Paul Newman as Middleweight Champ Rocky Graziano

Surprisingly, I recently watched “Somebody Up There Likes Me” (1956) for the first time. I was always a fan of boxing films, but I was never a big fan of Paul Newman, so maybe it’s not so surprising. The role of Rocky Graziano was originally meant for James Dean. His September 1955 fatal car crash made that impossible. Interestingly, James Dean and Sal Mineo were both in “Rebel Without a Cause”, which was released a month after Dean’s death. I was never a big James Dean fan either but I always liked Sal Mineo and that’s the reason I decided to watch “Somebody Up There Likes Me” after all. I also love to spot actors I know from other films and TV shows. This film gave several budding actors their first credit.

The film opens up with Nick Barbella, Rocky’s father, giving little Rocky a bloody nose in an effort to toughen him up. This sets the stage for the awful relationship between father and son. I can’t entirely blame Rocky’s rotten attitude on that, though.

Rocky probably picked it up on the streets from the hoodlums he ran around with. Rocky gives new meaning to the word belligerent and nobody, up there or anywhere else, liked him in the first half of the film. Even his mother is getting to the breaking point. Babyface Sal Mineo plays Romolo, a partner-in-crime who seems to be Rocky’s closest friend. Other punks in their circle include Steve McQueen (Fidel) and Michael Dante (Shorty the Greek) in their big screen debuts.

Based on Rocky Graziano’s autobiography of the same name, the film isn’t entirely fiction. Under his birthname, the real Rocky Barbella did several stints in reformatories and did go AWOL from the Army, for which he was dishonorably discharged. Finally listening to people who want to help and mentor him is what enables him to turn his life around.

Newman portrayed Rocky Graziano as a dumb palooka, with a gigantic chip on his shoulder and an over-the-top Bronx accent. When he forces a truck driver to stop in the middle of the street so the gang can rob the truck, the driver asks him if he’s crazy. “Naw,” he says, “I just wan-ned to see wedder your brakes woik.” But the accent comes and goes. The first time he meets his future wife, Norma, he tells his sister that he has no time for “girls.” But when their daughter is born, Rocky says she’s just a “goil.” I wasn’t expecting that at all but, as a big Popeye fan, I couldn’t help noticing it!

One funny sequence is how the baby screams every time Rocky comes home all beat up from boxing. Norma calms her down with “It’s only Daddy.” By the time she’s 3, after a particularly brutal bout, she calms Norma down with “It’s only Daddy.” But most of the film is a look at one man’s journey from the slums of New York City to become the World Middleweight Champion. If there’s a moral to it, I guess it shows anyone can stop being bad and make the most of their talents, even if they have a criminal record.

Casting notes:

Harold J. Stone was a prolific character actor who played Rocky’s troubled father. Some 20 years later, he played Gabe Kaplan’s father in “Welcome Back, Kotter”.

Eileen Heckart was Rocky’s mother. She made her husband give up boxing, and warns Rocky’s wife, Norma, not to make the same mistake. Playing problematic mommies was one of Heckart’s specialties. She played George Segal’s mother in “No Way to Treat a Lady”; and won an Oscar as Edward Albert’s mother in “Butterflies are Free” (1972).

Pier Angeli played Norma Unger, who marries Rocky. This had to be the biggest casting boo boo of all. Norma Unger was Jewish. Pier Angeli was Italian, born in Sardinia. Her Italian accent was very noticeable.

Robert Loggia played Frankie Pepo, a wiseguy who wants to blackmail Rocky. This was Loggia’s first film role and it was perfect casting with those shifty eyes. Perhaps coincidentally, his first name as a bad guy in Scarface (1983) was also Frank.

Robert Eastman played Corporal Quinbury, who wakes Private Rocky up at 11 a.m. and gets knocked on his butt. I recognized him as the actor who played Chester’s brother, Magnus Goode, in “Gunsmoke” the year before.

Don Haggerty played a prison guard at Leavenworth. He’s better known as the detective Marilyn Monroe calls a big bananahead in “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950).

Dean Jones was one of the Army privates in his second uncredited bit part.

George C. Scott is listed for an uncredited part as a prisoner on IMDB. It’s also on his profile, but I couldn’t pick him out. With that broken nose of his, he should have played a sparring partner!