if jake lamotta and the real life rag bull and ever go to the movie and he must have see body and soul a hundred time . it practically predict the course of his career and the world of sport cinema and specifically boxing film . robert rossen 1947 black and white boiler be clearly an influence on rocky and rag bull and along with countless other rag to rich sport story with a hint of corruption . john garfield and an actor i feel serf an audience more with his mere screen presence than his act skill and be stun a charley davis and the kid from new york who want a shot at the title . notice garfield prudent girlfriend . remind you of adrian . ( rocky ) how about the mob bos who want 50 percent of garfield winning . remind you of nicholas colasanto from rag bull . of course . body and soul be the altar of origin from which these film worship . garfield dabble in box off screen until his untimely death in 1952 and appear like lamotta and or de niro and in many scene . his temper can fly quickly and without warn . champion with kirk douglas and somebody up there like me with paul newman have take some lick from this sensational film that roar like most of the best film of the 1940 . boxing be the ultimate sport to depict in film because such interesting character study can come out of them . a boxer be and for the most part and alone . other sport film seem to suffer because more have to be capture and the sport itself be usually portray poorly and unrealistic . box take place in a small ring and a do the life of most boxer ( or so it seem ) . director robert rossen be also a master at create picture where a flaw main character create his own suffering and pain and have a fundamental misunderstanding of woman . just see broderick crawford in all the king men or paul newman in the hustler . no fight scene capture your attention until the pivotal final championship defense by charley davis . will he throw it for the easy buck or win it for pride and the adulation of his simple new york root . it be very unapparent and hard to see come . the authenticity of the climactic fight be make all the more powerful with it newsreel look and in your face photography and makeup . credit cinematographer james wong howe for the realistic look and credit the blood and sweat of garfield and writer abraham polonsky and and director rossen to bring such a captivate story of corruption and glory to the screen .