Humphrey Bogart specialized in playing cynical and world weary characters who were really disappointed idealists. That was never truer than with his final film, The Harder They Fall.

Bogie looks exhausted and beaten down in the movie. It wasn’t acting, he was dying a slow death from cancer. His character Eddie Willis is a sports columnist whose newspaper folded, so he reluctantly agrees to act as a flack for gangster and fight manager Nick Benko played with typical histrionics by Rod Steiger. His OTT method acting doesn’t always work but it’s perfect for this film set in the corrupt world of boxing.

The Harder They Fall could be considered part of a Budd Schulberg trilogy. The novel on which it’s based came out in 1947:

The Harder They Fall explores similar themes of corruption and exploitation as two other Schulberg films, On The Waterfront and A Face In The Crowd. Schulberg didn’t write the script for this boxing expose, producer Philip Yordan did, but his fingerprints are all over it.

In The Harder They Fall, Rod Steiger’s sleazy gangster wants Bogie to hype the so-called Wild Man of the Andes, Toro Moreno played by Mike Lane. Toro is your basic gentle giant and a lousy fighter. At their first meeting, Bogie says that Toro has a “powder puff punch and a glass jaw.” Obviously not a good combination for a pugilist.

As you can see from the featured image, Bogart excels at hyping his fighter. Steiger smooths the way by fixing every fight until the championship bout at the end of the movie. That’s when it was time to dump the Palooka of the Pampas and cash in by betting against him.

Throughout the story, Bogart’s conscience eats at him, especially in scenes with his wife played by Jan Sterling.

Sterling usually played bitches like her character in Ace In The Hole. Here she’s the keeper of Bogie’s soul. She will win the battle in the end but it’s a close call. One reason is that the cynical sportswriter turned flack becomes fond of the boxer. Toro is deluded and thinks he won all those fights with his fists not Steiger’s filthy lucre. He believed what was written on the hype bus:

I love that bus so I couldn’t resist slipping in a daytime shot. Toro is more like the puppy of the Andes.

That’s more story than I should share: this feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers, after all,

The acting is excellent. I’ve mentioned the principals, kudos also go to Harold J Stone as a sportswriter who is appalled that his old friend sold out to the mob. Director Mark Robson also cast two former championship boxers in key roles: Jersey Joe Walcott and Max Baer. That’s right: Jethro Bodine’s daddy.

Here’s Bogie with Max Baer:

Here’s Jersey Joe and Mike Lane as Toro. The former champ played his corner man.

Mike Lane was a big galoot.

Grading Time: The Harder They Fall came in #12 on my Bogart Dozen. I give it 4 stars and an Adrastos Grade of A-.

Let’s move on to the posters. We begin with the American and Mexican one sheets side-by-side:

I prefer the quad because the red color and snappy tag line smack you in the face:

I’m feeling slap happy. Let’s all go to the lobby to see if they have anything to make me feel better.

I struck out but scored with this lobby card montage:

It’s trailer time:

The last word goes to Eddie Muller with his Noir Alley intro and outro.