Everything about Requiem For A Heavyweight totally explained
Requiem for a Heavyweight was originally a teleplay written by
Rod Serling and produced for the
live television show
Playhouse 90 on
11 October 1956. Six years later, it was filmed as a 1962 movie starring
Anthony Quinn,
Jackie Gleason and
Mickey Rooney.
The teleplay won a
Peabody Award, the first given to an individual script, and helped establish Serling's reputation. The broadcast was directed by
Ralph Nelson and is generally considered one of the most famous examples of live television drama in the United States, as well as being
Serling's personal favorite of his own work.
American television version
Jack Palance portrays Harlan 'Mountain' McClintock, a once-promising but now washed-up
boxer who faces the end of his career after he's savagely defeated by a younger boxer.
Keenan Wynn portrays McClintock's manager Maish; Keenan's father
Ed plays McClintock's
cut man, Army.
McClintock is suffering from
Dementia pugilistica or "punch drunk syndrome" -- brain damage caused by his career. A
fight doctor refuses to certify McClintock for further boxing, saying that another rough match could blind or even kill him. Boxing is all McClintock has ever known, and he's both terrified of trying something new, and intensely loyal to Maish, who has nurtured him from his youth. Maish has troubles of his own, however: he owes money to the
Mafia, and tried to raise funds by betting against McClintock.
Kim Hunter plays Grace Carney, an
employment agency worker who tries to help the boxer make a transition to a new career. Maish persuades the boxer to turn to
professional wrestling, though McClintock is proud that he never had a fixed fight, and is uncomfortable with the staged, predetermined wrestling match.
Army disapproves of Maish's plans, and refuses to be a part of them. Just before he's scheduled to go into the wrestling ring in a humiliating
mountain man costume, McClintock learns of Maish's betting against him, and parts ways with his manager and mentor. Though he feels that boxing can ruin men's lives, Maish finds another promising young boxer to train. McClintock takes a chance on working with children at
summer camp.
Serling and Palance were both experienced boxers, which might help explain why
Requiem was so authentic and effective, although there was very little boxing depicted in the broadcast.
Cast
Jack Palance ... Harlan 'Mountain' McClintock
Keenan Wynn ... Maish
Kim Hunter ... Grace Carney
Ed Wynn ... Army
Joe Abdullah ... Fight Announcer
Max Baer ... Mike
Eddie Cantor ... Host
Ted Christy ... Wrestler
Karl 'Killer' Davis ... Wrestler
Ned Glass ... Bartender
Young Jack Johnson ... Champ
Lyn Osborn ... Photographer
Ivan Rasputin ... Wrestler
Frank Richards ... Fighter in Bar
Max Rosenbloom ... Steve
British television version
BBC Television in the
United Kingdom screened a version of the play in their regular
Sunday Night Theatre anthology strand on
March 31 1957.
Sean Connery, five years before portraying
James Bond, starred as McClintock, while
Alvin Rakoff produced and, with Serling's approval, also wrote some new material to cover costume changes that took place during commercial breaks on US television, but couldn't do so on the non-commercial
BBC. Co-starring with Connery were
Warren Mitchell and Rakoff's future wife
Jacqueline Hill, who had recommended Connery for the leading part.
Cast
Sean Connery ... Harlan 'Mountain' McClintock
Jacqueline Hill ... Grace Carney
George Margo ... Maish Rennick
Warren Mitchell ... Army
Michael Caine ... Bit part
Dutch television version
In 1959 Dutch television adapted the story as
Requiem voor een zwaargewicht.
Cast
Ko Van Dijk ... Malloy
Ton Van Duinhoven ... Manager
Jan Blasser ... Verzorger
Film version
Ralph Nelson also directed a
movie version in 1962 with
Anthony Quinn in the role originated by
Jack Palance, and
Jackie Gleason and
Mickey Rooney in the parts portrayed on television by
Keenan Wynn and his father
Ed Wynn.
Muhammad Ali, then still using his birth name,
Cassius Clay, appears as Quinn's opponent in a boxing match at the beginning of the movie, a memorable sequence filmed with the camera providing Quinn's point of view as the unstoppable Clay rapidly punches directly at the movie audience.
Cast
Anthony Quinn ... Luis 'Mountain' Rivera
Jackie Gleason ... Maish Rennick
Mickey Rooney ... Army
Julie Harris ... Grace Miller
Stanley Adams ... Perelli (as Stan Adams)
Madame Spivy ... Ma Greeny
Cassius Clay ... Himself
Val Avery ... Young fighter's promoter
Herbie Faye ... Charlie, the Bartender
Jack Dempsey ... Himself
Rory Calhoun ... Himself
The Man in the Funny Suit
In 1960,
Ralph Nelson wrote and directed
The Man in the Funny Suit, a dramatic account of
Keenan Wynn's travails in helping his father, legendary comedian
Ed Wynn, play such a serious role on live television in
Requiem for a Heavyweight. (Ed Wynn went on to play equally serious roles in
The Great Man and the 1959 version of
The Diary of Anne Frank.)
The Man in the Funny Suit was telecast as an installment of the
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, with
Rod Serling and
Red Skelton playing themselves.
The Man in the Funny Suit is available for public viewing at the
Museum of Television and Radio in
New York City and
Los Angeles.
Cast
Keenan Wynn ... Keenan Wynn
Ed Wynn ... Ed Wynn
Rod Serling ... Rod Serling
Maxine Stuart ... Sharley Wynn
Ralph Nelson ... Ralph Nelson
Red Skelton ... Red Skelton
Bob Mathias ... Bob Mathias
William Roerick ... Martin Manulis
Max Rosenbloom ... Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom
Seymour Berns ... Skelton's Director
Robin Blake ... Script Girl
Joey Faye ... Latecomer
Ned Glass ... Ed Wynn's Understudy
Charlene Glazer ... Secretary
Drew Handley ... Assistant Director
Robert H. Harris ... Technical Director
Richard Joy ... Announcer
Bill Walker ... Porter
Further Information
Get more info on 'Requiem For A Heavyweight'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://requiem_for_a_heavyweight.totallyexplained.com">Requiem for a Heavyweight Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
