Pick a couple of common words, and you can be almost assured that they have been used for a title of a movie.  This notion is not usually a problem unless you are a film reviewer and trying to come up with ways of differentiating between a few different pieces with the same name.  Take today’s entry, The Set-Up (1949), for example.  As William Shakespeare once wrote, “What’s in a name?”  With a title like this one, one could assume that it describes some kind of criminal activity.  This would be correct with all the iterations of this appellation, except this one has a hyphen in it.  This means that I can get away with not having to put its release year at the top of this article.  It is the small things in life that can sometimes be the most important, and ironically enough, this is one of the lessons of the film.

As the opening credits roll for The Set-Up, which mainly takes place in the boxing ring, you see two fighters going toe-to-toe before one is knocked to the canvas.  It is not identified at the time, but the person taking the fall is likely our main character, Bill “Stoker” Thompson (Robert Ryan).  This aging prize fighter is managed by Tiny (George Tobias), and trained by Red (Percy Helton), and they are looking to cash in on Bill’s diminishing skills.  Without telling Bill, Tiny approaches Gus (Wallace Ford), who is in charge of Bill’s opponent for the night, “Tiger” Nelson (Hal Fieberling), with a proposition.  Tiny says that Bill will go down in the third round.  Before agreeing to the fix, Gus warns that the person for which he works, a gangster called Little Boy (Alan Baxter), is not a person to be crossed.  Tiny reassures Gus, and places his bet, though later tells Red that it is for less than the amount he had given.  For his part, Red is not comfortable with the plan, mostly because they have elected not to inform Bill of the plot.  Meanwhile, in a hotel room near the arena, Bill awakes for a nap to his wife, Julie Thompson (Audrey Totter), telling him that it is time for him to get ready for his bout.  However, she is not sure she wants to assume her seat in the audience this time.  She cites all the times she had witnessed him be battered and bruised, including once barely remembering his own name, as why she no longer wants to witness his fights.  She then pleads with him to give it up and pursue some other means of making a living, anything so long as they are together and away from boxing.  He denies this request, making a claim that will be echoed by virtually every boxer with screen time in the film: that he can take his opponent.  This means he is confident of victory, by the way, and with it he is only one punch away from getting a shot at being the champion.  With the argument reaching an impasse, he leaves to finish his preparations in the locker room.  While he does so, you see a number of other boxers in various states of readiness based on where their individual fights fall in the night’s line-up.  They all have the same ambition as Bill, and this is more or less realistic based on their age and condition.  Less likely to go to the top is “Gunboat” Thompson (David Clarke), whose face belies the savage beatings he has taken over the years of his lengthy career.  He returns to the changing room after being decisively defeated, having to be carried in due to being insensate.  There is also the up-and-comer Shanley (Darryl Hickman), a kid barely out of high school who is nervous to step into the ring but thrilled when he wins.  As these little dramas unfolds, we cut often to Julie.  At first she is decided upon going into the stadium, but stops when she hears the crowd gasp at another blow.  Instead, she takes to wandering the streets, doing what she can to get her mind off of the fact that her husband is likely to take another round of bruising.  Not long after tearing up her entry ticket, she settles on buying them some food and awaiting his return in their room.  One other aspect to point out are the various fight attendees on which the camera focuses, including a blind man who has to be told by a friend about what is happening in the ring.  Whatever their eyesight, all of them show a desire to see violence inside the ropes, even the ones that claimed that they wanted no part of seeing a match.  Thus, we finally get to Bill’s fight, the last of the night.  On the way to the ring, Red is telling Bill to stay away from the faster and younger Tiger, while Tiny advises that Bill fight as he wishes.  Bill, for his part, keeps looking into the seats to see if Julie has come.  He is to be disappointed as he trades wild blows with Tiger.  Though there are a few moments when it looks like Bill might be carrying the bout, Tiger’s youth leads to the older boxer being sent to the floor a few times.  Then comes the fated third round.  At one point, Bill is sent reeling again, staying down until the count of ten but getting up at the last possible second.  Tiny is on the way out of the arena, satisfied with a job done, until he hears Bill getting back to his feet.  Still, because Tiger has been the aggressor for most of the match, he is likely to win when it comes decision.  However, Bill manages to knock the kid out in the fourth, despite being warned, finally, between rounds about the fix.  After the fight, he is visited by Little Boy, who wants a word once Bill is dressed.  Bill manages to find a side exit, but Little Boy and his henchmen catch the victor in the alley, and break his hand with a brick.  The film ends with Julie finding the bloodied Bill in the street, promising that he will do something else with his life.

While watching The Set-Up, I began to think that perhaps I like classic film better than what is released these days.  As I have always associated such a position with snobbery, this is not an opinion I take lightly.  Yet, you do not often get characters like the boxer who carries a Bible with him because he sees it as part of him hedging his bet on getting into Heaven.  Though this is not the most Christian attitude, I do appreciate how he handles losing his fight, saying that he still has that one shot at life everlasting with God.  The way this is talked about is in the context of a conversation on the existence of God and Heaven.  Somebody else suggests that there is a million-to-one chance that it is all real.  He agrees, but also points out that there is still that one chance.  I often think this is how many people see the prayers they say.  People earnestly ask God for any number of things.  Because it often seems to go unanswered, many of those same supplicants begin to doubt, giving way to the kinds of conversations you see in the movie.  The thing that is missing from these spiritual calculations is a trust in God.  We tell ourselves that we know better than the All-Knowing, All-Seeing Creator of the Universe as to what we need, and therefore rebel against any plan to the contrary.  This is a difficult thing to experience, and the movie parallels this nicely.  Throughout, Bill receives signs that he should take his life in a different direction, but such is his determination to follow his own vision.  Meanwhile, between Julie’s plea, the stories he hears in the locker room, and the literal writing on the wall, he ignores what could be a Higher Power telling him what to do.  It takes the actual end of his career by having his hands broken for him to finally accept what he is being told.

Another great reason to watch The Set-Up is its length, clocking in at under seventy-five minutes.  Outside of this, there are some really neat shots that you do not see in movies today because of the limitations of the equipment.  You had to give your scene a good think to make it innovative or interesting, and that is on full display here.  Today, technology takes much of the guess work out of the filmmaking process.  Please take this as motivation to watch more older productions, this one being a great example.