01
Killer's Kiss
Why this pick
Like The Set-Up, this lean nocturnal noir follows a worn-down fighter through a single city night, using stark locations and mounting danger to make every setback feel painfully immediate.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1949 1h 13m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Set-Up
CrimeDramaThriller
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Set-Up, try these.
01
02
Fat City
Why this pick
Its unsparing attention to aging boxers, dead-end routines, and brief flashes of dignity closely matches The Set-Up's compassion for a man fighting long after the odds have turned.
03
The Harder They Fall
Why this pick
This bruising boxing noir shares The Set-Up's distrust of the fight business and its moral anger at the people who turn vulnerable men into expendable spectacle.
04
Body and Soul
Why this pick
A tense, socially conscious boxing drama with similarly hard-edged monochrome imagery, moral pressure, and a fighter caught between self-respect and a corrupt professional world.
05
Requiem for a Heavyweight
Why this pick
It extends The Set-Up's melancholy for a battered, obsolete prizefighter, focusing on the indignities surrounding a career's end rather than glamorizing the ring.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Bill "Stoker" Thompson (Robert Ryan) is a 35-year-old has-been boxer about to take on an opponent at the fictional Paradise City Arena. His wife, Julie (Audrey Totter), fears that this fight may be his last and wants him to forfeit the match. Tiny (George Tobias), Stoker's manager, is sure he will continue to lose fights, so he takes money for a "dive" from a mobster, but is so certain of Stoker's failure that he does not inform the boxer of the set-up.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Audrey Totter
Julie
Percy Helton
Red
James Edwards
Luther Hawkins
David Clarke
Gunboat Johnson
Kevin O'Morrison
Moore
Robert Ryan
Stoker
Darryl Hickman
Shanley
George Tobias
Tiny