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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE SET-UP
Over the course of its brief duration, this 1949 boxing drama emerges as a masterpiece of
existentialism, dramatizing how the best-laid plans can go awry due to the absurdity of chance or
randomness. Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan), a washed-up boxer who is at a crossroads in his
life, refuses to throw a crucial fight that has been fixed. In many ways, this subtly subversive movie hints that the ultimate set-up may be
life itself.
The Set-Up is structured for maximum suspense, as its plot unfolds in real time. A
feature that gives the picture a quality of seemingly realistic arbitrariness is its observantly roving
camera. In the beginning, a tracking shot captures various characters on the street before settling
on a specific window in a building, where it picks up on the story of Stoker and his wife Julie
(Audrey Totter).
DVD Extras: The sole feature is an engrossing commentary by Robert Wise and Martin
Scorsese. Since they do not cut each other off, ask each other questions, or otherwise interact, it
is fair to presume the filmmakers were recorded separately, which may be why they individually
repeat many of the same points. Once one gets past this minor distraction, an already
richly-textured film is enhanced even more with information of its production history and
cinematic influence.
Wise observes that the viewer should never be aware of camera movement; any gratuitous use of
it is grandstanding. Rightly, Wise thinks the fight scenes, though choreographed, feel real due to
the actors' boxing experience.
As for Scorsese, though he alludes to the connection between the boxing scenes and those of his
own Raging Bull (1980), he insists that nothing could top The Set-Up's for sheer visceral quality;
he therefore filmed Raging Bull’s fights differently. Whereas The Set-Up's fights are filmed from
a low angle outside the ropes of the ring, giving the viewer the point of view of a first-row
spectator, Scorsese shot his from inside the ring. He also makes the argument that the rings of the
fighting bell are meant to act as music - an idea just as applicable to the
veritable symphony of brutal body blows.
Finally, Scorsese places the film in the context of order battling chaos. Wise himself
hints at the movie's metaphysical questions when he talks about how directors have remarked
that if it had been made in France, The Set-Up would have initially received the critical praise it
so deserves. Reymond Levy
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