Carnera: The Walking Mountain (2008) User Reviews

Reviewing a movie doesn't mean disrespecting Carnera

[papascolo · 4/10 · 8 July 2023]

The intent may have been good, telling the story of Carnera from an unbiased point of view, but the artistic result falls short.

There has been a good work of research (an initial documentaristic intent?) and some verified historical facts have been transposed to the screen. It was nice to watch Carnera's Italian residence (Villa Carnera in Sequals) used in some scenes.

But new narrative elements have been added, and the chronology of some event has been bended to favour dramatic effects, without achieving the hoped results (i.e.: the love story with Pina).

Acting is not consistent through the cast. I watched the movie both in Italian and English, and my impression is that Italian actors (more theatrical) and seasoned Americans are not blending smoothly. It was nice to see Nino Benvenuti on the screen, and I loved listening to his interview in the DVD bonus features. But did his cameo add something to the movie?

(It was not like having Cassius Clay for the opening scene of "Requiem for a Heavyweight")

Not consistent photography, and I found the (attempted) suicide scene uncanningly close to Full Metal Jacket's Private Pyle's one.

The use of waving Italian flags on the background seemed excessive to the point it make the scenes look video game-ish. When combined to the reccuring patriotic statements of the main character it made me feel uneasy... so I had to do some extra-research on the Director to try to understand his background. My suspicions were confirmed while reading comments of basic "anti-islamic" overtones in his previous work "The Stone Merchant".

Was the Director trying to make justice of the unfair "The Harder They Fall"? Or did he want to make the Italians proud for the achievement of the "walking mountain"? In any case he failed to give emotional deepness/motivations to his main character. It was easier to empathise with Toro Moreno or Mountain Rivera that with his Primo Carnera.

Not a great movie, and it will be easily forgotten, while the real Carnera will remain a legend larger than life!

At least more faithfully then the harder they fall

[destracricetale · 6/10 · 24 May 2015]

This movie is hardly a must see and is inevitable the comparison with the harder they fall...keeping as pivot point the story of Primo Carnera there was some pro e some cons:

Pro much more faithfully with the story of Carnera, a good talent that failed to establish himself among the greatest ( thinks mma career of Brock Lesnar) with some shadows in his early career. The movie with Bogart is a totally defamation and is amazing how people take it seriously . The names of the characters are right .

Cons

Not so faithfully..the movie is full of errors and mistakes. The actor puts an effort playing Carnera but he has just the height..as a boxer the style is totally different ( Carnera uses his fine jabs and his right uppercut, this one only direct punches). Antonio Cupo plays a dwarf Baer that is over a full foot shorter then Carnera and half his size ( Baer was a few inches shorter, a giant of his own) with a brutish face, Cupo was choice because is an handsome male model. in others hands Baer cheated during that match and Primo dislocated his ankle at the beginning of the match and the movie portrayed those details.

Judging it as a pure movie it does not lace the boots of Harder they fall.

At Least They Provided a Disclaimer, But There's No Schmaltz Alert!

[angus_dei · 3/10 · 28 December 2010]

They played hard and fast with the facts, but I've got no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is all the schmaltz. I'm talking here about corny lines and ham acting, the epitome of the latter being the Carnera character's "Do you know what it's like to be hungry?" soliloquy. Laughable. The musical score was annoying. Why do so many movies these days use tepid strings arrangements? The movie was interesting enough, but still, it was formulaic and uninspired. The characters were shallow, especially Max Baer's, which was really a caricature. I had the feeling they shot this thing in a week and a half, just to get it over with. I had to cringe when Primo proposes to his sweetheart after beating Jack Sharkey for the championship. Ludicrous. They should have stuck a tad bit more to the facts regarding Primo's handlers, and forgone all that schmaltz! To this day, questions linger over Carnera's career, especially as to which of his fights were fixed (if indeed they were) and which weren't (if indeed they weren't). The man in real life was abused by his handlers and his life as a boxer was a lonely one, but you wouldn't know it from this schmaltzy film. They could have explored this aspect of Carnera's life a bit more. Furthermore, Carnera had a full and interesting life after his boxing career ended, and they could have explored this more as well. Instead, Carnera gets short shrift here by his depiction as a one-dimensional character. Okay, one-and-a-half, he gets to throw a couple of tantrums here and there. Yeesh!

How can it be so dull, when legendary history is so wild?

[willww2002 · 3/10 · 14 September 2012]

Popped up on my library's video shelf this week, and first review sums it up pretty well. Didn't cost me a nickel, and I still wanted my money back. Sorry, cheap shot, but no sense going over the sad details again, when I'm just going to say ditto.

You have to wonder why the film can't live up to Carnera's very interesting real life. His career was mostly notable for suggestions that he was just a marketing gimmick, created to take advantage of a giant with a glass jaw. Early fight victories against bimbos, to earn his title shot, suggested his schedule was put together by mobbed-up management, looking to profit from one last bet on the big fight. That aspect was portrayed best in Bogart's last film, "The Harder They Fall."

I just wanted to add one more juicy rumor, found in Walter Winchell biography (I think it was Gabler's, but not sure). Supposedly, Carnera fooled around with wife of Damon Runyon. Just one of multiple offenders, it seems, but Runyon took it personally and used his connections with Owney Madden to get revenge by setting up big fight in NY, wherein over-matched Carnera got his bell professionally rung.

Difficult to document in real-life history, so the story may be total BS. But to paraphrase a famous philosopher, when the rumor is more interesting than the fact, print the legend. And Carnera's legend is certainly more interesting than any alternate facts presented in this film. Eighty years after he fought, the big guy is once again badly-used by his promoters - this time without any payoff.