The Set-Up

The Set-Up (1949) is a noir directed by Robert Wise — watch online on iFILM. Stoker Thompson, played by Robert Ryan, is a club fighter well past his best years. His manager Tiny has already pocketed the bribe: Stoker is expected to lose tonight, and Tiny sees no point in telling him.

Stoker wins. In the boxing world of the 1940s, winning the wrong fight carries a price. Wise shot the film in real time — seventy-three screen minutes covering exactly seventy-three minutes of one evening. Ryan plays a man for whom dignity outweighs survival, and that choice is what makes every scene unbearable in the best way. One of the tightest noirs Hollywood produced in the 1940s. Stream The Set-Up (1949) on iFILM.