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

August 27, 2024 • 00:03:25

Mami Wata

A conflict develops in a West African village between the women devoted to the water goddess Mami Wata, and the men who condemn their...

Episode 0

July 20, 2023 • 00:02:47

Payday

A hidden gem from 1973 tells of an alcoholic country singer’s much too complicated life. Often in discussions of that brief period in the...

Episode 0

November 02, 2022 • 00:03:33

Benediction

Terence Davies dramatizes the remarkable life of the World War One poet Siegfried Sassoon, weaving back and forth in time to show how much...