The Champ

A solid, emotionally compelling story backed by equally strong performances. John Voight plays Billy Flynn masterfully and the debut performance of Ricky Schroder as his son is honest and heartbreaking. Although a little melodramatic at times, the final sequence had me in tears. Over thirty years later, the themes and subject matter (gambling, single parenthood, alcohol abuse, depression) is still as important today as it was then. It is a shame Hollywood doesn’t make more films like this today.