Newman may make you smile and cheer, but you're unlikely to leap to defend his accent. The character being portrayed isn't very nuanced, but there is some foreshadowing of future Newman hits like Cool Hand Luke. Mineo's small role is fantastic, but ultimately underused.

This film has one of the best performances by Paul Newman, that alone says a lot. A great script and great directing makes the film a real classic!

idk if them dudes were hitting each other for real or what but that last boxing scene looked damn natural

beautifully made, paul newman puts on some serious acting skills, and the plot here is interesting and never boring.

Very nicely done. Makes a good companion piece with Robert Wise's other boxing movie _The Set-Up_

Superior performance by Newman.

Seriously cornball stuff, but I have a problem rating something so attractively filmed any lower - especially in b&w. Newman's attempt at a Brooklyn accent is the main problem.

Paul Newman is a good actor but never entirely convincing as an Italian. The Jews in the movie are bit too stereotypical. It sucks they don't show Graziano's first fight vs Zale, and that Zale didn't play himself as he was originally set to. Flaws aside, and although not quite as great as Robert Wise's boxing-film-noir The Set-Up, Somebody Up There Likes Me is a classic boxing movie. Graziano's story is intriguing and kind of makes one wish there were more good old-time-boxing biopics like this.

The most intriguing thing about Newman's performance here is that it has little of the charismatic verve that drove later work in films like Hud or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It's a thick, meaty character piece. Newman brings integrity to his character's brutishness, subsuming his natural sparkle in favor of a honest portrayal of simpler man. Much of the film's storytelling could be lifted whole, recreated now and still feel contemporary.