Aged boxer Luis 'Mountain' Rivera (Anthony Quinn) is knock-outed by Cassius Clay. He is in bad shape and the doctor says he can't fight anymore. The bookie is after his manager Maish Rennick (Jackie Gleason) when Mountain lasted 7 rounds instead of 4. In addition to a $1500 bet, the bookie lost a bundle which he wants paid back. His trainer Army (Mickey Rooney) takes Mountain around trying to get a job. Social worker Grace Miller (Julie Harris) takes pity on the poor sap. Mountain has to swallow his pride and wrestle to save Maish's life. Anthony Quinn is amazing and so is Jackie Gleason. It is an unrelenting sad dark movie. It can also drag at times but the performances are so compelling.

This film begins at the very end of a boxer's career. After losing his fight, Man Mountain (Anthony Quinn) is told the fight doctor has de-certified him to box--saying he is physically unable to fight again. How this sweet man is able to assimilate to a normal life as well as the efforts of a nice woman (Julie Christie) to help him and his manager (Jackie Gleason) to exploit what's left of him.

Like a lot of movies in the 1950s and 60s, this one was originally a live teleplay. This original version had a completely different cast--with Jack Palance playing lead and supported by Ed and Keenan Wynn as well as Kim Hunter. But this is not the only big difference--this version has a completely different ending that may leave you feeling VERY different from the first version. It's much, much more downbeat in this remake....much more so. Now you might like this, as it makes the boxing industry look even uglier. But as for me, I liked the hopeful ending in the TV version. Plus, while the acting in the movie was good, I don't think it was any better than the originals did. Too bad the original actors didn't get a chance to reprise their roles. Jack Palance, in particular, was superb and received an Emmy for his acting. Still, the film is interesting and makes you think about this soul-less 'sport'. I give it an 8...and the original a solid 10.

I don't think I had ever seen this movie from beginning to end before but had the chance to do so when it came up recently on a cable channel. One feels, after watching it in its entirety, as one does after having listened to Mahler's 9th symphony - you are emotionally drained and devastated. The movie is Exhibit A in the prosecution's case that movies were better made in the past than today. It is impossible to imagine something this excellent being produced today. The movie makes no plays for cuteness or humor, and never seeks to soften its razor-sharp edges. It is grittily real from beginning to end. Actually, it surpasses reality, as all great art does, in letting us look starkly into the cruel realities of human existence. The acting is absolutely top-notch from all the leads. One is reminded that Jackie Gleason, after all the eye-popping excesses of "The Honetmooners" (as great as that series was, for what it was) was a truly superb actor. I cannot think of a movie in which Anthony Quinn surpassed himself in his role as Mountain Rivera - tough, beaten up, beaten down, loyal, honest and yet with a sensitive core deep within. Mickey Rooney shines just as brightly. The script is brilliant, economical, realistic, and revelatory of the characters; we forget just what a brilliant writer Rod Serling was. Of course one of the reasons the movie could not be made today is that it forgoes the obligatory happy ending (which was used, evidently, in the TV version); the movie follows its dark logic all the way to the final, devastating scene.