BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Freeman
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Wizard-8
Tim Conway was very funny on "The Carol Burnett Show", but outside of that show he came across as being very lame. Not just with his "Dorf" videos, but also with his motion pictures. My theory is that he had too much creative control when he was in movies, since often he also took on the role of the screenwriter, this movie being one just example. I had a little hope that there might be some laughs, seeing that Conway's co-star was the great Don Knotts. But Knotts' performance here is very subdued; it's clear that he knows he's in a real turkey. The main problems with the movie are that the script is simply not that funny, and that director Michael Preece seems unable to inject any serious energy to what unfolds on the screen. What results is gag after gag landing with a thud, made worse by a story that is obviously very padded out. Though the movie only runs about 98 minutes long, it feels a lot longer, so much so that it's sometimes agonizing to sit through . It doesn't help that the official DVD release of the movie more often than not has a transfer that resembles a rip of a VHS copy. Hard to believe that this movie did reasonably good business for an independently made production.
romeo_saul
The Prize Fighter was originally out by the time the film Rocky 2 was out. The first Rocky had been a hit a couple of years earlier. The Prize Fighter was an attempt at comedy of a serious script...Rocky. This film honors Rocky in the manner that Scary Movie does Scream. Great comedians have had to wait in order to have their analytical talent recognized because of the fact that their analysis was way ahead of their era. That was the case for these actors/writers. It's not the only time this has been done. Tom Hanks's and John Candy's The Volunteers did the same for other classic films such as Bridge on the River Kwai. The era in which The Prize Fighter was filmed does not affect the content or message of the film even after thirty years. I give it a seven on a scale of one to ten... It's not a bad film.
zelley-1
Well, I don't know about other comments, but when I saw the movie in 1979 or 1980, I thought it was a very good little comedy with the shenanigans and slapstick of Knotts & Conway,As far as "Boxing" movies or documentaries, it was no "Raging Bull" or "Golden Boy", and it didn't have the real life sadness but redemption of "Ring of Fire - The Emile Griffith Story" or the excellence of "Somebody Up There Likes Me", but it wasn't a drama or true story.It was a comedy that was well acted and deserves a three star rating on the entertainment value. Thanks to Tim, Don and the cast & crew for a slice of movie magic.
angelsunchained
It's not easy making a comedy about the fistic arts. In the 1940s Danny Kay was successful in "The Kid From Brooklyn", playing a "fighting milkman". It took almost 40 years for another boxing comedy to make an impact, and that was The Prize-Fighter.Tim Conway plays Depression Era boxer, Bags Collins. Bags has a perfect fighting record; 20 fights, 20 knockouts.............all losses! A perfect record! Don Knotts plays Shake, the brainy(LOL!) manager of Bags Collins. The movie manages to capture the times and is an interesting reflection of the Depression Era. Tim Conway is at his bumbling best when he is in the ring "knocking out" the top three contenders-Irish, Jake Folley and the Grader. The Bags/Grader fight had me rolling in my seat.There's an impressive supporting cast and Robin Clarke as "Mike" the mob-boss gives an out-standing Brando impression. The final championship match is well done too. The Prize-Fighter is a championship of a comedy.
