Tennessee Champ

Tennessee Champ is a 1954 drama with strong Christian overtones directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Shelley Winters, Keenan Wynn, Dewey Martin, and Charles Bronson (credited as Charles Buchinsky).

Tennessee Champ
Keenan Wynn from the trailer
Directed byFred M. Wilcox
Produced bySol Baer Fielding
Written byArt Cohn, Eustace Cockrell (story)
Based onThe Lord in his corner
StarringShelley Winters
Keenan Wynn
Charles Bronson
Music byConrad Salinger
CinematographyGeorge J. Folsey
Edited byBen Lewis
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
1954
Running time
73 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$548,000[1]
Box office$769,000[1]

Mounted as a title to fill out double and triple bills (a B-movie), Tennessee Champ was one of several films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer shot in its pet process of Ansco Color, a ruddy-looking process employed on the same year's Brigadoon.

The film marked a return to Hollywood for star Shelley Winters, who hadn't appeared in a film in almost two years because of her marriage to Vittorio Gassman (which ended in June 1954) and the birth of their child, Vittoria. The lull came just as she seemed to be on an upswing after roles in Winchester '73 (1950), Phone Call from a Stranger (1952), and her breakthrough tragic performance in A Place in the Sun (1951).

Plot

Sarah Wurble's husband Willy is the larceny-inclined manager of an illiterate, and very religious boxer from Tennessee named Danny. Gifted with a powerful punch and a nickname that gives the film its title, Danny mistakenly believes he killed a man defending himself in a street brawl, and goes on the lam as a prizefighter.

His Christian convictions turn out to be both a source of inspiration and, ultimately, conflict when Willy urges him to throw a fight (while mistakenly fearing Willy will turn him in on the murder charge if he doesn't). Credulity flies out of the window when Danny discovers the man he is to take on in the fixed fight is actually the man he thought he killed, Sixty Jubel, The "Biloxi Blockbuster." Danny's example of unwavering faith causes Willy to rethink his sinful ways.

Cast

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $555,000 in the US and Canada and $214,000 elsewhere, making a loss to the studio of $189,000.[1]

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References
  1. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.


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