Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)

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Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) – R. Wise

Robert Wise has a lot to answer for – after all, he is responsible for editing The Magnificent Ambersons when it was taken away from Orson Welles (there is also The Sound of Music).  But he does know how to craft a film – something he may have learned when he was part of Val Lewton’s stable of directors doing low budget but effective horror films in the ‘40’s.  You can see this craft in films like Odds Against Tomorrow or The Haunting…and in this film which is based on boxer Rocky Graziano’s autobiography (with a screenplay by Ernest “North by Northwest” Lehman).  Paul Newman is young and hungry as Rocky – and once you get used to his cruddy Brooklyn accent, his performance is electrifying.  Method acting probably but it works and everything hangs together just right.  Wise creates a good sense of time and place and, although predictable, the story is punchy and compelling.  You can see how this may have influenced Scorsese’s Raging Bull. Won an Oscar for B&W cinematography and it shows.