Review of The Champ

The first time I saw this movie I cried like a little kid...Oh yeah I was a little kid. To this day I still cry when I watch this movie. It's the story of the love between a boy and his father, and the boy trying to make it on his own when his mother and father can't. It is a story of Jon Voight, "The Champ", a retired boxer and his son and the love the boy has for his father would be any father's dream. Even though the father has his faults (like we all do) he loves his son and tries to give his son a better life. After awhile though, his whole past comes back to him when his son unknowingly meets his mother and develops a bond with her. Conflict between him and his wife rises and we see even deeper into what was a merely a shell of his life in the beginning of the film; he is complicated and emotionally bruised man, snapping sometimes at his son that he loves with all his heart. The film has the most believable performances I have ever seen on screen, and is a tearjerker. But it doesn't try to make you cry once; the entire second half of the film is full of these scenes. Some work while others don't. Either way, it shows the true power and delicacy of unconditional love, and the way it ends leaves you gasping for breath because of the emotional impact it leaves. Not perfect, but pretty close.