Best movies like The Harder They Fall
No Punches Pulled! If you thought "On The Waterfront" hit hard... wait till you see this one!
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Harder They Fall Starring Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, and more. If you liked The Harder They Fall then you may also like: When We Were Kings, Rabbit Punch, Resurrecting the Champ, Right Cross, Journeyman and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.
The Harder They Fall
You may filter the list of movies on this page for a more refined, personalized selection of movies.
Still not sure what to watch click the recommend buttun below to get a movie recommendation selected from all the movies on this list
Resurrecting the Champ
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Right Cross
A sportswriter forms a ring triangle with a fight manager's daughter and her Mexican-American boxer.
Journeyman
A boxer suffers a serious head injury during a fight, and must deal with the consequences.
Kid Galahad
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Kid Galahad
After completing his military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
Arena
An intergalactic fighting competition between champions of various worlds has traditionally been won by a species much larger and stronger than humans. Entering the contest, a human finds he has to battle against not just his opponents and his self-doubts, but the corrupt system. Far in the future, on a distant space station, the legendary Arena is where the best fighters from every planet come to vie for the championship. But for over half a century, no Earthling has been good enough to be a contender. Until out of nowhere, comes an underdog: the great human hope, Steve Armstrong... and the best anyone's ever seen. He's been training all his life for a shot at the big time, but now he's up against some mighty big muscle: a ruthless extra-terrestrial crimelord who'll pull no punches to make sure he stops Steve dead. In the mood for hard-hitting sci-fi action? Arena will knock you out!
Body and Soul
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
The Challenger
A legendary trainer comes out of retirement to help an underdog boxer fight his way to a better life.
The Champion
Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.
Joe Palooka, Champ
After losing heavyweight contender Al Costa to mob boss Florini fight promoter Knobby Walsh recruits small town boy Joe Palooka to take his place. First in the series.
Joe Palooka in Humphrey Takes a Chance
A crooked boxing promoter tries to shake down Joe's manager by setting up a rigged fight in Humphrey Pennyworth's hometown.
Harlem Nights
'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.
The Great White Hype
When the champ's promoter, Rev. Sultan, decides something new is needed to boost the marketability of the boxing matches, he searches and finds the only man to ever beat the champ. The problem is that he isn't a boxer anymore and he's white. However, once Rev. Sultan convinces him to fight, he goes into heavy training while the confident champ takes it easy and falls out of shape.
The Milky Way
Timid milkman, Burleigh Sullivan, somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The fighter's manager decides to build up the milkman's reputation in a series of fixed fights and then have the champ beat him to regain his title.
Punch Drunks
Moe discovers Curley's unknown boxing talent when he knocks out the Champ at a restaurant when Larry plays "Pop Goes the Weasal" on the violin. Moe becomes Curly's manager, and they win every fight, with the help of Larry. At the championship game, though, Larry's violin breaks. Curly is getting beat down bad when Larry makes his unexpected entrance and helps Curly prevail.
The Big Timer
Loud-mouth hamburger flipper, Cooky, thinks he can box. His big chance comes when everyone else quits the gym when it is inherited by a dame.
Fighting For A City
The story of a young boxer on the road to his dream; a world title fight in his hometown of Leeds. On the way, we meet an extraordinary family, a father who trains his son and the most passionate fans in boxing. The film is set against the backdrop of one city; Leeds. Half aspirational professionals and students, half austerity ravaged estates, Leeds is a schizophrenic metaphor for England in 2016. Our boxer bridges the two because this is a city in need of a hero. Can he match and fulfil their hopes and dreams?
Casablanca Driver
This mockumentary follows the world's worst boxer and the events that led to his meteoric rise in the year 1969.
Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston
Overcoming the seemingly insurmountable odds that life threw his way, Liston became heavyweight champion of the world when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in 1962. Eight years later, he died but friends questioned the cause of his death.
Fighting Fools
The boys are working at the local boxing arena where their friend, Jimmy Higgins, is boxing. During a crooked match Jimmy is killed. The boys seek out his older brother, Johnny, a former boxer who gave up the sport rather than go crooked, and help train him to get back in the ring. They try to get him a shot at the title, and when they do the same crooked gangsters that were behind Jimmy's death try to get Johnny to take a dive.
Pardon Our Nerve
Big Town Girls have dating service jobs long enough to learn that a society matron needs a boxer to perform at a party. They talk a waiter into playing the part and a series of accidents and tricks sends him on a boxing career.
Flying Fists
A lumberjack knocks out a champion boxer in a brawl, gets drawn into the boxing world where he is unknowingly set up for a fixed fight.
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson is a 1993 film made by acclaimed American documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Though Tyson was in jail serving a sentence for rape, Kopple used existing interviews with the boxer, as well as her own extensive interviews with those closest to Tyson, to explore the man's history. The film traces Tyson's story from his troubled and tumultuous upbringing, through his rapid ascendancy in the ranks of the boxing world and his subsequent struggle with the trappings of fame. Fallen Champ earned Barbara Kopple a Directors Guild of America award as Best Documentary Director of 1993.
The Prize Fighter
"Bags" the boxer (funnyman Tim Conway) and his manager, Shake (Don Knotts), are quite a pair: One is a dim bulb, and the other has a mean streak. Times are tough and they must save their gym, so they line up some moneymaking fights. But when Bags and Shake discover that the bouts have been rigged, they end up with their backs to the wall and must fight back -- literally.
The All-American Boy
Vic "Bomber" Bealer is a handsome, manipulative boxer who aspires to something greater than the small-town life he knows in Texas. But, even when opportunities present themselves, Bealer is too restless and indecisive to take advantage. Despite being on the cusp of making the Olympic boxing team, his life is in total disarray as he juggles relationships with an old flame, a girl who's way too young for him, and a foul-mouthed trainer.
The Personality Kid
An arrogant boxer (Pat O'Brien) discovers his wife (Glenda Farrell) had a hand in his success.
Hollywood Stadium Mystery
A boxer is killed in the ring, and the only clue is a tune that a man was whistling.
On the Ropes
The story of three young boxers and their coach who is determined to guide them in a positive direction in and out of the ring.
Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.
The Harder They Fall
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Harder They Fall Starring Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, and more. If you liked The Harder They Fall then you may also like: When We Were Kings, Rabbit Punch, Resurrecting the Champ, Right Cross, Journeyman and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
When We Were Kings
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.