THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Ralph Nelson
SCREENWRITER: Rod Serling
FILM STARS: Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris, Julie Harris, Jack Dempsey, Rory Calhoun, Muhammad Ali
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Rod Serling
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Corgi
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1962
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Sports Drama
WORDS: This novel, is perhaps, a novelization by the author himself. Rod Serling’s cynical boxing drama was originally filled as a teleplay (an early Made for TV film) in 1957 with Jack Palance in the title roll and directed by Ralph Nelson. That was enormously successful (it was then filmed for TV in Great Britain with Sean Connery in the title role and with Alvin Rakoff directing). The story was redone six years later (here) with the same director, Nelson, but with Anthony Quinn (a favourite of mine) in the title role. This is one the great boxing films along with “The Set Up”, “Champion”, “Body and Soul”, “99 River Street”, “Hard Times”, “Fat City”, and “Rocky”. I would throw “Kid Galahad'” from 1962 in as well (no one else would), as well as “The Quiet Man” (a loose definition of a boxing film).
LINK
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3h4EHZSj6k
Did Muhammad Ali appear in the movie? Did he play himself?
Yes, in a cameo as himself. https://www.tcm.com/video/1082899/requiem-for-a-heavyweight-1962-movie-clip-the-old-pro-wont-quit