Stoker refuses to go down.
The Set-Up is a 1949 Film Noir directed by Robert Wise, starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter.
Bill 'Stoker' Thompson (Ryan) is an over-the-hill boxer intent on making a name for himself. His manager, however, has other ideas. Namely, that he loses this fight so he can make a quick buck from the gangster Little Boy (Alan Baxter).
Stoker's wife Julie (Totter) wants him to give up the ring, but Thompson is determined to win the fight against Tiger Nelson (Hal Baylor) – set up or not.
Tropes:
- All Men Are Perverts: One of the boxers brags about the "mouse" he has outside waiting for him who's "built like a battleship." Another boxer asks, "Can't you think of anything else?", to which the first boxer replies, "What else is there?"
- Bittersweet Ending: Stoker wins the fight, but his punching hand has been permanently broken. His dreams are gone, but Julie is there for him.
- Career-Ending Injury: Stoker wins the fight, but his punching hand has been permanently broken.
- Chiaroscuro: From the classic era of film noir.
- Crippling the Competition: After Stoker wins the fight against Nelson, Little Boy's thugs beat him up in the alley outside the arena. The group irreparably damages Stoker's hand by smashing it with a brick.
- The Determinator: Even when Stoker is told the truth and that he's supposed to throw the fight, he's determined to win.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Little Boy forces his girlfriend to pay off the man who bet that Stoker would win, even when the man demurs, because he doesn't like anyone who welches on a deal.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The whole plot of the film happens in one evening.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When Stoker's hand is stomped by Little Boy and his cronies.
- Mood Whiplash: Julie goes into an amusement store and laughs at some of the attractions, including a fan that blows a woman's skirt up, until she sees a boxing game, and her face falls.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Stoker KO's Tiger fair and square. His manager, realizing the set-up has been blown, runs out of the arena.
- Poor Communication Kills: Tiny doesn't tell Stoker the fight is supposed to be fixed before it starts. It's ambiguous whether Stoker would have agreed to it beforehand, but by the time he finds out he's already fought two rounds and is too invested.
- Reality Has No Soundtrack: There's no score used in the entire film, though there is source music from the street that plays throughout.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Julie leaves Thompson when he decides to go back into the ring. However, she changes her mind and returns.
- Sports Stories: The story of a washed up boxer trying to live his dream.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: It's implied Shanley is so worked up over fighting his first professional fight that he runs into the bathroom and vomits. Stoker assures Shanley he was the same way before his first fight.
- Wretched Hive: The city where Stoker and Julie are staying for his fight is full of gin joints and dives.