Somebody Up There Likes Me
Short description
Somebody Up There Likes Me follows Rocky Graziano, a young Italian American from New York who grows up fighting. His fists land him in reform schools, then in a military prison, where he discovers he has real talent as a boxer. Taking the name Rocky Graziano, he begins winning under the guidance of manager Irving Cohen, while Norma, the woman who becomes his wife, gives him stability. His climb toward the middleweight championship is complicated when someone from his past threatens to expose his criminal record.
The film was directed by Robert Wise, the fifth of the thirteen features he directed in chronological order, arriving between Helen of Troy and Run Silent, Run Deep. Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay, Charles Schnee produced, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made it. Paul Newman plays Rocky, with Pier Angeli as Norma, Everett Sloane as Cohen, Eileen Heckart as Ma Barbella, Sal Mineo as Romolo and Harold J. Stone as Nick Barbella, among a credited cast of 98. Made for about 2 million dollars, it returned roughly 3 million worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from about 9,700 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 from far fewer, around 190. A critics' rating of 6.8 from 14 reviews sits below both audience scores, though all three fall in a similar, generally favorable range.
What's left behind the scenes
- James Dean was supposed to play the main role in the film, but he tragically died in a car accident just days before filming began, and the role was given to Paul Newman.
- Eileen Heckart, who played Rocky's mother, is only 6 years older than Paul Newman.
- Newman's previous film, the period drama "The Silver Chalice," had been a failure, and the actor approached this role with maximum responsibility. He insisted on two weeks of rehearsals before filming began. Newman spent a lot of time in the gym to convincingly portray a boxer, learning boxing techniques, sparring with professionals, including Tony Zale, who also appeared in the film, and communicating with Rocky Graziano himself.
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