Department of History

Knockout performances by Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris highlight this hard-hitting drama of corruption in the fight game. After 17 years in the ring, it's the final bell for Mountain Rivera (Quinn). A fight doctor confirms one more punch for the washed-up heavyweight and he could become permanently disabled. Reluctantly, but with the support of his faithful trainer (Rooney) and a kindly employment counselor (Harris), Rivera tries to land a job outside the ring. But his calculating manager Maish (Gleason) has other plans for Rivera. With the mob closing in on him for payment of a huge gambling debt, Maish coerces Rivera into returning to the ring for a lucrative, yet humiliating, career in stages wrestling matches. A heartbreaking lead performance by double Oscar winner Quinn (Best Supporting Actor, Viva Zapata, 1952 and Lust for Life, 1956) and a triumphant big screen adaptation by writer Rod Sterling and director Ralph Nelson of their Emmy-winning "Playhouse 90" television production, Requiem for a Heavyweight packs a devastating punch. Boxing fans should watch for champs Muhammad Ali (billed as Cassius Clay) in the electrifying opening sequence, and Jack Dempsey in a nightclub scene.