Taglines: The more you love, the harder you fight.
The Champ movie storyline. Director Franco Zeffirelli (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet) trades in his puffy shirts for boxing gloves in this 1979 re-make of the Wallace Berry/Jackie Cooper classic. Jon Voight plays Billy Flynn, a down-on-his-luck boxer who is working as a stable man for horses in Florida. T.J. (Ricky Schroder) is his plucky son who looks after him. An unrepentant gambler and drinker, Billy needs looking after. But the father/son bond is torn asunder when Billy’s upper-crust ex-wife Annie (Faye Dunaway) suddenly reappears to claim T.J. Billy realizes that the only way for him to hold on to his son is to re-enter the boxing ring and try for a comeback.
The Champ is a 1979 American drama sports film directed by Franco Zeffirelli and a remake of the 1931 Academy Award-winning film of the same name that was directed by King Vidor. It stars Jon Voight as Billy Flynn, a past boxer with custody of his son Timothy (Ricky Schroder) who attempts to support his son and make up with his ex-wife Annie (Faye Dunaway) by fighting in the ring again. It is also the final film for actress Joan Blondell to be released during her lifetime. The film was released on DVD on May 5, 2015 as part of the Warner Archive Collection.
The film got off to a moderate start but retained holding and growing power and was MGM’s biggest international hit in 14 years, grossing $30.4 million in the United States and Canada and over $17 million overseas, including more than $10 million in Japan. By September 1979, it was MGM’s fourth biggest ever hit.
About the Story
Billy Flynn (Jon Voight) is an ex-boxing champion in the city of Hialeah, Florida, who is trying to settle down as a horse trainer after giving up his boxing title. A boxer propositions that Billy enter a match with him in the future. Billy shows up at the gym with his son Timothy Joseph “T.J.” (Ricky Schroder), who calls his father “Champ” as a nickname. Billy is angered when he learns the man has not arrived and storms out of the gym, leaving his son behind. T.J. later finds him drunk inside of a bar. When he takes him home, neighbor Josie (Mary Jo Catlett) asks about his drunken state on the street, to which T.J. tells her that Charlie (Stefan Gierasch) and his friends bought him four beers as a celebration.
The next morning, Billy announces that he won $6,400 gambling and uses it to buy T.J. his own horse named “She’s A Lady.” Lady is entered in a race, but suddenly collapses, scraping her leg. Annie, (Faye Dunaway) Billy’s wife whom he separated from seven years ago, had placed a bet on the horse beforehand and arrives after Lady’s fall. Billy explains to Annie that he told T.J. she was dead, and that she deserted them. Billy, however, invites T.J. to her cruise ship where Annie and T.J. play together.
Annie’s current husband (Arthur Hill) confronts Billy to convince him to tell T.J. that Annie is his mother. Billy tells him that since she wasn’t there for him, he has no mother. Billy loses a gamble on T.J.’s horse and is told by Whitey (Allan Miller) to either give him Lady or $2,000 in cash. Annie gives Billy the money, however, Whitey decides to take the horse instead.
Billy responds by assaulting him and attacking anyone who tries to stop him, including a police officer. Billy is arrested and put into custody, where he tells T.J. that he is to live with Annie. T.J. refuses to leave, and Billy slaps him in a fit of rage. Dumbstruck, T.J. leaves. At her home, Annie tries to comfort T.J., but accidentally tells him she is indeed his mother. T.J. refuses to accept her as his mother due to her absence; Annie leaves the room, distraught.
Billy is released; he hugs T.J. at a stadium and says he won’t leave him ever again. Billy later wakes up in the middle of the night before Annie visits Billy and says she wants him to explain why she wasn’t there for T.J., after a fight, Billy allows her back into his life as a friend. To make it up to his son, Billy explains his promise to fight in the ring after Jackie (Jack Warden) warns him about his age and constant headaches, explaining how they could be fatal when boxing. Jackie reluctantly agrees to train Billy to fight again.
The Champ (1979)
Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Ricky Schroder, Jack Warden, Arthur Hill, Strother Martin, Joan Blondell, Mary Jo Catlett, Elisha Cook Jr., Stefan Gierasch, Allan Miller
Screenplay by: Frances Marion, Walter Newman
Production Design by: Herman A. Blumenthal
Cinematography by: Fred J. Koenekamp
Film Editing by: Michael J. Sheridan
Costume Design by: Theoni V. Aldredge
Set Decoration by: James W. Payne, Rick Simpson
Music by: Dave Grusin
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists (United States / Canada), Cinema International Corporation (International)
Release Date: April 4, 1979
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