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Body and Soul (1947)

Body and Soul (1947) (1947)

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No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

audience

88

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 634

My Rating

Movie Info

This riveting 1947 drama, regarded by many as the greatest boxing movie of all time, centers on a former pugilist who looks back on his life in and out of the ring and realizes that self-respect is a more important prize than winning. John Garfield is Charlie Davis, a former boxing champion who began fighting in order to save himself and his mother from poverty after his father was killed in a mob-related bombing. William Conrad plays Quinn, a veteran boxer-turned-trainer who discovers that

Unrated,

Drama, Classics

,

Abraham Polonsky

Mar 5, 2002

Cast

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All Critics (11) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (0) | DVD (4)

Trite is hardly the word for the plot, which was already wheezy by the time this minor classic was made in 1947, but Abraham Polonsky's script brings such tight, painful focus to the moral choices that it seems fresh and real.

March 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Garfield's bullish performance saves the movie from its stagy moments and episodic script.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Altogether this Enterprise picture rolls up a round-by-round triumph on points until it comes through with a climactic knockout that hits the all-time high in throat-catching fight films.

January 28, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If the movie works today, it's probably because of Abraham Polonsky's beautiful screenplay, a rich desert plate filled with glorious, lowdown street and sports prose.

August 22, 2012 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

John Garfield gives a wonderful performance in the noir sports melodrama, directed by the blacklisted Polonsky

April 23, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Now only seems gripping because of Garfield's gritty performance.

March 20, 2004 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The fight film to which all others are compared.

July 30, 2003 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

This is tight, hard-hitting entertainment.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Audience Reviews for Body and Soul (1947)

sure it's the same tired boxing cliches but polonsky's sharp dialogues and garfield's greatest performance made it well worth watching, for me at least. james wong howe wore skates and rolled around the ring shooting the fight scenes with a hand-held camera, creating a level of realism that influenced 'raging bull'
May 2, 2013
rubystevens
Stella Dallas

Super Reviewer

The original Rocky 2, complete with dying trainer
July 11, 2007
kenstachnik

Super Reviewer

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