If you want to test someone's tear ducts, you don't show them a documentary about tragic historical events. You show them a scruffy, nine-year-old Ricky Schroder screaming "Champ, wake up!" at a bloodied Jon Voight. Honestly, it’s a cheap shot. It is one of the most emotionally manipulative scenes in cinema history, and yet, decades later, The Champ (1979) remains the gold standard for the "sports tearjerker."
But there is a weird bit of science behind this movie. It isn't just a random flick from the late seventies that people remember fondly. Psychology researchers have actually used the ending of The Champ in laboratory settings for years because it is statistically the most reliable way to induce sadness in a subject. When scientists at Berkeley or Stanford need to see how grief affects the human brain, they don't reach for Old Yeller or Bambi. They reach for Franco Zeffirelli’s remake of a 1931 Wallace Beery classic.
The story is simple. Maybe too simple. Billy Flynn (Jon Voight) is a former heavyweight champion who is now a literal "bum" working as a horse trainer in Hialeah. He's a gambler and a heavy drinker, but he’s got one thing going for him: his son, T.J. The kid worships him. He calls him "Champ." When the boy's wealthy mother (Faye Dunaway) reappears after seven years, the fragile world Billy has built starts to crumble, leading to a desperate "one last fight" to prove his worth.
The Casting Gamble That Paid Off
Zeffirelli was known for his lush, operatic style—think Romeo and Juliet (1968). Putting him in a boxing ring felt like a mismatch. But he understood one thing better than almost anyone: the power of the close-up. He needed a kid who didn't look like a "Hollywood brat." He found Ricky Schroder.
Schroder was a revelation. He won a Golden Globe for this, and rightfully so. His performance isn't polished; it’s raw. When he cries, his whole face collapses. It feels invasive to watch. Jon Voight, fresh off an Oscar for Coming Home, had to dial back his intellectual intensity to play a man who is, frankly, not very bright but deeply loving.
The chemistry between them is what saves the movie from being a total soap opera. You’ve seen this trope a thousand times—the underdog athlete—but it’s the father-son dynamic that carries the weight. Faye Dunaway has the thankless task of playing the mother who walked out. In 1979, the "career woman who abandons her child" was a massive cultural anxiety, and the film leans into that hard.
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Why Critics Hated It (and Audiences Didn't)
If you look at the reviews from the time, critics were brutal. They called it "shameless" and "maudlin." Vincent Canby of The New York Times basically rolled his eyes at the whole thing. They weren't wrong, technically. The movie hits every emotional beat with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
However, the "shamelessness" is exactly why it worked.
The late 70s were a grit-heavy era for film. We had Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter. The Champ was a throwback to the Golden Age of Hollywood melodrama. It didn't care about being cool. It cared about making you feel like your heart was being ripped out of your chest. The score by Dave Grusin helps, too. It’s sweeping and sentimental, exactly what you’d expect from a film trying to win over the "Average Joe" audience.
Interestingly, the film was a massive hit internationally, particularly in Asia and South America. There’s something universal about a parent trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of their child. It’s a primal narrative.
The Science of Sadness
Let’s go back to that research. In 1988, psychologists Robert Levenson and James Gross started a study to find the best film clips to elicit specific emotions. They screened over 250 clips to groups of people.
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- For amusement, they used When Harry Met Sally.
- For fear, they used The Shining.
- For sadness, they used the final two minutes of The Champ.
The scene where T.J. realizes his father isn't going to wake up outperformed the death of Bambi’s mother. It outperformed the ending of Kramer vs. Kramer. Why? Because it captures a specific type of grief: the moment a child loses their hero. It’s the loss of innocence captured in 35mm. Researchers continue to use this clip to study everything from how depressed people process emotion to how crying affects our heart rates.
Comparing the 1931 Original to the 1979 Remake
Most people don't realize the 1979 version is a remake. The original 1931 film starred Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper. Beery actually won an Oscar for it (tying with Fredric March).
The 1931 version is much more of a "Pre-Code" gritty drama. Beery’s version of the character is arguably more of a mess—more of a true alcoholic. Voight’s Billy Flynn is a bit more sanitized, a bit more "70s sensitive."
The remake shifted the setting to the world of horse racing and professional boxing in Miami, which added a certain sun-drenched melancholy to the visuals. Zeffirelli’s eye for color makes the blood in the final boxing match pop in a way that feels almost hyper-real. It’s a beautiful-looking movie about a very ugly situation.
The Legacy of Ricky Schroder
It’s hard to talk about The Champ without talking about what it did to Ricky Schroder’s career. He became the "it" child star, eventually leading to Silver Spoons. But he struggled for years to shake the "sad kid" image. He eventually pivoted to more rugged roles in Lonesome Dove and NYPD Blue, but for a generation of moviegoers, he will always be the kid in the locker room.
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The film also marked a turning point for Faye Dunaway. Coming off Network, she was at the height of her powers, but The Champ showed she could handle softer, more maternal (albeit flawed) roles. It’s not her best work—she’s a bit too glamorous for the setting—but she provides the necessary friction to make the ending inevitable.
Is It Still Worth Watching?
If you can handle the sentimentality, yes.
It’s a masterclass in emotional pacing. It builds the relationship between Billy and T.J. so effectively that by the time you get to the final round of the fight, you are genuinely stressed. You know it’s a movie. You know the tropes. You know he shouldn't be in that ring. But you want him to win because the kid wants him to win.
Is it "manipulative"? Absolutely. But all great cinema is manipulation.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re planning on revisitng this classic or watching it for the first time, keep these things in mind:
- Check the Version: Make sure you're watching the 1979 Zeffirelli version if you want the full-blown 70s emotional experience. The 1931 version is great for film historians, but the 1979 one hits harder for modern audiences.
- Context Matters: Watch it alongside Rocky (1976). It’s fascinating to see how the two films treat the "underdog" narrative differently. Rocky is about the triumph of the spirit; The Champ is about the cost of that triumph.
- Prepare for the "Scientific" Sadness: Don't watch this on a first date or before a job interview. It sounds like a joke, but the "Champ Effect" is real. It lingers.
- Look for the Cinematography: Pay attention to how Zeffirelli uses the Florida light. The contrast between the bright, wealthy world of the mother and the dusty, hazy world of the father tells the story better than the dialogue does.
Ultimately, The Champ is a reminder that some stories don't need to be complex to be powerful. It’s about a man who has nothing left but his reputation and a kid who thinks he’s a god. That’s enough to break anyone.