Times change. Locations shift. But even now, in 2020, making it to the main event in the main arena at Madison Square Garden is making it to boxing’s big time. That’s true even acknowledging that the Garden isn’t quite what it once was to the sweet science.

Today, it’s a career milestone but no one would argue the Garden as the center of the fist fighting universe.

There was a time when it was. Fighters who could make themselves a desirable, regular attraction at ‘the world’s most famous arena,’ had reached a rare air of stardom.

From November of 1944 to March 1946, middleweight Rocky Graziano chased his first shot at the title on the Garden stage nine times in ten fights. It all led to his first failed crack at Tony Zale, the beginning of one of boxing’s most storied rivalries, at Yankee Stadium.

One can argue about whether Graziano was a genuine all-time great, or just a very good piece of his time, but no one can argue that he wasn’t a star. Action oriented with a devastating right hand, Graziano was one of the most popular fighters of the 1940s. In 1955, the then-retired Graziano parlayed his fame into a successful autobiography.

Before director Robert Wise went on to Best Director Oscars for West Side Story and the Sound of Music, before there existed a Star Trek franchise to help relaunch with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Wise tackled one of boxing’s biggest names in the screen version of the book one year later with Somebody Up There Likes Me. 

The combination of Graziano’s popular appeal, and Wise’s already seasoned eye, opened the door for one of the great film careers of all time. A request from BoxingScene forum user a.rihn, stating “I would also love to see reviews of older pictures, like...Somebody Up There Likes Me,” opened the door for a viewing of this boxing cinema classic.

Paul Newman was making just his second appearance on the big screen when cast to play Graziano. Tragedy played a hand in his fortune. The role was originally intended for James Dean, a professional rival in Newman’s early career. The death of Dean opened a door that Newman passed through and never looked back. Within a few films, Newman was on to The Long, Hot Summer and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Watching Somebody Up There Likes Me, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the starring role. Newman wasn’t yet the actor he’d become but his ability to play the lovable rogue indignant to authority, perfected later in Hud and Cool Hand Luke, was already readily apparent.

The movie lays out the story of Graziano with what accuracy it can by the standards of the time, depicting an early, abusive relationship with his father, youthful criminal inclinations, and troubled time in the military. That Graziano avoided a lasting stint in prison and found a better path through his fists is the foundation of many boxing fictions.

It’s also the foundation of many true stories, including this one.

How true is what viewers see on screen?

In a boxing sense, it gets a lot of things right. It must have been fun for fans around the country who saw the movie to see Stillman’s Gym depicted after its place in innumerable stories. In Graziano’s final march to the first Zale fight, the screen flashes headlines about victories over former welterweight champions Freddie Conchrane and Marty Servo, along with what was a revenge win over Harold Davis (though a pair of losses to Davis prior don’t get much attention). Graziano’s loose approach to training is part of his legend and gets its depiction as well.

Like any movie, there is liberal license taken but it probably wouldn’t have offended an audience that had lived through his career just a few years prior.

The boxing scenes might have.

Newman was a fantastic actor. Boxing, even in pantomime, isn’t a strong suit. Wise makes the smart decision to limit the amount of fight time on screen largely to a montage and Graziano’s rematch victory over Zale at the film’s close.

Where Newman is strong is in the way he plays off the other characters from the life of Graziano. Eileen Heckart and Harold J. Stone are excellent as Graziano’s parents, Stone in particular making the most of what could have been, and often is until the end, a one note character. Whether it’s exactly how things happened or not, it’s good movie making.

Among Graziano’s youthful friends, there are fleeting appearances from an uncredited unknown by the name of Steve McQueen and a fine showing from the late Sal Mineo. Mineo famously played off Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and one could see the reunion initially intended. Mineo was still a teenager here, making his polish even more commendable.

Using a bit of a beauty and the beast template, the midway point of the film introduces the lovely Pier Angeli. In another Dean connection, Angeli had dated the late star before his death and successfully pulled off the role of worried fighter’s love interest and tougher than exterior taming force. The reality of the romance between Graziano and his wife Norma appears captured in spirit. They would be married from 1943 until Graziano’s death in 1990.

Altogether, viewers get a charming trip through the life and times and one of boxing’s most beloved and exciting fighters. The movie ends with Graziano winning the title but hints at what the audience would know followed. Newman’s Graziano knows he’ll only hold the title for a time, that boxing won’t always be there for him, but he knows what he’s accomplished and that’s enough.

Graziano in real life would go on to some success as a personality, actor, and spokesperson. The positivity Newman conveys would seem to hint at the charm of the years to follow with a closing couple of lines that should leave anyone with a smile from ear to ear. Fight fan or not, this one is a quality flick.

Somebody Up There Likes Me can be purchased from multiple streaming services, including all the affiliates of Movies Anywhere.

While the sport is largely postponed, boxing has a rich library of classic fights, films, and books to pass the time. In terms of fights, readers are welcome to get involved. Feel free to email, comment in the forum, or tweet @roldboxing with classic title fight suggestions. If they are widely available on YouTube, and this scribe has never seen them or simply wants to see them again, the suggestion will be credited while the fight is reviewed in a future chapter of Boxing Without Boxing.     

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Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com