Body and Soul (1999) Reviews

• Honest to a fault

  getrichwhizkid2005-04-15

  This movie is not as bad as every comment I have read so far. I mean, other than the fact that Ray Mancini is a pretty darn lousy actor in the lead role, looking every bit like a boxing palooka, this picture is kind of interesting. Rod Steiger has a strange role as Charlie (kid) Davis' trainer. He must think he's doing On The Waterfront for the somewhat clichéd and slightly overblown portrayal he gives here, especially since it is so far away from what Mancini can give to his part as the Kid. Joe Mantegna is particularly good as the promoter everyone loves to hate. His caustic wit and sarcastic demeanor are amusing as well as entertaining, and the script gives him some very good lines to deliver. And Michael Chiklis, playing the part of Charlie's rather low grade slovenly manager, does an admirable and convincing job trying to protect Charlie from the inherent evils of the boxing game. Jennifer Beals brings a sort of sweet sincerity to her role as Charlie's girlfriend. And she seems almost vacant enough to be convincing as someone who could actually love Charlie. But the movie seems weak,largely because of a weak plot and Mancini's total inability to act. A top rate actor in the lead may have actually transformed this picture into something like a top rate boxing film. The ironic part is Mancini acts just like a boxer in his world WOULD act. . .kind of stupid and punchy. But he is caught being the only really dumb looking character in the whole film, which is too big a contrast to be ignored. The boxing sequences in the film are quite good, and I enjoyed the cinematography, and all the camera shots of Reno, the movie's setting. Overall, I gave this picture 6 hard earned points for being somewhat too honest a portrayal of boxing in the real world.

• Body and Soul... More like AWESOME and Soul

  dyorkfan0072005-10-02

  I've seen a lot of great movies in my time, but this one takes the cake. What. A. Thrill. What starts off as a simple boxing movie suddenly evolves into an emotional whirlwind that will leave the viewer gasping and breathless. The main character, a boxer, sets off on a journey with Michael Chiklis -- only to meet up with Jennifer Beals, who has "blue streaks in her hair and skeletons in her closet". These "skeletons" are never quite revealed; her character maintains a pouty, ineffective demeanor the entire film. Brilliant. An unexpected love story develops between Jennifer Beals and the boxer... and interestingly, between Michael Chiklis and Rod Steiger, who develop a love/hate relationship. Steiger is at the top of his game here -- easily the best performance of his career. His loud, abrasive and witty one-liners will have you howling for more. The narration by Michael Chiklis really sets the pace for what is at the heart of Body and Soul. The movie could very well be called "Soul and Soul" because the "body" is extraneous; this is a story about love, about brotherhood, about making your dreams come true. The direction is tight, the soundtrack impeccable, and the acting top-notch. You'll want to watch over and over as Joe Mantegna makes crazy exits out of scenes, Jennifer Beals rests her head romantically on Boom Boom's shoulder, and a mysterious woman in a red dress shows up again and again. 10/10

• Very Boring Movie

  claudio_carvalho2004-03-20

  After the suicide of his father, Charlie 'Kid' Davis (Ray `Boom Boom' Mancini) accepts the invitation and advice of his friend Tiny (Michael Chiklis) and travels to Las Vegas with him trying to become a boxer. On the road, they meet Gina (Jennifer Beals) hitchhiking, they give a lift to her and she becomes Charlie's girlfriend. Johnny Ticotin (Rod Steiger) is convinced by Tiny to be Charlie's couch, and the powerful agent Alex Dumas (Joe Mantegna), after watching him fighting, becomes his manager, promoting Charlie's career. This movie is so boring that it indeed does not deserve to spend much time writing about it. I do not like boxing, but sometimes I watch some worthwhile movie about this theme. But this one is horrible! Predictable, full of clichés, having an awful lead actor, a pure waste of time. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): `Corpo e Alma' (`Body and Soul')

• bad bad movie

  ericphil2001-07-06

  No script, no plot, and bad narration. That's what this film is about. Seeing Jennifer Beals have to resort to acting in movies like this is enough to make a grown man cry. I love boxing films but this is one of the worst. Avoid it at all costs and rent Flashdance so you can remember what Jennifer used to be.

• "What you need to do is answer the bell, 'cause it's ringing for you, Charlie".

  classicsoncall2016-09-07

  The name of Ray Mancini in the role of Charlie Davis went completely over my head until I managed to make the 'Boom Boom' connection, at which point a whole new set of questions entered the picture. For a real life lightweight boxing champion, Mancini failed to convince that he was the real deal in this picture; he just looked terrible as an actor. The movie is a remake of the 1947 John Garfield classic, which for my money is a far superior film. The story itself here runs pretty much along the same lines as the original with minor variations. In this one for example, Charlie's mom (Nance Robbins) is supportive of his decision to become a boxer (see my summary quote above), while in the earlier picture, Charlie's mother (Anne Revere) was a humorless individual who didn't abide by his chosen profession. Garfield's Charlie was basically just a street punk, who went through the same routine of gambling, drinking and womanizing before finally coming to his senses. So where I thought the boxing promoter's cut of his fighter was exorbitantly excessive at fifty percent in the 1947 film, Alex Dumas ups the ante here by taking thirty percent to promote, another thirty to manage, and then takes expenses out on top of that!!! I have to say, Joe Mantegna was a pure creep in this flick as the smarmy promoter Dumas. I couldn't believe it at one point when he actually mocked the idea of being a champion, seeing as how he called the shots in his own little kingdom in Reno. It seemed as if boxing didn't even exist outside the environs of his domain. As for the rest of the support cast, I couldn't really get my head around the character of Charlie's girlfriend Gina (Jennifer Beals), coming out of nowhere as the directionless hitchhiker and hanging around in the Reno nightlife. She was about as convincing as Rod Steiger's Johnny Ticotin, who became Charlie's trainer. In that regard, he couldn't hold a candle to Burgess Meredith's Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky franchise. As far as Michael Chiklis goes, the less said the better. For this viewer, this just didn't have the feel of a boxing movie, much less a good one. It had the elements obviously, but just didn't come together to seem credible at all. At least Charlie managed to go out on his own terms following the final fight against El Raton Casilios. I liked the idea that he added a couple new letters to the name of the sleazy promoter, changing it from Dumas to Dumbass.