Tue 19 Jun 2012
A Movie Review by Mike Doran: ALIAS THE CHAMP (1949).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[15] Comments
ALIAS THE CHAMP. Republic Pictures, 1949. Robert Rockwell, Barbra Fuller, Audrey Long, Jim Nolan, John Harmon, Sammy Menacker, Joseph Crehan, John Hamilton, Gorgeous George (George Wagner), Bomber Kulkovich (Henry Kulky). Director: George Blair.
From Wikipedia:
“It was with the advent of television, however, that George’s character exploded into the biggest drawing card the industry had ever known. With the networks looking for cheap but effective programming to fill its time slots, pro wrestling’s glorified action became a genuine “hit†with the viewing public. […] [I]t was Gorgeous George who brought the sport into the nation’s living rooms, as his histrionics and melodramatic behavior made him a larger-than-life figure in American pop-culture. […]
“[I]t was Gorgeous George who single-handedly established television as a viable entertainment medium that could potentially reach millions of homes across the country (in fact, it is said that George was probably responsible for selling as many TV sets as Milton Berle).”
In the comments following Michael Shonk’s review of The Hunter, the subject of wrestling came up, prompting me to take a quick look at at c2c DVD I have of Alias The Champ. With a 59-minute running time, little else was possible.
Briefly, there’s this honest cop (Robert Rockwell, aka Our Miss Brooks’s dense boyfriend Mr. Boynton), who’s out to stop The Mob from taking over honest professional wrestling — brief pause while those of you who’ve fallen out of your chairs laughing can get back in —  with the aid of Gorgeous George’s beautiful female manager (Audrey Long).
After clearing it with the police commissioner (John Hamilton, pre-Superman), Rockwell becomes de facto wrestling czar in order to battle the Mob Guy (Jim Nolan), who suborns a rival wrestler (Slammin’ Sammy Menacker, using his own name — bear this in mind as we proceed) in order to provoke and then discredit Gorgeous George.
We first see GG in the ring with Bomber Kulkavich (aka Henry Kulky) in a match as close to “the real thing†as a movie can get; At its outset, we hear GG’s deathless line, spoken to the referee: “Get your filthy hands off my hair!â€
After winning this match, GG meets Rockwell, to whom he takes an immediate dislike, especially since he seems to be attracted to the pretty female manager (You may all feel free to make whatever inferences you wish, but this is a 1949 Republic programmer, so I’ll just stay on the surface).
Anyway, there are some more confrontations between GG and Menacker, including one at a gym that turns into a free-for-all with the added participation of other wrestlers (including the Super Swedish Angel – Tor Johnson), resulting in the Big Match – which ends up with Menacker dead, and GG accused of his murder.
Yes, Slammin’ Sammy Menacker was an actual pro wrestler (you might remember him as one of the strongmen who did the tug-o-war with Mighty Joe Young {along with Henry Kulky, op cit.}), and he gets “killed off†in this movie.
So anyway, Menacker is “dead,†GG is in jail, and it’s up to Rockwell to clear him and restore honest wrestling’s reputation. Rockwell does this with the aid of “new technology†— the film of the televised match that was made for the East! (The word kinescope wasn’t used.)
I’ve condensed the daylights out of this plot, so as not to spoil it for so many of you who might want to track it down. As to the acting … no, it’s too easy.
But I should mention the director, George Blair, a Republic workhorse who went on, a few years later, to a regular stint on TV’s Adventures Of Superman.
And I do want to quote another of Gorgeous George’s classic lines, just after one of the face-offs with Menacker, delivered to his concerned lady manager:
“Come, little one. It’s time for my marcelle.â€
I make no judgement. This one you gotta see for yourself.
Editorial Comment: Alias the Champ was the first and only film in which Gorgeous George was to appear.
June 19th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Wrestling remains a popular sport today on television. Back during my time working at Tower Records I was surprised to see how many young people followed the stars of the sport.
It makes great television with its over the top melodrama and simple story lines (much like today’s cable news networks).
It is interesting that with so many boxing movies more wrestling films were not attempted.
June 19th, 2012 at 11:56 pm
There is a lot of money in the wrestling business, no doubt about it, whether they make movies involving wrestlers or not. The former president and CEO of WWE spent 50 million dollars of her own money trying to win a seat in the US Senate from the state I live in. She didn’t the first time, but she’s back again this year. There are Republicans I could easily vote for in this state, but for the life of me, I don’t see how she qualifies, except for the money.
As for Gorgeous George, he made a great living being hated. He was a wonderful villain. My grandmother hated him so much I thought at times she would burst. Yes, we all watched wrestling together back in the 50s, as soon as we got our first TV.
June 20th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
You know, there really hasn’t been a great wrestling movie-the grapple version of RAGING BULL. Maybe Scorsese should remake this film. Wrestling, gangsters, Tor Johnson, it’s got them all. De Niro as Gorgeous George…I can see it now. All he would need is the blonde wig.
June 20th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Oh God- another Cluncker !
The Doc
June 20th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Doc, would you believe this movie gets 7.0 stars out of ten on IMDB?
Neither do I, but it’s true.
— Steve
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041108/
(subject to change)
June 20th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
From http://www.sportsinmovies.com/wrestling-movies.asp
Wrestling Movies: This is a full list of all movies about wrestling.
TITLE YEAR RATING LENGTH
Win Win 2011 R 106 mins.
Legendary 2010 PG-13 107 mins.
Wrestler, The 2008 R 109 mins.
Nacho Libre 2006 PG 100 mins.
Ready to Rumble 2000 PG-13 107 mins.
No Holds Barred 1989 PG-13 93 mins.
Body Slam 1987 PG 89 mins.
Vision Quest 1985 R 105 mins.
Wrestler, The 1974 PG 95 mins.
But what do they know if they missed this one?
June 20th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
An even better list, annotated:
http://voices.yahoo.com/12-best-wrestling-movies-7359680.html
Are you a wrestling fan and want to watch a wrestling movie? Here is a list of the top wrestling movies for your enjoyment.
1. The Wrestler – By far the best wrestling movie out there. Nothing cheesy about it. It had a great and emotional storyline, and Mickey Rourke was believable. A must watch for wrestling fans.
2. No Holds Barred – Hulk Hogan stars as Rip and is world champion. After not wanting to wrestling for the network, the indestructible Zeus gets in Rip’s way.
3. Nacho Libre – A funny movie in which a monk goes after his dream and becomes a professional wrestler.
4. Beyond the Mat – A wrestling documentary that goes behind the scenes and looks at wrestlers lives on and off the mat.
5. Ready to Rumble – Two wrestling fans are heart-broken when their favorite wrestling “The King” is booted by his promoter. They decide to get “The King” back in the ring and try to get his life back.
6. Body Slam – A music promoter accident becomes a manager of a wrestling Tag Team (including Roddy Piper). They become a success and takes his team to the championship.
7. Man on the moon – The true story on the late Andy Kaufman. At the time he was declaring himself the self-declared Intergender Wrestling Champion, and would battle women. In defense Jerry “The King” Lawler stepped in and wrestled Andy a couple of times.
8. Vision Quest – Louden Swain makes a goal to drop down 2 weight classes in order to beat the state high school wrestling champion.
9. Legendary – A teenager joins the high school wrestling team to reunite his surviving family.
10. Mr. Nanny – A former wrestling star (Hulk Hogan) in persuaded to become a bodyguard/ nanny for a couple of bratty kids.
11. Paradise Alley – 3 Italian-American brothers work together to get one brother’s wrestling career started while the other 2 promote and manage his career.
12. Over the top – A special mention wrestling movie that is geared more to arm wrestling, rather than pro wrestling. Still a good movie to watch if you have the time.
June 20th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
The best of the wrestling films come from Mexico and star such legends as El Santo and Blue Demon.
June 20th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
Well, Steve, as they say -de gustibus non est diputandum.
Very likely, only fans of the genre or the actors watch and ‘like’ the films on imdb .
I’m not about to spoil their fun .
But it IS strange .
The Doc
June 21st, 2012 at 7:32 am
Steve,
What about “Night and the City”? with Richard Widmark. He plays a wrestling promoter.
June 21st, 2012 at 7:54 am
There seems to be such a passion for wrestling in this group as witnessed by some recent comments. Maybe the title should be changed to “Wrestling-File”
June 21st, 2012 at 9:20 am
NIGHT AND THE CITY, starring Richard Widmark is one of the top film noirs and has a great wrestling background, as pointed out above. It also shows the clash between “legit” wrestling and show biz or “professional” wrestling.
The legit part is shown by Widmark’s old school father who fights Greco-Roman wrestling, compared to the fake show biz baloney. Some wrestling fans don’t even realize there is such a thing as legit wrestling, which can be seen easily in high schools and college. It’s also still an Olympic sport.
Ironic that the fake shows are called pro wrestling.
June 21st, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Jeez … what hath I wrought?
As I often find myself having to say here, I’m no expert on any subject, this one included.
My first exposure to wrestling was as a kid, watching TV in Chicago.
Circa 1960, Channel 2, the CBS station, started a live wrestling show on Saturday afternoons, originating at their big studio on McClurg Court, just off Michigan Avenue.
As wrestling shows go, this was a fairly restrained program; the good-guy grapplers were clean-cut and likable: these included Bobby Manogoff (who was also briefly in Alias The Champ – see how I tie all this together?), Edouard Carpentier,Pepper Gomez, and the venerable Lou Thesz, who had gone from heel to gray eminence over the years..
The bad-guy wrestlers were snarlers like Don Leo Jonathan, Gene Kiniski, and the great Killer Kowalski, any of whom could be counted on for a really nasty between-bout interview with Bruce Roberts, the regular ch2 sports guy (who played the whole thing totally straight).
There were the expected feuds, such as between Kiniski (who had a face like a clenched fist) and Carpentier (“I will take dat Carponchay and take him apart and put him bak to gedder again!”).
But one stunt I remember …
Pepper Gomez had a standing challenge to any other wrestler: he would lie down in a corner, and the other could jump on his stomach from the top turnbuckle, and he wouldn’t get hurt because his abs were that strong when tightened.
Killer Kowalski accepted the challenge,and when he jumped he “missed”, landing on Gomez’s throat.
Live on ch2, right at the end of a Saturday show. Of course, they milked that for a few weeks …
My whole family watched this show, but Dad took the time to instruct us kids that if they really meant it, these guys could paralyze or even kill one another; this was a stunt show, and on that basis we all enjoyed it.
It’s true that there haven’t been all that many wrestling movies, but the profession has made many notable contributions to cinema, particularly in the acting field.
I’m truly surprised that no one has even mentioned Mike Mazurki, probably the best actor ever to emerge from matdom.
And he had to be a good actor; to this day few are aware that Mazurki was a highly educated man, fluent in many languages, even though his usual screen character was a grunting lout. Mazurki took that character and added really good comic timing to forge a long career on big and small screens, right up to the end of his days.
We’ve already mentioned Henry Kulky, whose early death cut short a successful character-acting career, and Tor Johnson, who became a screen icon almost without trying.
More recent times have shown that with the right material, you could get pretty good performances from Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, George ‘The Animal’ Steele, and Jesse Ventura (before he became a political messiah).
OK, I may be setting the bar a bit low here, but wrestling – or rasslin if you prefer – is first and foremost performance, and requires at least a semblance of conviction by its performers.
Getting back to Gorgeous George, he could make an arena believe in his heel character for an evening, and in my view, that counts as a form of acting, so there too. ;-P
June 21st, 2012 at 2:43 pm
I flee the bloody soccer EM, and where do I land ?
In Wrestlermania.
Hmmm .
The Doc
June 21st, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Duane (the Rock) Johnson has carved out a nice little acting career. Of course, as THE SCORPION KING, he was just in some ways playing an ultimate costumed wrestling “heel” .
But, while the remake of “Walking Tall” was lousy–and the Rock was no Joe Don Baker–he wasn’t bad at all.
And in “Tooth Fairy” he was actually much better than the material.