A Boy and His Champ

The story of a down-and-out boxer and his adorable son, 1931’s The Champ, directed by King Vidor, is a tale of struggle and hardship as well as family, love and hope.

The former champ, Andy Purcell (Wallace Beery – he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a rare tie with Frederic March), is for all intents and purposes, washed up. Though he is in the midst of training for his next bout, he continuously self-sabotages by turning to alcohol and then follows it up by playing dice, tossing the little money he has left away.

His only saving grace is his young son, Dink (Jackie Cooper, one of The Little Rascals of the early sound era who went on to play Perry White in the first three Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve) – a child well beyond his years. A combination of tiny tramp and wise adult, he cares for his father like no one else. Trying to steer him away from booze and focus his wayward vision, he has a middling effect. Though his pleas reach his father, they do not stay his hand for long. The story is, in many ways, told through Dink’s eyes. The son of The Champ is usually followed by his trusty sidekick Jonah (Jesse Scott) and a plethora of other impoverished youths.

Eventually winning big at the tables after disappointing his son once again, he makes it up to the boy by purchasing him a horse – which Dink promptly names ‘Little Champ’. Using all of their money to turn the stallion into a racehorse, it is this fateful action that sets things in motion. At the derby, Dink meets a wealthy couple, Linda (Irene Rich) and Tony (Hale Hamilton), who have their own horse in the race. Unbeknownst to either, Linda is actually the boy’s mother.

Dink (Jackie Cooper) centre, with his half-sister Mary Lou (Marcia Mae Jones) and best friend Jonah (Jesse Scott)

Linda left The Champ soon after having their son, and then married the aforementioned Tony, a rich socialite – leaving her baby behind (something she now very much regrets). With her husband’s help, she convinces her ex to send Dink over for an introduction (it takes two hundred bucks to win him over). Upon his first visit, he learns many things, including that he has a half-sister named Mary Lou (Marcia Mae Jones).

Through many ups and downs, Purcell lands himself in jail once again, and while behind bars he realizes that it is in the boy’s best interest to go live with his mother, despite his own selfish needs (his son is so close to him, it is almost like Dink is his shadow). What will become of the tight-knit father and son? Will Purcell be able to elevate his label from loser to Champ once again?

The film’s major strength is the father and son team, as there is a magical chemistry between the two. Beery is rivetting as the fit/fat former boxing star, a drunken bum who, despite all, tries to provide for his son the best he can. Purcell is smart enough to realize that there is hope for his young boy, and that in order to achieve something Dink must not continue down the same path that he did all those years ago. School, structure and family are of the utmost importance. Yet, at the same time, there is a similar prideful hope that he can find a way to recapture his former glory – to demonstrate to his son the greatness that he once achieved before he was born. It is these two things that are somehow intertwined; he does not have the drive to win without his son by his side, despite the fact that it is not in the boy’s best interest to live a life in the seedy underworld. Not to be outdone, Cooper brings so much emotion and gravitas to his performance for a nine year old, capturing a sage-like sapience as well as unbridled emotion in equal measure. He is in tune with his father, somehow knowing what is best for the man, almost like he is the adult. Despite the numerous letdowns, he always calls his dad The Champ, one of the only people that still sees him in this glorifying light. It is a touching demonstration of the heartfelt love a boy has for his father – always wanting to please and emulate his role model. Funnily enough, the duo did not get along in real life, despite the fact they worked together four more times after The Champ (perhaps most notably, 1934’s Treasure Island, directed by Victor Fleming). Cooper often said that Beery tried to upstage him, hypothesizing that the older actor was jealous and did not like to be outdone.

The narrative must also be highlighted. Winning the Oscar for Best Original Story, Frances Marion imbues her tale with a complex set of emotions. Ending with a title bout, it fuses sport with drama, pain and loss with hope and victory. Highly influential, it has been remade twice, once in 1952 with Red Skelton swapping boxing gloves for a clown’s nose, and then again in 1979, starring Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder in a retelling of the boxing tale. The relationship between the pair also (in many ways) resembles that of the father and son in Bicycle Thieves, the iconic 1948 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica that follows the duo as they head out to look for the man’s stolen bike. Still, to this day, The Champ echoes in several sports related works, in many ways resembling Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 feature, The Wrestler, as well as so many others.

Taking its sports oriented tale and adding liberal amounts of drama, The Champ is a wonderful father and son story that has often been labelled one of the great tearjerkers of all-time. By combining the rich story with vivid performances, Vidor directs a film that easily puts us in the boy’s shoes, making for a unique vision of kinship and its struggles. Though it may at times break your heart, it will also make it swell with pride, a film that demonstrates the bonds of love found in even the most flawed of individuals – highlighting ‘The Champ’ within each and every one of us.