The version of the 1962 film I have seen, taped off WNET Channel 13 in spring 1994, lacks one of the trainer, Army's, strongest speeches, rendered very movingly by Ed Wynn in the live 1956 teleplay :
Army (to Maish) : What is this kid to you, huh ? A hunk of flesh ? A cross to bear ? (in Maish's face) : Listen to me ! I'll tell you what he is ! He's a decent man, with a heart ! He's somebody's flesh and blood ! You can't sell this on the street by the pound ! (crying)'Cause if you do, Maish, if you do, you'll rot in hell for it ! Ya hear me ! You'll rot !
Later, more quietly :
Army : Why is it, Maish, tell me, why is it that so many people have to feed off of one guy's misery. Tell me, Maish, doesn't it make you want to die ?
These lines would have been incredibly powerful, delivered by Mickey Rooney, who could have, and to some extent, did, give the role of Army, to use Rod Serling's words, a grittiness and toughness that Ed Wynn just didn't have to give it.
The TV teleplay has the washed-up boxer, Mountain McClintock, played so well by Jack Palance, escape the "graveyard" of punchy ex-boxers in the sports bar in the seedy hotel, and the humiliation of "fixed" championship wrestling.
The film, with Anthony Quinn as Mountain Rivera, ends with Rivera becoming a phony wrestler, a clown, and laughing stock, a much more pessimistic ending, which says that money DOES have the power to rob a man of his last remaining shred of dignity.
The film has the dark, urban cinematography of many episodes of "The Twilight Zone", and is cleaner and sharper than the kinescope of the TV play, but perhaps the original live broadcast of the TV play was sharp and clear as well.
If anyone knows of a technique whereby kinescopes of TV plays can be restored to the clarity of their original live broadcast, please comment.
I prefer the pathos of Palance as Mountain McClintock, his shy, hesitant, yet clear way of speaking, to the labored, wheezing diction of Quinn as Rivera. Similarly, I prefer Kim Hunter to Julie Harris as the social worker who tries to help Mountain escape the degradation and living death of the professional fight business, though both actresses did a fine job. Kim Hunter's costume became softer and more feminine in the teleplay, going from the initial meeting with Mountain in her office, to her one-on-one meetings with him in the sports bar, and on the street.
The film, however, has a confrontation between the social worker, and Mountain's manager, Maish, that the teleplay does not have. The teleplay, however, has a dialogue between the social worker and Army, Mountain's handler, that the film does not have.
I think Edgar Stehli's performance as the doctor in the teleplay was stronger than the one in the film, with its mention of, "Where do you buy your cigars, Maish ? Tell me, and I'll condemn the store !", live and dead ones, "you, too, can become pathological", meat inspection, stamping carcasses, and "Joker ? Who's laughing ?"
However, I find Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney in the film to be a much starker character and physiognomy contrast, and much stronger character definition, than father and son Ed and Keenan Wynn in the teleplay.
Army (to Maish) : What is this kid to you, huh ? A hunk of flesh ? A cross to bear ? (in Maish's face) : Listen to me ! I'll tell you what he is ! He's a decent man, with a heart ! He's somebody's flesh and blood ! You can't sell this on the street by the pound ! (crying)'Cause if you do, Maish, if you do, you'll rot in hell for it ! Ya hear me ! You'll rot !
Later, more quietly :
Army : Why is it, Maish, tell me, why is it that so many people have to feed off of one guy's misery. Tell me, Maish, doesn't it make you want to die ?
These lines would have been incredibly powerful, delivered by Mickey Rooney, who could have, and to some extent, did, give the role of Army, to use Rod Serling's words, a grittiness and toughness that Ed Wynn just didn't have to give it.
The TV teleplay has the washed-up boxer, Mountain McClintock, played so well by Jack Palance, escape the "graveyard" of punchy ex-boxers in the sports bar in the seedy hotel, and the humiliation of "fixed" championship wrestling.
The film, with Anthony Quinn as Mountain Rivera, ends with Rivera becoming a phony wrestler, a clown, and laughing stock, a much more pessimistic ending, which says that money DOES have the power to rob a man of his last remaining shred of dignity.
The film has the dark, urban cinematography of many episodes of "The Twilight Zone", and is cleaner and sharper than the kinescope of the TV play, but perhaps the original live broadcast of the TV play was sharp and clear as well.
If anyone knows of a technique whereby kinescopes of TV plays can be restored to the clarity of their original live broadcast, please comment.
I prefer the pathos of Palance as Mountain McClintock, his shy, hesitant, yet clear way of speaking, to the labored, wheezing diction of Quinn as Rivera. Similarly, I prefer Kim Hunter to Julie Harris as the social worker who tries to help Mountain escape the degradation and living death of the professional fight business, though both actresses did a fine job. Kim Hunter's costume became softer and more feminine in the teleplay, going from the initial meeting with Mountain in her office, to her one-on-one meetings with him in the sports bar, and on the street.
The film, however, has a confrontation between the social worker, and Mountain's manager, Maish, that the teleplay does not have. The teleplay, however, has a dialogue between the social worker and Army, Mountain's handler, that the film does not have.
I think Edgar Stehli's performance as the doctor in the teleplay was stronger than the one in the film, with its mention of, "Where do you buy your cigars, Maish ? Tell me, and I'll condemn the store !", live and dead ones, "you, too, can become pathological", meat inspection, stamping carcasses, and "Joker ? Who's laughing ?"
However, I find Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney in the film to be a much starker character and physiognomy contrast, and much stronger character definition, than father and son Ed and Keenan Wynn in the teleplay.
