Joe Palooka, Champ

"OUT OF THE COMICS...INTO YOUR HEART! Everybody's Favorites Brought To Life In A Rousing Action-Romance!"

May 28 1946 Approved 1h 10m
Comedy, Drama, Sport

After losing heavyweight contender Al Costa to mob boss Florini fight promoter Knobby Walsh recruits small town boy Joe Palooka to take his place. First in the series.

Plot

In this first entry of the Monogram features based on the comic-strip character created by Ham Fisher (while not the first use of the character on the screen), fight manager and promoter Knobby Walsh trains Al Costa to fight for the heavyweight championship, but gangster Florini, with the help of his henchmen, Lefty and Curly, takes the budding champion away from him. Knobby begins the search for a new fighter by taking four fighters and handler Smoky on a tour of tank towns. He finds Joe Palooka, a natural boxer, in a small town. Anne Howe, a society girl passing through town, helps persuade the shy-and-gentle farm boy to sign a contract with Knobby. Joe wins a string of sensational matches and, while training for the championship match with the recently-crowned champion Costa, Anne invites him to a party where her snobby society friend Ronnie Brewster makes a fool of Joe. The latter's training suffers as a result of this and estrangements from Knobby and Anne, but he rebuffs the efforts of Florini to get him to throw the fight.

Written by

Cy Endfield, Albert DePina, Hal E. Chester

Directed by

Reginald Le Borg

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Monogram Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
53
Average Rating
5.8 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA