Review of Right Cross (1950) by Jay N — 10 May 2014

It's no "Body & Soul" or "Champion," but it's a solid little boxing picture from director John Sturges about boxer Ricardo Montalban. June Allyson plays his manager and Dick Powell plays a cynical reporter who gets jealous when Montalban and Allyson develop a relationship.

It's not a particularly compelling story but Sturges is pretty reliable and delivers some decent boxing matches, though the film does avoid the boxing film cliche of ending on a big climactic boxing match.

There's also a David Raksin score, but best of all there's Ricardo Montalban, who I've recently become obsessed with her early films. I'm now watching all of his early films an imagining if her had been able to break through and been a major star, because Montalban absolutely has that on-screen star charisma and screen command that you don't always see.

I may have been more partial to this film because of my recent fasciation with Montalban, but he really elevated this film from it rather run-of-the-mill story. John Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe both appear in uncredited roles before they made it big (Monroe more so than Mitchum).