Champion

Champion (1949) is a hard-edged boxing drama you can watch online on iFILM, with Kirk Douglas in the role that made him a star. Director Mark Robson shoots the fight game in stark black and white, where every win costs something off the canvas.

Midge Kelly hitchhikes into California with his disabled brother Connie and stumbles into the ring almost by accident, filling in for an injured fighter. He wins. Manager Tommy Haley spots him, and the climb begins — purses, headlines, women who appear the moment the money does. Connie believed in him before anyone else; now he's just baggage. Douglas plays Midge not as a noble underdog but as a man who'll trade loyalty for one more rung up.

Adapted from a Ring Lardner story, the film earned Douglas his first Academy Award nomination, and editor Harry Gerstad took home an Oscar for the cutting that gives the bouts their brutal snap. If you want fight-world noir with no soft landing — where the title belt matters more than the people who got you there — this is one of the meanest the genre ever made. Stream Champion (1949) online on iFILM.