Night and the City vs. Requiem for a Heayweight
I enjoyed this movie so much..I am a big Richard Widmark fan..and I love the genre of movies that involve fighting/wrestling as a backdrop..There is something about a fight that brings out a raw passion that is hard to achieve in another setting..Movies like Hard Times, Raging Bull, Fat City, The Harder They Fall, etc., which may or may not have been interesting movies on their own are elevated with fighting in the mix in my opinion..
This movie in many ways reminds me of Requiem of a Heavyweight..another favorite of mine with the great Jackie Gleason along with Anthony Quinn and Mickey Rooney..In both films..true practioners of a real sport are involved by their promoter/manager to enter bogus wrestling..the Managers are desperate to fend of bad guys who are after them..and see their trusting fighters as the only solution..Both films ends sadly..with many people broken in the aftermath..and both films have intense ring action..In Requiem, the beginning of the film is about as realistic as knockout could be experienced on film in my opinion..and in this movie, the wrestling match is as intense as could be portrayed..Both are rated almost equally on this site..and I can't pick 1 over the other either..other than I really liked both..