Like the man said if you're gonna steal steal from the best and Abraham Polonsky surely took this to heart when he lifted Golden Boy right out of Cliff Odets' typewriter and added just enough spin to get away with it. What is all the more remarkable are the blatant 'clues'. Garfield, a fellow alumnus with Odets of the Group Theatre actually had a minor role in the original production of Golden Boy - a plot, lest we forget, involving a gifted violinist who takes up prizefighting - more than this Garfield's previous movie role was Humoresque in which he played - yeah, you got it - a gifted violinist corrupted by money. Unlike Joe Bonaparte, Garfield's Charlie Davis is not in conflict with his artistic gifts (he has none) but is hooked on money and all it can buy or, if you want to get fancy, he is fighting his better nature as well as his opponents in the ring. Just because it owes so much to Odets doesn't make it a bad movie but Odets is there in every frame because Polonsky has opted to write about a world familiar to Odets and employs sub-Odets dialogue. In a strong supporting cast, Lloyd Gough, William Conrad, Lilli Palmer, Joseph Pevney and the great Ann Revere only lightweight Hazel Scott is superfluous. By now, of course, Garfield could play characters like this in his sleep but nevertheless this is a fine example of late forties film-making.