, he gives it to his son, who races it – and encounters another racehorse owner, Linda, who its seems is his mother, having divorced The Champ many years before and given up her son. The dynamic of the film then is whether the boy should live with his mother and her husband or stay with his father. The key element is the father giving up gambling and drinking, going into training, going into a fight to prove himself to his son.
The film was remade, quite lavishly, by Franco Zeffirelli in 1979 with John Voight as The Champ, Faye Dunaway as the ex-wife and Ricky Schroder, sympathetic as the young boy.
1. The film as a 30s classic? Oscars and Oscar nominations? The remake?
2. MGM production in the 1930s, early sound, the strong cast, black and white photography, musical score?
3. The father and son relationship, the portrait of family, the portrait of divorce and repercussions in the 1930s?
4. The Champ’s film: his age, the drink, gambling, his appearance, his boxing career, losing, with his son, his love for his son, sharing everything with him, looking after him, the poor lodgings, the room, the bed, the food? His managers? His hopeless falling back into drinking and gambling? Winning, the gifts, the horse? The horse and its race, collapsing? His reassuring his son?
5. Dink’s film: his age, tough little boy, his black friend, their doing everything together, sensible with his father, the gifts, the delight in the horse, the training, the horse’s fall? Encountering Linda, his apology? Dressing up, going to see Linda, his stepsister and their talk? Spitting? The decision whether he should stay with his mother?
6. Linda, her story, with The Champ, the separation, her remarriage, giving up her son? Wanting to have him? The visit? Her affection?
7. The Champ, taking the two hundred dollars to send his son to see his mother? Dressing him up? The shame in taking all the money? His reliance on his friend Sponge? His going to jail, his realising he could not look after his son, his decision to give him back to his mother? His going into training, the hard work?
8. Dink, going to his mother, acknowledging the truth about her? The dialogue given about families and being together? With the little girl? His decision to run away, his staying with his father, at home in this kind of life?
9. The fight, the desperate attempts by The Champ, the boy willing to throw in the towel, his wanting to show his son that he was worthwhile? The victory?
10. The life of The Champ? The portrait of the boy? Future?
