The Champ (1931 film)
| The Champ | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | King Vidor |
| Produced by | King Vidor Harry Rapf(uncredited) Irving Thalberg(uncredited) |
| Written by |
Frances Marion Leonard Praskins |
| Starring |
Wallace Beery Jackie Cooper Irene Rich Roscoe Ates |
| Music by | Irving Berlin |
| Cinematography | Gordon Avil |
| Edited by | Hugh Wynn |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.5 million |
The Champ is an 1931 American Pre-Code film starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, and directed by King Vidor from a screenplay by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock. The picture tells the story of a washed-up alcoholic boxer (Beery) attempting to put his life back together for the sake of his young son (Cooper).
Beery won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance (sharing the prize with Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Frances Marion won the Academy Award for Best Story, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Andy "Champ" Purcell (Wallace Beery) is the former world heavyweight champion, now down on his luck and living in squalid conditions with his eight-year-old son "Dink" in Tijuana, Mexico. Champ attempts to train and to convince promoters to set up a fight for him, but his efforts are consistently stymied by his alcoholism. Dink is repeatedly disappointed and let down by his father's irresponsible actions and frequent broken promises to quit drinking, but his utter devotion to his father nonetheless never wavers.
In addition to his drinking problem, Champ is also a compulsive gambler, another vice which he repeatedly promises Dink he will surrender (but never does). After a winning streak, he fulfills a previous promise to buy Dink a horse, whom they subsequently name "Little Champ" and decide to enter into a race. At the track, Dink happens across a woman who, unknown to either of them, is actually his mother Linda. She is now remarried to Tony, a wealthy man who owns one of the other horses in the race.
Linda and Tony observe Dink and Champ together and realize that Dink is her son. Champ allows Linda to see Dink, who accepts that she is his mother. But Dink feels no emotion toward her, as she has never been part of his life. Linda resolves to remove Dink from the negative atmosphere in which he's growing up and have him live with her family.
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