This has been my favorite movie ever since I saw it in the late 1940's. As a boxing movie it stands on top alongside "Champion," "The Harder They Fall," "Rocky" and "Raging Bull." Everything in this film works. Garfield's acting(he should have won the Oscar) is superb. The supporting cast, Ann Revere, Lloyd Gough, Joseph Pevney, Canada Lee all do a wonderful job. The dialogue is terrific. I have never forgotten the scene when Mary Currier(The welfare worker) comes to the house to interview Ann Revere and Garfield throws her out, and Garfield and Revere have words and she tells him better you should buy a gun then become a fighter and he says to her,"You need money to buy a gun." Just about every scene works in this movie. The flashback, the incidental music, the photography, especially the fight scenes, done by the incomprable James Wong Howe. Robert Rossen's direction is right on target, as well as Abe Polansky's screenplay. The black and white filming of the movie only adds more to the fight scenes, especially the final bout. And while most people would agree it seems to have a happy ending, it is possible the ending could be somewhat different after the final dialogue between Garfield and Lloyd Gough where Garfield says, "What are you gonna do, kill me, everybody dies." This picture definitely belongs on a top ten list or top one hundred list even though you never see it on any list. This movie should be seen by every film buff of every age.