The Set up was a simple movie with some many layers of losing love of old age and the evolution of a man seeing himself as what he could be what he was and what he is. Being about a boxer wishing he could go back to his glory days. Something you can take away from the film is that it’s a look at how boxing was at the time there were no rules and people got hurt badly and it humanize the boxers in a way so when we see them crowd of people yelling for blood you feel bad for the boxers for you know  their plight  . The films climactic scene was a brutal one with in the ring and out you can see stoker not backing down wanting this one and when he knows his manager and trainer set him up for a fall you see more of that resilience.

The noir elements are seen in the end to showing a sense of fear and tension that’s for stoker as he is running from the mobster and you can see and odd little scene at the end where you can compare a tragic moment with a happy moment of stoker got beaten up by the mob on the same scene a happy drunk couple enjoying themselves give that scene a juxtaposition and making it feel more tragic and heavy. I would say this film is not a full noir movie but with beautifully tragic scenes and a protagonist you feel fore I would say this movie is worth having in your collection.

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.

I am not any fan of boxing but while I am watching the film noir, The Setup, I am so tensed with whether Stoker Thompson will win or lose. I found the audience were extremely tensed not only that they bet on Nelson to win, it‘s the thirst for blood. Even, the fat man, Little Boy and the lady that is with him, and the couple are tensed. All the audiences are shouting for Nelson. On the other hand, Stoker Thompson is facing an opponent that is much younger and heavily favored, Tiger Nelson. Everybody expects Stoker to lose. His manager thinks Stoker will lose so he made a setup. He takes money from the gangster, Little Boy, without telling Stoker about it. Stoker’s self-esteem doesn’t allow himself to lose. He wants to show the crowd that he can win even he is older.

There is a long moment of silence without dialogue for Julie and the camera purposely show the time on view. After Stoker and his wife, Julie, had an argument Stoker should quit the game, Stoker went out. The camera goes to the clock in the table shows 9:16 and Julie is in the room looking at the ticket. The camera goes back to Julie with Julie in the table and the clock again is on view shows 9:35. Then Julie goes out to walk around. The camera purposely shows the time so audiences have an idea of how long the time has passed. At the end, the camera slowly change from a medium shot to long shot to the street clock says 10:16. The story takes an hour to happen and Julie walked for 41 minutes.

Let me start off by saying this film has beautiful cinematography. The uncomfortable close-ups of the blood-thirsty audience, the tense fight scene, the emotional train scene with Julie, the eerily quiet part when Stoker is trying to escape Little Boy’s goons, and especially when Stoker is backed against the wall with the criminals closing in; the scenes really create the distressing feelings and tension that embody the noir genre. The movie also knows when to add silent moments with no music or dialogue to engross the audience in the moment so we can think about what the characters are thinking and take in the environment.

 The Set-up also tackles a lot of themes. Greed is introduced early when we see the young paper boy take over the old man’s spot and start selling papers. And of course there’s the greedy manager Tiny who creates this whole set-up predicament by not telling Stoker about the deal to lose on purpose. Tiny even scams Red (who looks strangely similar to Mickey from Rocky, coincidence?) out of some of the cut when he tells him the deal was 30 bucks instead of 50.

There are also the themes of age, youth vs. aging. We saw that with the paper boy and the old man but it’s most prominent with Stoker in the locker room. We see the nervous newbie on his first fight, the cocky experienced fighter, and the middle-aged, almost washed-out veteran who is Stoker. He’s too prideful to give up on the fight even after seeing that Julie didn’t show up and finding out it was a set-up all along. He wants to leave his mark. He wants to prove to people and himself that he isn’t too old. Stoker doesn’t want to face the fact that he is aging. He wants to believe that he is Luther Hawkins (the african american boxer), the youthful, strong, handsome athlete on the top of his game. They both say similar lines like: “I can feel it” and “It only takes one”. There’s also the more obvious symbolism showing this: when he gets knocked out, opens his eyes and see’s an advertisement for medicine saying “Are you over 35?”.

A great deal of the noir city is shown off. The dingy, gritty bar where drinking, lust, money, and dirty deals – the main subjects of the genre – are all introduced. As Julie walks through the neighborhood, we see her getting hit on, a shabby arcade, tattoo parlor, scamming salesmen, playful teens, dark alleys, couples, graffiti, clubs, and more bars; all the places present in the rough area of any city.

There’s a ton more topics about this movie worth mentioning but I’ll just save those for the our next essay.

P.S. Remember guys, plagiarism is bad!

In the set-up we are introduced to a new type of noir. In the set up there isn’t necessarily a crime which our protagonist is directly involved in. In the set up we see the darkness and shadows throughtout the film. In particular after Stoker wins the fight and little boy and his posse surround Stoker outside of the boxing arena. In the scene it is dark and shadowey, one of the characteristics of most noirs we’ve seen, and little boy’s posse beats up Stoker for the money he caused little boy.

Asphalt Jungle at times has the feel of a documentary. It also uses the setting of a modern city to accent the sense of despair and alienation that runs through the story.  The gritty urban landscape is a crucial element in the film, one that impacts the narrative,  and the characters.   Asphalt Jungle is different in that the criminal element is given human dimension.No only is sympathy  created for the gang, but respect is shown  for the way they do their jobs.Instead of painting them as immoral thugs and murderers,they are instilled with human weaknesses, and distinctive behavior that viewers would not expect in a movie about criminals. Additionally, the women in The Asphalt Jungle are not femme fatales, luring men to their doom. Instead, it is their devotion and commitment to these men which bring them bad luck and misery.

Double Indemnity provides excellent examples of the look of film noir. Visual aspects include dark interiors, heavy shadow, high contrast, bars or slashes of, mirrors, fog and rain, odd angles and disorienting compositions, staircases, and various frames within the film frame. Double Indemnity has a circular structure, beginning near the end and telling the story through voice-over and flashback.  Double Indemnity’s plot carries many traits of film noir. It centers on crime, takes place in Los Angeles, and the most crucial scenes occur at night.  In Double Indemnity Phyllis acts as the femme fatale and Walter as the hero .

Out of the Past, is a particularly unique example in the genre of film noir; while most of the shots are lit for night, the shadows are not as prominent. In terms of representing the genre, most of the scenes do not take advantage of the use of shadow that often covers faces and bodies and sometimes, as a result, even distorts a character’s appearance.The film is narrated, focusing mainly upon a flashback to drive the plot forward. In terms of the setting, it is showing a common trait of the genre.Most of the scenes take place in urban locations, despite a few scenes shot in the country, while the nature scenes that are shot even in the calmest places are darkened.