The Set-Up

Flicks with The Film Snob

The Set-Up

Aug 15 2018 | 00:03:57

00:00 / 00:03:57

Show Notes

This 1949 boxing film, made on a modest budget by Robert Wise, is a model of tight storytelling. Boxing films have been a popular genre since the very beginning of motion pictures, and those who like them usually have a favorite. Probably the most acclaimed examples would be Body and Soul from 1947, and Raging Bull from 1980, and they’re both important and deserving films. The best among those I’ve seen, however, is a bit less famous. The Set-Up, from 1949, directed by Robert Wise, has only three or four sets and a modest length of 76 minutes, and with…

Other Episodes

Episode 0

November 28, 2021 • 00:04:48

Went the Day Well?

One of the most unusual examples of propaganda ever filmed, made in the midst of the Second World War, imagines what it would be...

Episode

July 28, 2025 • 00:03:27

The Night of the Hunter

Charles Laughton was a renowned British actor who made it big in Hollywood, but someday wanted to direct a movie. In 1953, Paul Gregory,...

Episode 0

July 26, 2020 • 00:03:23

Sabotage

One of the gems among Alfred Hitchcock’s early British films, Sabotage tells of an enemy agent in 1930s England, and the tragic consequences of...