Somebody Up There Likes Me | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Wise |
Screenplay by | Ernest Lehman |
Based on | Somebody Up There Likes Me 1955 autobiography by Rocky Graziano with Rowland Barber |
Produced by | Charles Schnee |
Starring | Paul Newman Pier Angeli Everett Sloane |
Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
Edited by | Albert Akst |
Music by | Bronislau Kaper |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 114 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,920,000 [1] |
Box office | $3,360,000 [1] [2] |
Somebody Up There Likes Me is a 1956 American drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Paul Newman and Pier Angeli, based on the life of middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano. [3] [4] The supporting cast features Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart, Harold J. Stone, and Sal Mineo.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won two: Best Cinematography (Black and White) (Joseph Ruttenberg) and Best Art Direction (Black and White) (Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason). [5] It lost its nomination for Best Film Editing to Around the World in 80 Days .
Rocky Graziano has a difficult childhood and is beaten by his father. He joins a street gang, and undergoes a long history of criminal activities. He is sent to prison, where he is rebellious to all authority figures. After his release, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. Needing money, he becomes a boxer, and finds that he has natural talent and wins six fights in a row before the Army finds him and dishonorably discharges him. He serves a year in a United States Disciplinary Barracks, and resumes his career as a boxer as a result.
While working his way to the title, he is introduced to his sister's friend Norma, whom he falls in love with and later marries. Starting a new, clean life, he rises to the top, but loses a title fight with Tony Zale. A person he knew in prison finds him and blackmails him into throwing a fight over his dishonorable discharge. Rocky fakes an injury and avoids the fight altogether. When he is interrogated by the district attorney, he refuses to name the blackmailer and has his license suspended. His manager gets him a fight in Chicago to fight Zale, the middleweight champion, once more. Rocky wins the fight.
The role of Rocky Graziano was originally to be played by James Dean, but he died before filming began, and Paul Newman was asked to take the part. [6] Australian actor Rod Taylor was also considered for the part; although unsuccessful, his screen test impressed MGM enough for them to offer him a long term contract. [7]
The film was also notable for being one of Paul Newman's first starring roles.
Perry Como's version of the title song is played over the opening and closing credits. [8]
According to MGM records, the film earned $1,915,000 in the US and Canada and $1,445,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $609,000. [1]
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
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Thomas Rocco Barbella, better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. He was ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine list of the greatest punchers of all time. He fought many of the best middleweights of the era including Sugar Ray Robinson. He was the subject of the 1956 film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, based on his 1955 autobiography, starring Paul Newman as Graziano.
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Somebody Up There Likes Me may refer to:
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