Joe Palooka in the Big Fight
Cast & Crew
Cyril Endfield
Leon Errol
Joe Kirkwood
David Bruce
Lina Romay
George O'hanlon
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Because he has not gone into the ring to defend his title in eleven months, boxing champion Joe Palooka is accused by the press of going into an "unannounced retirement." When unknown fighter Dutch Grady asks Knobby Walsh, Joe's manager, for the opportunity to fight Joe in a workout, Knobby reluctantly consents. In the ring, Dutch tricks Joe when, after asking the champ to go easy on him, he knocks Joe unconscious in one punch. The following day, Joe is devastated by a newspaper headline that reads: "Unknown Flattens Joe Palooka!" When Anne Howe, Joe's sweetheart, tries to convince Joe to postpone an upcoming exhibition, he rejects her advice and refuses to stay away from the ring just because a crooked fighter got the better of him. Joe is also being pressured by sportswriter Tom Conway, who has been stirring up trouble in the press for Joe ever since Grady's knockout punch. Joe receives even more bad press when, while judging a beauty contest, his photograph is taken with the winner in a somewhat compromising position. It seems that Joe's mounting troubles with the press are not accidental or coincidental, however, as Conway, who is in with Grady's gang, has been setting up these schemes to deliberately embarrass Joe. In Conway's next scheme, he arranges to have a brawl started around Joe in a nightclub and then have his picture taken at an inopportune moment. Fed up with the humiliation, Joe forces Knobby to accept Grady's challenge to a real match so that he can regain his dignity. Although Grady and his fake manager have been pressing for a real match, they have no intention of actually getting the two men in the ring together. Just before the fight, Grady's gang sends some thugs to inject Joe with a sleep-inducing drug and douse him in alcohol to make it appear as if he had been drinking. Joe fails to show up at the State Athletic Commission office, and it looks as if the fight will be called off. When Joe is finally brought in by Knobby, he is only semi-conscious, and a doctor concludes that he is drunk. Joe and Knobby soon become aware that Joe is being framed and that someone is planning to take the title away from Joe without fighting for it. Joe eventually remembers that he was attacked soon after he let a messenger boy enter his apartment, and he and Knobby decide to find the boy and question him. A break in the case comes when a telephone call Joe received just prior to the attack leads them to Maxine, the beauty contest winner. Maxine has become disenchanted with the gang's strong-arm techniques and agrees to "spill the beans" only if Joe and Knobby come up with $5,000. Knobby and Joe agree to her terms, but when they return with the money they find Maxine dead. A gun is then shoved in Joe's back, but luckily Knobby, who was walking behind Joe, surprises the gunman, and the two escape. While Joe is being framed for Maxine's murder, Maxine's brother Shorty, a fellow gangster who is upset that his sister was murdered, vents his anger on Grady's boss. Grady, however, manages to convince Shorty that he should take his anger out on Joe, the accused killer. When a warrant is issued for Joe's arrest, he goes into hiding but has his friend Louie arrange for Anne to meet him at a local amusement park fun house. There, Anne and Joe's reunion is spoiled by Shorty, who has followed Anne there and plans to kill them. After grabbing Shorty's gun, Joe tells him the truth about Maxine's death, and Shorty agrees to help them nail Grady's gang. No sooner does Joe enlist Shorty's help than he is arrested inside the fun house. However, Joe and the others manage to elude the police and escape. They immediately go to Grady's, where they demand to see the boss. A brawl ensues, during which Joe gives Grady a good wallop. Anne arrives with the police just in time to witness the identification of the leader of the gang, Dr. Benson, the man who gave Joe the drug injection.
Director
Cyril Endfield
Cast
Leon Errol
Joe Kirkwood
David Bruce
Lina Romay
George O'hanlon
Virginia Welles
Greg Mcclure
Taylor Holmes
Ian Macdonald
Lou Lubin
Bert Conway
Lyle Talbot
Benny Baker
Eddie Gribbon
Jack Roper
Frances Osborne
Harry Hayden
Frank Fenton
George Fisher
Paul Scardon
Peter Virgo
Dick Elliott
Dewey Robinson
Gaylord Pendleton
George Offerman Jr.
Jimmy Ames
Paul Maxey
Jack Raymond
Harry Tyler
Michael Whalen
Belle Daube
Ned Glass
Ed Ford
Norma Leeman
Cindy Garner
Gerry Pattison
John Indrisano
Teddy Pavelec
David Mcmahon
Will Allister
Crew
Norman Abbott
Raymond Boltz Jr.
Bernard W. Burton
William Calihan Jr.
Lela Chambers
Hal E. Chester
Cyril Endfield
Charles Huber
John Indrisano
Edward J. Kay
Otho Lovering
Lorraine Maclean
Fred Maguire
Dave Milton
Stanley Prager
Mack Stengler
Frank Webster
Allen K. Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some sources refer to the film as The Big Fight. It was the sixth of ten Monogram films based on the "Joe Palooka" comic strip. For additional information on the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry Joe Palooka, Champ (above).
