The Champ

Someone's Story
"The Champ" is the story of a child caught in a situation that, like a tidal wave, tosses him in places that are at times frightening and places that he does not neccesarily want to go.
It has elements, in that respect, to "E. T." and "A. I.", but unlike those two films, this motion picture is not symbolic--it could really happen to someone. "The Champ" springs from the same well as "A Street Car Named Desire" and "Kramer vs. Kramer", it is the story of people and their passions--and how those ambitions lead them to and away from one another. To specifically review the DVD, I would strongly urge viwers NOT
to overlook the commentary feature, as John Voight and Rick Schroder give great insights to an excellent film. Speaking of Schroder, while Henry Thomas and Haley Joel Osment were and are outstanding child performers, Schroder, because he did it so well and at a younger age, has my greatest admiration. Is five...

Perhaps the Best Child Performance Ever Caught on Film.
I remember seeing this movie in the theater when I was 16. I still recall that everybody there was crying by the end. I don't think I've seen a performance by a child star that can rival little Ricky Schroder's effort in this film. This was his first acting job and he stole the show with what was easily an Oscar winning performance. This movie is a remake of an older film by the same title made back in the early 1930's; this remake is superior on all counts. Jackie Cooper, then age nine played the role covered here by Schroder, who turned eight, while on the set. Wallace Beerey played the title role done here by Jon Voight. The film is about as perfect as any drama could hope to be because it deals so honestly with very real family issues. Especially the love of a father for his son. The events told in the story could happen to anyone. Perhaps that's why it was such a success in the theaters. Performaces by all the actors were simply fantastic, but again Schroder's will...

The one movie that still makes me cry
The Champ is an astounding motion picture directed by Franco Zeffirelli with outstanding performances by Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and the unbelievably convincing Ricky Schroder.

The movie is the best intimate melodramatic tearjerker that I have ever seen. One view of this film will leave you with a lump in your throat and teary eyes, the next viewings will just leave you in plain tears. Yes, its that kind of movie that you'd see more than once and still feel engaged.

Jon Voight plays former boxer Billy Flynn who is down on his luck raising his son TJ, played by Schroder, alone after his wife, played by Dunaway, left him and the boy and went on to marry a millionaire after he falls out of his life of boxing, doctor's orders. The movie brings you close to the lives of all three of these characters, you feel their pain, their grief, and their emptiness. Billy has turned to drinking to escape the pain of not being able to return to boxing to support a family. TJ does not know his...

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