The Square Jungle ** (1955, Tony Curtis, Pat Crowley, Ernest Borgnine, Paul Kelly, Jim Backus, Lee Snowden, John Daheim, John Marley) – Classic Movie Review 11,432

Director Jerry Hopper’s 1955 Universal Pictures film noir sport drama film The Square Jungle stars Tony Curtis as young hood from the ghetto Eddie Quaid, who gives up selling groceries, takes up boxing and punches his way to the top of the boxing profession.

The Square Jungle is an early example of the Rocky genre, with plucky Curtis flexing his pectorals as San Francisco boy Eddie Quaid in this easy-to-swallow, but hard-to-remember, rags-to-riches number. Curtis (who adopts his dad’s old ring name of Packy Glennon) and Ernest Borgnine (as his boozy trainer Bernie Browne) could have done this stuff with their eyes closed. As Curtis’s girlfriend Julie, Pat Crowley is an inadequate substitute for either of Curtis’s usual co-stars, Janet Leigh or Piper Laurie. There is a nice support cast and former world heavyweight champion Joe Louis appears as himself.

For an altogether more thoughtful look at life in the ring, see the 1962 Requiem for a Heavyweight as a strong contender.

Also in the cast are Jim Backus as Eddie’s dad Pat Quaid, Paul Kelly as Jim McBride, Leigh Snowden as Lorraine Evans, John Daheim [John Day] as Al Gorski, David Janssen as Jack, Carmen McRae as singer, John Marley as Tommy Dillon, Barney Phillips as Dan Selby, Joseph Vitale [Joe Vitale] as Tony Adamson, Kay Stewart as Mrs Gorski, Clancy Cooper, Jimmy Cross, Walter J Ekwert, Jess Kirkpatrick, Frank Marlowe, Frank Moran, Dennis Moore, Wendell Niles, Barry Regan, Frankie Van, and Joe Louis as himself.

It premiered on 30 December 1955 in New York City.

The familiar story and screenplay are by George Zuckerman.

Patricia Crowley [Pat Crowley] was born on 17 September 1933.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,432

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