The Set Up

The Set Up is boxing melodrama made in 1949. It was adapted from a very long poem of the same name. This film features Stoker Thompson a 35 year old boxer who was way past his prime. However, the drive to win and also provide for his wife kept his determination strong.  His crooked managers, who lost faith in his ability to win, cut a deal with the local gangster to throw the fight. They were so sure he would lose that they didn’t bother to let Stoker in on the deal. However, in the third round of the fight when they realized that Stoker could win, they let him in on the scam. Between this news and the thought that his wife Julie had abandoned him Stoker pushed through to win the fight by knock out. In the end the mobster boss Little Boy broke his arm, ensuring that he would never fight again.

 At first glance The Set-Up appears to be just another boxing drama, as it lacked some of the conventions that we have come to expect from noir films. Noticeably missing was the femme fatale as well as murders or plots to murder; as a matter of fact, no one died in this film. Very present, however, was the tension that we are so used to which was scattered throughout the film but was even more so towards the end. The scenes in which the characters seemed to be all alone in their heads while surrounded by ambient sounds, like that of Julie walking through the bustling city and her moment on the bridge, as well as, the pauses between rounds added to the tension. The shadows cast in the alley as well as the sense of being trapped with nowhere to go were also elements that added to the tension. Another element that wasn’t present in the previous films viewed was the crowd’s rowdiness. Both men and women freely and openly displayed their thirst for brutality.

There were a few obvious differences between the poem and the movie. The main character’s name was changed from Pansy Jones to Stoker Thompson. Pansy in the poem was a bigamist and Stoker was a committed man to his wife Julie. His race was also noticeably different, possibly a sign of the time in which black people in leading roles was not very common. The movie also had a different ending than the poem; Pansy was beaten just like Stoker did, however, instead of a broken arm and being rescued by his wife Pansy succumbed to his injuries and died on railroad track.