Amazon.com video review:
This feature version of Rod Serling's memorable
teleplay, theatrically released in 1962, was previously produced in 1956 for
live television. The grim tale
stars Anthony Quinn as a brain-damaged fighter suffering from
too many years in the ring yet pushed into another and yet another punishing
round
by his corrupt manager (Jackie Gleason). Yearning for a life of his own,
Quinn's burned-out hitter falls for a shy social worker (Julie Harris),
while
Gleason's small-timer tries fending off the pressures of truly bad guys who
want the money he owes them. Directed by Ralph Nelson (who also made the TV
version), this Requiem opens up into a powerful piece of social
realism with
the undercurrent of a cautionary fable. The characters are almost
archetypal,
the story never stops moving, the acting is superb (Mickey Rooney is very
good
as Quinn's reluctant trainer), and the ending is nightmarishly apt.
--Tom Keogh
