Cinema Sunday: Somebody Up There Likes Me

I can't say I'm a big fan of boxing. I haven't paid any attention to the sport since Mohammed Ali was in his prime and that was mostly due to Ali's quick witted quips and zingers.  

Movies about boxing are another matter. The brutal stark simplicity of a sport where two men beat the hell out of each other lends itself to drama. 

A few months ago, I got caught up in a movie called Somebody Up There Likes Me, a 1956 film with Paul Newman as middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano.

What got my attention is that opening credits are accompanied by a song called "Somebody Up There Likes Me" performed by Perry Como with all the earnestness of a Methodist preacher at Easter.  

We open with a bit with Rocky as a child being abused by his father, teasing and taunting him to fight. 

Well, it's a lesson that sticks as the child grows up into Paul Newman, Rocky keeps trying to solve all of life's persistent problems with his fists. 

Not that he necessarily wants to. But he just don't know no better. 

The film has a bit of a pattern. 

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets in trouble.

Next scene: 

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets in trouble.

Next scene: 

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets in trouble.

And so forth and so on. 

He winds up in the army where punching people is frowned upon. Rocky goes AWOL.  Needing cash, he winds up in a boxing gym that's looking for fighters. 

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets paid.

OK, that's different. 

But the army comes calling for their wayward soldier and he has to go to prison.

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets noticed.

An officer who runs a boxing club at the prison wants to train Rocky, get him to focus his aggression into something useful. 

Rocky gets out of prison in the best shape of his life and resumes boxing for money.

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I don't want no trouble!"
• Rocky punches people.
• Rocky gets famous.

Rocky becomes quite the neighborhood hero. Also against his stated intentions that he ain't got time for girls, well..

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I ain't got time for girls!"
• Rocky falls in love anyway.
• Rocky's a damn fool.

Rocky and Norma get married and start popping out kids. Norma is not necessarily really all into Rocky making a living getting punched and punching back but she comes to make some peace with it, realizing that this is what Rocky knows and damn it, he's good at it. 

Then some bad guys come sniffing around. They want Rocky to throw a fight.

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I ain't throwing no fight!"
• Rocky doesn't throw the fight.
• Rocky still gets in trouble.

While Rocky done good and didn't throw a fight, he didn't report the incident to the boxing authorities.

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! I ain't no snitch!"
• Rocky does not snitch.
• Rocky gets in trouble.

His boxing license suspended in New York, Rocky's manager arranges for a big ticket brawl in Chicago with Tony Zale, the one fighter who has beaten Rocky in the ring. 

It's a long and brutal fight. Tony has Rocky's number for most of the fight and it looks like Rocky's going down hard in a broken, bloody heap. 

But after several rounds, Tony's just been wearing himself out using Rocky as a punching bag. Rocky moves in hard and strong and knocks out Tony Zale.

Rocky returns to New York to a hero's welcome including a parade.

• Rocky: "I'm just a bum! But somebody up there like me!"
• Perry Como sings the theme song .
• Roll credits.

The end. 

Okay, I seems to be having some fun at this movie's expense but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

First of all, this film looks great. Directed by Robert Wise with Oscar winning won Cinematography, the set pieces in Rocky's neighborhood look crisp and loaded with detail. And the fight sequences are brutal ballets of violence.  

As much as I make fun of the pattern of Rocky's life...

• "I'm just a bum!"
• Punch.
• Trouble.

Paul Newman is always on point portraying the dichotomy of Rocky Graziano's life, not wanting to fight but being so damn good at it. 

The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Dept.

Robert Loggia is Frankie Peppo, the thug who tries to put the squeeze on Rocky to throw a fight. Many years later, Loggia would be in the iconic scene with Tom Hanks in Big where they dance and play a duet on a giant keyboard.

Somebody Up There Likes Me is at heart a simple story, a tale of a kid on the wrong side of tracks who makes good. It may even border on cliche but if so, it's a cliche well told.