A very routine boxing drama, but in a comfortable way. Douglas gives a grand performance, tackling the kind of ruthless, ambitious character he does so well. The supporting actors are all pretty good. Some excellent photography. There's a couple of sour notes, though. The training montage is rendered ridiculous by Tiomkin's goofy score. And there's one of most egregious examples of production code silliness I've ever seen. Still a very entertaining movie, even if it's a little too familiar.

On the surface Champion is like any other boxing movie, but Kirk Douglas is great at playing sympathetic assholes and that lends this film a little something different. Even though his character evolves as the film progresses there's a certain steadiness to his personality that makes it more about how his flaws pull him into the ring than how boxing corrupts him. The conflicted character arc is very well done and gets us to a very effective final sequence.

An effective, hard-edged prizefight movie.

A great noirish boxing movie, similar to (but lesser than) "Body and Soul" and "Raging Bull" in that its tragic hero is a winner in the ring but a loser outside it. It looks like a precursor to Scorsese's film in many ways. The movie's straightforward text sometimes comes off as superficial but other times as subtle and understated. Kirk Douglas has charisma through the roof and his presence contributes much to the movie's quality.