Champion (1949)

After finding out he's been scammed in a business deal, a drifter (Kirk Douglas) finds himself in Los Angeles where he looks up a boxing manager (Paul Stewart) who promised to train him for the ring. He quickly rises to the top while using and then discarding whoever he needs to in his climb to be a champion boxer. Based on the short story by Ring Lardner and directed by Mark Robson (VALLEY OF THE DOLLS). I'm not a boxing fan but this really isn't a movie about boxing. Douglas's character could just as easily have been a football player, a politician or an actor. This was Douglas's breakthrough role (and his first Oscar nomination) and it's a type he played to perfection and would return to frequently in his career: the arrogant, overconfident heel without a conscience. You're repulsed by him yet he's so magnetic that you can't help but see why others are pulled into his sphere. Three actresses also get a chance to shine: Ruth Roman as Douglas's wronged wife, Marilyn Maxwell as a blonde gold digger and Lola Albright as a married woman who falls for him. Harry W. Gerstad's tight film editing got an Oscar. With Arthur Kennedy (also Oscar nominated) as Douglas's brother and Luis Van Rooten.