Director Franco Prosperi (Every Man is My Enemy, Last House on the Beach) helms this rare effort by Robert Blake in the Italian crime genre explosion of the early 1970s. Co-written by Armando Crispino (Autopsy, The Dead Are Alive) and shot mostly in-and-around Albuquerque, New Mexico, Blake plays Teddy, an American boxer whose manager is secretly threatened by the mob to make sure The Boxer throws his next fight. Though he does his best to undermine the match without letting his friend know, Teddy wins anyways, and the mob sends the cornerman to an early grave. While the lead homicide cop (Ernest Borgnine) puts together the pieces, Teddy goes on the run, trying to figure out a way to clear his name. Co-starring Catherine Spaak (The Cat O’Nine Tails) as Nick’s daughter and Teddy’s love interest, Tomas Milian (Almost Human, Django Kill!) as a a hippy hitman (!) and Gabriele Ferzetti (Once Upon a Time in the West).
Marc Edward Heuck discusses The Boxer on the New Beverly blog.
