The Champ 1931

The Champ

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The Champ Photos

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Movie Info

Champ (Wallace Beery) is a down-on-his-luck boxer in Tijuana whose son, Dink (Jackie Cooper), adores him despite Champ's addictions to alcohol and gambling. When Champ wins enough money from a bet to buy Dink a horse, they enter it into a race, where they encounter Linda (Irene Rich), Dink's mother, whom he has never met. Linda's rich new husband, Tony (Hale Hamilton), convinces Champ to let Dink come and stay with them, but Dink's love for his father brings him back to Tijuana.

Genre:

drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

King Vidor
Producer:

Harry Rapf
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 4, 2017
Runtime:

1h 26m
Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Cast & Crew

Wallace Beery
Champ

Jackie Cooper
Dink

Irene Rich
Linda

Roscoe Ates
Sponge

Edward Brophy
Tim

Hale Hamilton
Tony

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Champ

All Critics (22) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (1)

Wallace Beery, one of the finest actors In Hollywood, plays the co-starring role with Jackie. It is a real treat for film fans to see the two together.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Globe Staff
Boston Globe
The Champ may be hokum. but if so it's the sort of hokum that this old world of ours loves -- and needs.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Mae Tinee
Chicago Tribune
Perhaps The Champ is the old Stella Dallas recipe for film-making, perhaps It is overstressjd in its emotion, perhaps it is slow and even dull in the opening reels but the punch of the finish is terrific.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Edwin Schallert
Los Angeles Times
Not in the history of talkies was weeping so profuse and so enjoyable as at this premiere of The Champ, a production which combines the amazing talents of little Jackie Cooper with the superb histrionics of big Wallace Beery.

December 8, 2020 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Irene Thirer
New York Daily News
Utterly false and thoroughly convincing, The Champ is a monument to the cinema's skill in achieving second-rate perfection.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

TIME Staff
TIME Magazine
This picture is a further example of clever acting saving the day, for there is little in this narrative of horse racing and pugilistic bouts that possesses much akin to originality.

January 31, 2012 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Mordaunt Hall
New York Times
It's one of the best talkies of the year, and if you don't get many times your money's worth out of it, you'd better see a psychiatrist.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Shadow Stage
Photoplay
Was there, by any slightest chance, the tiniest bit of doubt in your mind when you heard that Wally Beery and Jackie Cooper were to be co-starred, that the picture would be a wow?

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Picture Parade
Motion Picture Magazine
The MGM studio forces should be congratulated for turning out a picture, so excellent an entertainment, with so powerful a moral.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

P.S. Harrison
Harrison's Reports
King Vidor has taken a frail, homely story and invested it with human and frequently throbbing touches.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Film Daily Staff
The Film Daily
A picture which might easily have become maudlin in its appeal for tears, it has been handled with a restraint that is a credit to director and players alike.

December 8, 2020 | Full Review…

Martin Dickstein
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Despite the blatant manipulation, this movie is enjoyable, just be sure to wear your rubber boots when watching, because you'll be knee deep in sap by the time you're done with it.

December 8, 2020 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

View All Critic Reviews (22)

Audience Reviews for The Champ

Oct 31, 2007

A grittier version than the crappolo that they made in the seventies. This story probably played itself out many times among the down and out with similar tragic results.

John B Super Reviewer
May 23, 2007

I've read other reviews that have called this sentimental and sappy. I guess I enjoy that on occasion. I identified with Beery's character trying to get by, struggling to improve himself. I also like performances by children who are precocious enough to show innocence at times, but mostly have a toughness and worldliness to match their adult co-stars.

Byron B Super Reviewer