Madison Square Garden (1932) User Reviews

One of the Great Unsung Sports Movies of All-Time

[darkcollins · 8/10 · 14 May 2017]

***MINOR SPOILERS***

A really fun Paramount pre-code starring Jack Oakie, William Collier Sr and Warren Hymer as the three leads (for some reason Hymer is billed 8th but he's one of the main characters and gets a good chunk of screen time).

Fight manager Doc Williams (Collier) takes his boys wrestler Brassie Randall (Hymer) and boxer Eddie Burke (Jack Oakie) to Madison Square Garden from San Francisco to train at the Garden and get them some high- profile fights. Along the way the boys get mixed up with racketeers and a crooked manager that leads to a rousing finale where the good guys defeat the bad guys and Oakie gets the girl (Marian Nixon).

This film is partly a historical record of MSG and the sports world during the early 1930s and it's a lot of fun seeing guys like Mike Donlin, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Tom Sharkey, Tommy Ryan, Tod Sloan and JACK JOHNSON as themselves. Also seen in a cameo is sports writer Damon Runyon as himself in one of his very few appearances on film.

The other fun part is watching actors like Oakie, Collier, and Hymer interacting so naturally with one another that you could believe these three characters have a solid familial bond. One of the best scenes is when Eddie and Brassie decide to break with Doc so Doc can have his dream job as matchmaker of the Garden. Warren Hymer is particularly good in this scene when he makes the difficult decision to follow Oakie's lead by walking out on their manager.

It's a real shame that this film hasn't been seen on television since the mid-1960s. Universal controls the Paramount pre-1949 film library and in this digital age should make more of their films, like this one, accessible to classic film fans.

Fun...and a chance to see a few old boxing and wrestling greats.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 15 July 2021]

"Madison Square Garden" is a pre-code film about corruption in the boxing and wrestling industries...particularly boxing.

When the story begins, Doc (William Collier Sr.) is the manager of a doughy boxer (Jack Oakie) and a thick-headed wrestler (Warren Hymer). He's seen as a paragon among managers, as he's VERY protective over his clients. He also hates corruption and mobsters...something endemic to the sports. In the case of this story, a 'protection association' claims to be looking out for the best interests of their boxers...but Doc knows they are a bunch of crooks.

As a result of Doc's reputation, the folks who run Madison Square Garden hire him to be their programming director...but this means he can no longer be a manager, as it would be a conflict of interest. He refuses the job initially, but when his clients realize it's because of his fatherly attitude towards them, they fire Doc...enabling him to be a big-shot with Madison Square Garden.

In the meantime, Eddie Burke (Oakie) signs with the crooks Doc hates. Eddie doesn't realize that they want him to fail, as they are gambling on his losing the big fight. To ensure this, they keep Eddie distracted from his training and they plan to cheat...to make his opponent's hands like iron! Can Doc and Eddie manage to defeat these crooks? And, who will help them in this crusade?

The film is worth watching for boxing fans...particularly those who want to see great boxers of the past. Most who appear in the film are no longer household names, but I was surprised to see Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ and the subject of the play and movie "The Great White Hope".

Apart from these cameos, the film works well despite the fact that Oakie looks like he'd have trouble beating his leading lady in the ring...let along his opponent in the big fight! This is because the story is fun and breezy...and worth your time.

Best fight film ever made!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 14 October 2017]

I fully agree with a previous reviewer that this film is really something extra special. In fact it should be on of everyone's list of the best fight films ever made!

Both energetically played - particularly by the three leads, Jack Oakie, Warren Hymer and William Collier, Senior - and brilliantly directed by Harry Joe Brown at an amazingly fast clip with the most realistic fight action this reviewer has ever seen - it easily ranks as the most engrossing, most realistic, most fast-paced and most action-full sports film ever made.

I don't know if it was really shot at Madison Square Garden, but it certainly looks that way. My guess is that the huge crowd shots were filmed at the Gardens and the marvelously realistic boxing sequences (of which there are many) at the studio. The action never lets up from go to whoa, and the boxing sequences are so adroitly staged, you would swear that all these shattering boxing bouts were actually done for real.

Jack Oakie never gave a better or more engrossing performance. And what is even more important, it certainly looks like all the Madison Square Garden footage was actually shot on the spot! How it was done so persuasively, I can't imagine! I commend all the players, not only the three leads (for some unknown reason, Warren Hymer is actually not listed as one of the leads - I think he has seventh place), but particularly Thomas Meighan and Marion Nixon.

Fun for sports fans.

[jennyp-2 · 5/10 · 3 April 2003]

Jack Oakie stars as fighter Eddie Burke who along with his pal, wrestler Brassy Randall (Warren Hymer) help their manager Doc Williams (William Collier Sr.) to get his dream job as `matchmaker' for the venue. Soon Doc falls victim to fight-fixing crooks, but in the wild finale, Garden employees, played by real-life former sports greats, tromp the heavies.