The Champ (1979) (NTSC) |
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The Champ (1979) (NTSC) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio Filmographies-Cast Listing-Cast & Crew Audio Commentary-Jon Voight & Rick Schroder Featurette-On Location With The Champ Theatrical Trailer Awards |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1979 | ||
| Running Time | 122:41 (Case: 120) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (65:09) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4 | Directed By | Franco Zeffirelli |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Jon Voight Ricky Schroder Faye Dunaway Jack Warden Strother Martin |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
| RPI | $29.95 | Music | Dave Grusin |
| Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English French Spanish Portuguese |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Billy Flynn is an ex-boxer. Past his prime, down and out and perhaps what some may call a 'has-been'. But there is one thing that shines in Billy's life, and that is his young son T.J. who idolizes him with a love and affection that only a boy could. Even though Billy has been out of the ring for over 7 years, his young son still calls Billy "The Champ". While a 'Champ' in his son's eyes, Billy has his failings, including gambling problems and a battle with the demon drink. Billy has been living the life of a horse trainer, but he has longed to return to the ring and recapture the stature in the boxing world that he once had. After a vow to return to the ring, Billy falls back to his old ways and ends up in a bar, the centre of attention and full of alcohol. Through this all, there is always one who stands by Billy and that's his son T.J. When one day Billy gets a win at the card table, he lavishes his friends at the track with gifts and presents, but the biggest one he saves for his boy: a new horse. A race horse. Instantly, the boy goes from stable hand to race horse owner.
On the day of T.J.'s first horse race, he meets a nice woman named Annie who takes an interest in the boy and his horse and they make a wager on the race result. During the race the woman realizes who the boy really is...her son. Attempting to see her son after the race, she is stopped by Billy, who is angry that after all the time past and without any communication she is suddenly interested in rekindling a relationship with her long lost son. Reluctantly, Billy agrees to let Annie see T.J. again.
With T.J.'s mother back on the scene, things begin to become complicated and an inevitable tug of war begins and caught in the middle is T.J.
This is the third remake of this story penned by Frances Marion and first made into a film in 1931. The original film starred Wallace Berry as the has-been boxer and child wonderstar Jackie Cooper (who later starred in the Superman films as Daily Planet editor Perry White) as the son. This first version of The Champ won both Berry and writer Marion Academy Awards in 1931 (Best Actor and Best Original Story respectively). The second version of this story put a different spin with the down and out dad a clown instead of a boxer. This version featured Red Skelton as the "Champ" character and was made in 1953.
So now to the third and most recent remake of this seemingly ageless story. This film is a real standout and something that shouldn't be missed because of any preconceptions about the story and the actors who bring the story to life. This reviewer had such preconceptions and after watching the film, these were quickly swept away.
First of all, this is not a movie about boxing. Despite the film's title and cover art, the boxing content is fairly light. Instead, this is a film about relationships; in reality it's a love story although not in the traditional style. Instead, the love is between father and son. This story is very effectively played out by the two leads Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy: 1969 and Deliverance: 1972) and the young Ricky Schroder (TVs Silver Spoons: 1982 and later in Crimson Tide: 1995). How Faye Dunaway got top billing on the cover and poster art of the era I'll never know (marketing, I guess) as this is almost a two man show with Dunaway playing an important but secondary role. Ricky Schroder is positively a standout with an emotional range beyond his years. Many reviewers comment only on his ability to cry convincingly, but look beyond this and the rest of this fine actor's talents come into focus: wonder, glee, boredom and most of all the ability to portray pure unconditional love shine through. Jon Voight plays the once famous boxer Billy with compassion and strength while maintaining the vulnerability of the character. Being a boxer requires more than just a 'tough guy' approach and this Voight does to perfection. Faye Dunaway is fine as the long lost mother given her limited input into the story. Secondly, this is not a kid's film. Although this film is suitable for the whole family (there is some low impact violence and course language), it certainly is great viewing for adults.
Director Franco Zeffirelli is perhaps best known for directing various William Shakespeare works (including 1968's Romeo and Juliet and 1990's Hamlet with Glen Close and Mel Gibson). He does a good job with this story, imparting a style and flair that gives this film that little "something extra".
If you have missed, or even avoided, this picture for whatever reason, do yourself a favour (I sound like Molly Meldrum) and see it. It is a real treat. Highly Recommended.
This title is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1 which is a popular and acceptable variant of the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
The level of sharpness is reasonable considering the film's age, its apparent lack of restoration, and the fact that it is NTSC. There are some fairly obvious line artefacts on images (especially moving ones), but it is quite watchable. Shadow detail is reasonable, even with some fading of the print being evident. Darker scenes do reveal an appropriate level of detail. Low level noise is not a problem.
Colour is as you might expect with a title of this age. Thankfully, there is not an overuse of earthy colours as is often seen in films of this vintage. The print seems to have faded slightly during the years, but at the end of the day the image we get is fine. There seems to be some over-saturation of red evident during some scenes, but this may well be a result of NTSCs inability to handle this colour well. Otherwise, colour use with this title seems fairly natural.
The MPEG compression of this title seems to have been done reasonably well. There is only some very minor pixelisation visible at 0:33 and 1:40. There are a few niggling flaws in the film to video transfer with this film. Aliasing is visible during several scenes of the film including 6:03, 27:41 and 78:11. Edge enhancement is visible at times (36:20, 38:29) but is not a huge problem. The print used for transfer was not in wonderful condition - we see a few problems such as a fairly faded image at times, 5:35 for example. There is a bit of grain as can be seen at 44:52 and 86:36. Nicks, scratches and flecks are common.
There are 4 subtitle options with the English being fairly accurate. Because of the range of emotion carried by the actor's voices, subtitles will always be a poor second best option with this title. They would better serve those who do not use English as a first language rather than those who are hard of hearing.
This disc is formatted RSDL with the layer change taking place at 65:09 - this is a very good spot for it. Those with modern players will be hard pressed to pick the change.
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There are 2 audio options, these being a Dolby Digital English 2.0 surround encoded track and a Dolby Digital French 1.0 mono dub track.
The audio quality is reasonably good with the dialogue quite clear and understandable. The audio sync is very good and no issues were noticed.
The music for this title was composed by experienced film scorer Dave Grusin. It is a string and horn oriented score which serves the film well and uses many recurring themes that highlight the characters of the film.
This film offers a reasonable surround mix that will give the viewer some atmospheric sound from the rears. This serves the film and never acts as a distraction.
Because of the limited range of the soundtrack, the subwoofer is for the most part quite subdued. There's little in the way of LF audio available.
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After the distributor's logo, we are presented with the Main Menu featuring an image of a cheering T.J. atop Billy's shoulders, who is in a boxer's stance. Our Main Menu options are:
The Scene Selections Menu features the image of Billy and T.J. at the left of screen and 6 static images from the respective chapters to the right of screen. Each chapter's title is listed underneath the static images and each block of 6 chapters is selectable at the bottom left of screen. This menu is presented silent and static and is 16x9 enhanced.
The Special Features Menu offers us the following options:
The Cast & Crew option offers us a list of the major actors from the film. Of the 8 listed, only the first 3 options (which are for Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Rick Schroder) are selectable. Selecting any of these will take you to a filmography that is three pages long for each actor. Each of the three pages of filmography presents an image of the character from the film. All these menus are silent, static and 16x9 enhanced. Also listed at the bottom of the menu is the list of the film's Writer, Producer and Director.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video is good within the limitations of the NTSC format, with a slightly faded but otherwise clean and sharp video transfer to DVD.
The audio is good with a reasonable Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded soundtrack on offer.
The extras are good with a commentary featuring the leads Jon Voight and Rick Schroder providing insight into the making of the film. The trailer for the 1931 original which is available on the Region 1 disc is missing from the Region 4 disc, which is...unfortunate.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Panasonic A300-MU, using S-Video output |
| Display | Hitachi CP-L750W LCD Projector. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Yamaha RX-V2090 |
| Speakers | VAF DC-X fronts; VAF DC-6 center; VAF DC-2 rears; LFE-07subwoofer (80W X 2) |