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Champion
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Marilyn Maxwell seated with a cigarette, looking away as Kirk Douglas leans toward her in a tense scene from the 1949 film Champion.
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Marilyn Maxwell seated with a cigarette, looking away as Kirk Douglas leans toward her in a tense scene from the 1949 film Champion.
Kirk Douglas and Marilyn Maxwell Marilyn Maxwell and Kirk Douglas in Champion (1949).

Champion

film by Robson [1949]
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with...
Lee Pfeiffer
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Champion, American film noir, released in 1949, that was one of the first movies to expose the brutality and corruption in the sport of boxing. It garnered six Academy Award nominations and is often cited as one of the best boxing movies ever made. (Read Martin Scorseseā€™s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Champion was based on a short story by Ring Lardner. It starred Kirk Douglas as ā€œMidgeā€ Kelly, a young man who rises to...

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