X
- 1979
- PG
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 1 m
- 1979
- PG
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 1 m
Summary A former boxer discovers that his biggest battle of all is going to be with his ex-wife, Annie, who returns after abandoning their young son seven years prior.
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Written By: Frances Marion, Walter Newman
- 1979
- PG
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 1 m
- 1979
- PG
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 1 m
The Champ
38
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary A former boxer discovers that his biggest battle of all is going to be with his ex-wife, Annie, who returns after abandoning their young son seven years prior.
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Written By: Frances Marion, Walter Newman
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
38
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
88% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
38
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
88% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Even those unfamiliar with the 1931 pic will feel resonances in the current Champ and in this edition Schroder projects a comparable emotional range and depth.
Unfortunately, The Champ does not let well enough alone. It slogs on for about two reels too many, concluding on a note of utterly contrived tragedy that should make just about everyone feel wretchedly deceived. [04 Apr 1979, p.B1]
An updated version of the more gritty original, given an inappropriately lush look by director Zeffirelli.
Syrupy schlock from perhaps the most sentimental of all Italian directors, a pointless update of King Vidor's '30s weepie about a former champion boxer's attempts to hang on to his doting son when his estranged wife reappears on the scene.
The most offputting thing about such canny, tear-stained movies as The Champ is not their naïveté but their unholy sophistication. These movies don't mean to deal with the world as it really is, but as it should be, a place where there's no pile-up of emotional garbage too big that it can't be washed clean by a good cry.
The tear-jerking is so determined and persistent that your ducts feel as if they'd been worked over with a catheter. But despite its great length, the film never makes sense of its central relationship, between Jon Voight's washed-up prizefighter and Faye Dunaway's chichi fashion designer.
Fat and sassless Champ a loser on all counts. [09 Apr 1979]
User Reviews
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Production Company
Hialeah Park Studios,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Release Date Apr 4, 1979
Duration 2 h 1 m
Rating PG
Tagline The most poignant love-triangle of all - a father, his son, and the woman who came between them.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
