Billy used to be a great boxer, but he's settled into a hardscrabble life that revolves around drinking, training horses, and the one bright spot in his existence — his young son, T.J. Although Billy has had custody of T.J. since his wife, Annie, left the family years ago, her return prompts a new struggle for the former fighter. Determined to hold on to his son, Billy gets back into the ring to try and recapture his past success.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.4/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.44/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 40%
Metacritic: 38
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Franco Zeffirelli
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hialeah Park Studios
Cast
Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Rick Schroder, Jack Warden, Arthur Hill, Strother Martin, Joan Blondell, Mary Jo Catlett, Elisha Cook Jr., Stefan Gierasch, Allan Miller, Joe Tornatore, Shirlee Kong, Jeff Blum, Dana Elcar, Randall 'Tex' Cobb, Kristoff St. John, Gina Gallego, Jody Wilson, Reginal M. Toussaint
Curator Review
Verdict
A sturdy, old-school tearjerker with a very strong child performance and a bruised, intimate father-son core. It’s uneven and can feel melodramatic, but the emotional payoff is what most viewers remember.
Best for
viewers who want a sincere family melodrama
fans of boxing stories with emotional stakes over sports mechanics
people who appreciate devastating child performances
audiences in the mood for a late-1970s weepie
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted sports drama
you’re allergic to melodrama and sentiment
you prefer boxing films focused on grit and realism
you need a consistently fast pace
Overview
The Champ is less interested in the mechanics of boxing than in the fragile bond between a washed-up father and the son who still believes in him. Franco Zeffirelli leans into the sentiment with confidence, and while the film can feel overly broad or old-fashioned in places, it keeps returning to the emotional truth at its center: love here is messy, desperate, and often expressed through failure.
Worth noting
Jon Voight gives Billy enough bruised charisma to make the comeback arc work, but the movie’s real force is Ricky Schroder, whose performance gives the whole film its ache. The story is simple, sometimes even blunt, yet that simplicity is part of why the ending lands so hard. It’s a movie built to break you, and for many viewers, it succeeds.
Bottom line
If you can accept the heightened melodrama, The Champ is a moving, classic-style tragedy with a strong sense of place and a memorable final stretch. It’s not the most sophisticated boxing film of its era, but it is one of the most openly emotional.
Top Letterboxd reviews
EccyReviews (3★) · 61 likes
Yes I cried
B E R T (4★) · 50 likes
The movie may star 2 Oscar winners, Faye Dunaway & Jon Voight, but it 100% belongs to the young Ricky Schroeder. This kid ripped my heart out. Faye was wonderful too in a very classy performance and her final movie from the 1970s.
fulci420 · 41 likes
"Any man who cant take his own pants off, is no man at all."
Sample dialogue from "The Champ"
Scientifically proven to be the saddest movie of all time! No really, some psychologists actually found this the final 3 minutes to be the most consistently sadness inspiring stimuli in popular cinema. Now there's obvious limitations to this and any study, like that it's dated (1995) and obviously there is no possible way to compare and contrast every movie scene ever… more
Jack (4★) · 25 likes
my mothers favourite film <3
FilmApe (5★) · 24 likes
This is one powerhouse of a film. The Champ has knock out performances, coupled with gorgeous cinematography, and enough large crowd scenes to satisfy all of my cinematic cravings. I'm loving it.
2010 · Drama · 1h 56m · R · Curator 7.6/10 (688.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A family-centered boxing drama where the sport is inseparable from loyalty, resentment, and survival.