The Set-Up Overview:

The Set-Up (1949) was a Film Noir - Sports Film directed by Robert Wise and produced by Dore Schary and Richard Goldstone.

BlogHub Articles:

On Blu-ray: Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter in the Boxing Noir The Set-Up (1949)

By KC on Nov 12, 2019 From Classic Movies

The rough-edged boxing noir The Set-up (1949) is notable for starring two of the best movie villains, Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter, as a loving married couple. It’s nice to see them be the good guys for once in a film where the rest of the world feels rotten to the core. I recently watched th... Read full article


The Set-Up (1949)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 14, 2016 From 4 Star Films

What it manages to bring together within the frame of a meager B-film plot is quite astounding, balancing the brutality and atmospheric visuals with the direction of Robert Wise to develop something quite memorable. Boxing movies have been bigger and better, but film-noir has a way of dredging up th... Read full article


The Set-Up (1949)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 14, 2016 From 4 Star Films

What it manages to bring together within the frame of a meager B-film plot is quite astounding, balancing the brutality and atmospheric visuals with the direction of Robert Wise to develop something quite memorable. Boxing movies have been bigger and better, but film-noir has a way of dredging up th... Read full article


From Poem to Boxing Ring: The Set-Up

By Judy on Sep 13, 2014 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

An enthusiastic Rocky fan, I was curious how the classic films on boxing would measure up. The Set-Up sounded intriguing because it was about the underworld attached to the sport, and shockingly, was based on a poem. Let?s sit here and think about that for moment. A poem. Say it to yourself. Boxing... Read full article


From Poem to Boxing Ring: The Set-Up

By Judy on Sep 13, 2014 From Cary Grant Won't Eat You

An enthusiastic Rocky fan, I was curious how the classic films on boxing would measure up. The Set-Up sounded intriguing because it was about the underworld attached to the sport, and shockingly, was based on a poem. Let?s sit here and think about that for moment. A poem. Say it to yourself. Boxing... Read full article


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Quotes from

Red: I tell you, Tiny, you gotta let him in on it.
Tiny: How many times I gotta say it? There's no percentage in smartenin' up a chump.


Stoker: Well, that's the way it is. You're a fighter, you gotta fight.


Stoker: Yeah, top spot. And I'm just one punch away.
Julie: I remember the first time you told me that. You were just one punch away from the title shot then. Don't you see, Bill, you'll always be just one punch away.


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Facts about

The shoot took twenty days.
Based upon a narrative poem published in 1928 by Joseph Moncure March, who gave up his job as the first managing editor of "The New Yorker" to devote himself to writing. On the strength of it, he went to Hollywood as a screenwriter, remaining there for a dozen years. In 1948 he volunteered to work on this film, but was turned down. He was incensed that his black boxer Pansy Jones was changed into the white Stoker Thompson.
Robert Wise said he was willing to cast a black actor as the lead character (as it was originally written), but since there were no African-American leading actors in Hollywood at the time, he was obligated to switch the character to a white man.
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Also directed by Robert Wise




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Also produced by Dore Schary




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Also released in 1949




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More "Boxing" films



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