Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 6, 2023

Ralph Nelson's "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment. There are no supplemental features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

His name is Louis Rivera (Anthony Quinn) but In New York City, where he has been making ends meet as a boxer, everyone calls him Mountain. A few decades ago, while he was at his peak, Mountain almost became a World Champion. Almost. Mountain was so close he could taste the glory and feel the piles of money that would have ensured a proper retirement. But fifth place is as far as Mountain could get. It is not bad because a lot of boxers never go this far, but there is no money there, only memories, and in New York City they are not worth anything.

After his latest opponent nearly kills him, Mountain is examined by a doctor and told that on the inside his body is so worn out that the next time he gets knocked out he could wake up a cripple. And this is the most optimistic scenario, the more likely scenario is that Mountain would be carried out of the boxing arena in a plastic bag.

Initially, Mountain’s manager, Maish Rennick (Jackie Gleason), who has been pretending to be his best friend but used him as his private golden goose, refuses to accept the death sentence. And for a good reason, too. Maish has arranged and fumbled a sure bet with Ma Greeny (Madame Spivy) and her thugs, so not he must pay them thousands of dollars that he does not have. If Mountain’s career ends, so does Maish’s life.

It is only after Army (Mickey Rooney), Mountain’s only real friend and cutman, intervenes that Maish changes his mind -- though, much to Army’s displeasure, temporarily. In an employment agency, Mountain meets Grace (Julie Harris), an office worker, who instantly realizes how desperate his situation is and arranges an interview that could help him become a trainer for high-school boys.

But on the night of the interview, having learned that his golden goose is about to get away from him, Maish tricks Mountain to get drunk and he embarrasses himself before Grace and the prospective employer. Having gravely disappointed Grace and proven to himself that he is no good outside of the ring, as Maish has repeatedly told him, Mountain then ‘chooses’ to return to the ring. However, instead of boxing, this time Mountain will be wrestling clowns, midgets, and other odd creatures in front of completely different crowds.

The simplicity of Ralph Nelson’s Requiem for a Heavyweight is enormously deceiving. It does tell a very familiar, straightforward story about the downfall of an aging boxer, but its sincerity is virtually unmatched by other similarly themed films, like The Set-Up, Champion, and The Harder They Fall. So, there is something enormously disturbing in watching the Mountain embrace the inevitability of his miserable end because all aspects of its ugliness are presented without filters or polish work.

An original screenplay was delivered to Nelson by Rod Serling, who had already done plenty of work on the TV phenomenon The Twilight Zone. It is a magnificent screenplay, unquestionably one of Serling’s best, but Requiem for a Heavyweight leaves an indelible impression because its four leads are astonishing. They play very, very different characters too, revealing quite remarkable ranges of unique feelings and emotions that Serling’s screenplay only could have suggested. For example, between his disastrous loss and return to the ring as a disillusioned clown, Quinn plays five, possibly six different characters, each struggling with new dilemmas, and they all look authentic. Gleason is just as good at playing a dishonest friend, manipulative manager, and desperate gambler willing to self-destruct and constantly competes for the spotlight with Quinn. The same can be said about Rooney and Harris but Requiem for a Heavyweight does not evolve into an intense competition.

While Requiem for a Heavyweight does have a noirish identity, profiling it as film noir seems pointless. It is because the strength of its visual style is effectively negated by the tremendous strength of the drama that flourishes in it. Phenomenal film.

Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.79:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Requiem for a Heavyweight arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment.

The quality of the presentation is very difficult to evaluate. The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Sony Pictures but it is virtually impossible to tell how good this master is. Why? There are plenty of areas on it that are either decent or good, but the release is encoded in a way that tends to negate their strengths. For example, it appears that there is quite a bit of decent detail on the master, but the presentation struggles mightily to retain proper grain. In fact, in several areas, it looks light filtering adjustments have been applied, but I suspect that plenty of it can be found on the master. Also, the grayscale is very good, often even excellent. However, the inconsistencies in grain exposure impact some darker areas. Image stability is very good too, though I did spot a bit of shakiness during several transitions. So, on a larger screen, the film could look decent but does not have the stable, all-around lush and very attractive organic appearance that it could and should have. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is great. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that when the current master was prepared the folks at Sony ensured that the audio is as good as it can be. Is there any room for future improvements? At the moment, I do not think so. On my system, clarity, sharpness, depth, and stability were phenomenal.

Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this release.

Requiem for a Heavyweight Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When I view a film noir, I am always dazzled by the strength of the black-and-white visuals. While I was viewing Ralph Nelson's Requiem for a Heavweight, I forgot to care about its visual style because the powerful drama that flourishes in it effectively negated it. I felt everything that Mountain did and his story broke my heart, so when the final credits rolled on my screen, it was as if I had observed the complete humiliation of a very close friend. Phenomenal film. Mill Creek Entertainment's technical presentation of Requiem for a Heavyweight is shaky and I hope that the folks at Sony Pictures will eventually redo it in 4K so that it looks as good as it should. However, at the moment, I am grateful to have this Blu-ray release in my library. It is very attractively priced, so despite the numerous shortcomings that we have highlighted in our review, consider picking it up. RECOMMENDED.