With Robert Towne writing and John Cassavetes directing I was pretty hopped up looking forward to a look-back at this episode of Lloyd Bridges' anthology TV series. Unfortunately, it's a stinker.
At age 50 Bridges was really pushing it, casting himself as the boxing champion of the world Pappy Devlin (175-pound division), the only concession here being his having to strip naked to barely make the weigh-in.
Towne's gimmick is that the opponent is Devlin's son Kid Devlin (well personified by then heartthrob Gary Lockwood). Supposedly the public, press and fight world movers & shakers have demanded this bout after the youngster racked up 37 fights without a defeat, and Pappy finally acquiesced to the match-up.
Script is pure corn, with Bridges' main squeeze Mary Murphy stuck in a strictly stock "complainer" role, and from director Cassavetes' troupe Lelia Goldoni (star of SHADOWS) not very impressive as Lockwood's wife. Dialog is of the Damon Runyon school, but not witty enough to pass muster.
The low-budget aspect of these half-hour drama series from TV's Golden Age is a killer, as the fight scenes are frankly boring, with the stars merely trading punches, and none of the latter-day Chartoff-Winkler choreography (see their productions: ROCKY, RAGING BULL and even Ken Russell's VALENTINO) in evidence. In fact, Lockwood's crouching stance comes off as ridiculous.
I wouldn't have bothered reviewing on IMDb this ephemeral misfire, but the previous (and sole) review on the website is a facetious, unfunny & embarrassing bit of attempted satire that annoyed me no end. He never saw this show and his intentionally misleading and inaccurate description is strictly a put-on. Like the demented crew of IMDbers who like to make fun of porn titles he couldn't resist mocking a show innocently named "My Daddy Can Lick Your Daddy".
