Stand Up and Fight (film)

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Stand Up and Fight
Poster of the movie Stand Up and Fight.jpg
Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Written by James M. Cain, Jane Murfin, Harvey Fergusson, Laurence Stallings
Produced by Mervyn LeRoy
Starring Wallace Beery
Robert Taylor
Cinematography Leonard Smith
Edited by Frank Sullivan
Music by William Axt
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • January 6, 1939 (1939-01-06)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,055,000 [1]
Box office$1,840,000 [1]

Stand Up and Fight is a 1939 American Western film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Wallace Beery and Robert Taylor. The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Charley Grapewin, and John Qualen. Playwright Jane Murfin and novelists Harvey Fergusson and James M. Cain shared screenwriting credit.

Contents

Plot

Blake Cantrell, an aristocrat from Maryland and a well-groomed cynic, uses his organized hunt to announce his imminent bankruptcy. In order to pay off his debts, Blake is forced to sell even his slaves, instead of freeing them, which causes the disapproval of his guest Susan Griffith.

Later in the evening, when he tries to seduce the girl, she bumps him back and leaves the mansion urgently. However, Blake is also forced to leave his home, since it was sold to cover his debts. He arrives to Cumberland to get a job at his father's old friend, Colonel Webb, the head of the Baltimore-Ohio railroad construction. Webb offers Blake a job which consists of spying on Starkey, the head of a competing shipping company, but Blake refuses. In the evening of the same day, Blake is jailed for a fight.

Cast

Lobby card Stand Up and Fight lobby card.jpg
Lobby card

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,233,000 in the US and Canada and $607,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $183,000. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.