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BITTER IRONYBy RUBE SAMUELSEN• BEHIND THE SCENESJERSEY JOE WALCOTT IS A BITTER MAXtoday. Ironically, the man around whose deplorable experiences the movie, “The Harder They Fall,” was built —Priroo Camera—isn’t hitter at all, even though he hasbrought suit against Columbia Pictures, the producing atndio.But this is Walcott’s story. Rather, ft embraces thatchapter, late on Father Time’s scoring! sheet, which deals with Jersey'Joe's post-careerWalcott played a vital part in the movie, “The Harder They Fall,” Murray Glderman details. “He badly needed the $8,000 the eight 'weeks of work brought. It followed a ring career during which his last eight years’ earnings totalled $1,303,345.“Maybe Jersey Joe saw* a bit of himself in the script, completely and J coldly dropped by Felix Boccblcchio, his manager, since he quit the ring, jwith no interest at all in the mammoth motel service ,station-car laundry project. It was supposed to have been erected jointly by the two in Camden, N.J. Joe toils there now as a 915-a-day juvenile delinquent inspector. ^“‘It’s a shame,’ says Dan Florlo, Walcott’s trainer of r the championship period. ‘I never saw him so bitter ^ about a man. He won’t even talk to him. Why doesn’t be do something about it? Because he’s afraid of Felix.’“So, another former heavyweight champion of the||^K|^|iiTeatUng for a : chance/ ,f§|irony: Boccblcchio strongly advised Walcott against• 'acting In the movie ‘because people’ll see you in -It and ^ they’ll think it’s true.’”It’s not a pretty setup, Is it? It’s understandable why ' Walcott took the movie job. Dire necessity impelled accept- , ance. But what about Max. Baer? .His part in “The Harder' , They Fall” is entirely unsavory. Why did he accept the role? He didn’t have to. Financially, thanks to the far- ( seeing Ancil Hoffman, who invested Baer's earnings wisely, ' the former Livermore madcap is wejl off.Greasepaint, like printer’s ink, must do things to people. ^• BY WAY OF ADDITION ieP.S. The above was WTitten yesterday afternoon, and H the following this morning: 1 wThe movie, “The Harder They Fall” .vas previewed last v! night at the Academy Theater. Upon seeing it, the wonderment as to why both Walcott and Baer ever agreed, ih the al first place to take featured roles, goes even deeper. clt;“One man, Frankie Campbell, died after fighting Baer wIn the ring. A second, Ernie Schaaf, died after opposing clPrimo Camera but the charge has been repeatedly made Lthat Baer’s blows, in a bout with Schaaf prior to meet- Ming Camera, led to Ernie’s death. In “The Harder They mFall,” a similar sequence takes place, reBaer, as a supposed fictional “Buddy Brannonao S1In ally boasts In the movie that he should be “credited’’ for an. opponent’s death. The thing is too real for comfort. IWalcott, as a trainer called. George, urges the key lt;man in the picture, a mountain of a man who now is 1taken for granted to be in Camera’s image, to stay on cthe canvas and fake a knockout, tAs a former world’s heavyweight champion, nothing like I that tarnished Walcott’s name. Yet, even saying it in fiction I form, or whatever, credence is lent to the movie’s theme— t that boxing is rotten. Baer, of course, also held the world’s heavyweight titla in his heyday. In view of those achieve- a ments, and their ring careers, what Walcot and Baer say d and do in “The Harder They Fall” is virtually beyond com- t prehension. You ponder, in making a quick appraisal, whether $ they rate some sort of badge of courage or are dumb fools.People ore often wont to say, “It can happen ony in prthe movies.” This means fiction, pure and simple. But anthe public, knowing the background, isn’t likely to accept th“The Harder They Fall” as unadulterated fiction. Perhaps conot even partially. Attorneys may confuse the Issue of Ttthe California boxing probes but the message of “The stiHarder They Fall” Is brutal, even, ominous. And, for I sti my money, It is NOT far-fetched. ofIt puts boxing In the. gutter. Perhaps it should stay ththere.
Newspaper Details
Pasadena Star News
Pasadena, California, US
Fri, Apr 27, 1956
Page 11
Full Page
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USA 11 May 2023
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