Clifford Odets wrote some eleven plays in approximately twenty years, none less than excellent and a couple outstanding. For reasons that elude me only four of them were adapted for the screen (Odets did, of course, work in Hollywood both on adaptations, None But The Lonely Heart, and Originals, The Story On Page One) and more or less in the order they were written. This makes Golden Boy the first. It was the first real success for the Group Theatre, a short-lived co-operative that eventually benefited Hollywood more than Broadway as one by one - Franchot Tone, John Garfield, Elia Kazan, Luther Adler, etc made the trip West. Lee J. Cobb was the only survivor of the Broadway play (Luther Adler played Joe Bonaparte) and is just about the best thing in the film though Barbara Stanwyck - who went on to appear in the next Odets adaptation, Clash By Night, gave him a run for his money. One of Odets' strengths was his dialogue so, predictably, Paramount either cut or emasculated the bulk of it. The slight jarring note is Adolphe Menjou as Tom Moody, Joe's manager. Menjou has no affinity for the role of a boxing manager and even less chemistry with Barbara Stanwyck as Lorna Moon, Moody's 'girl'. Although true to Odets theme of Art versus Commerce they completely sanitise Odets original ending in which Joe and Lorna perish in his sports car. Here Joe is obliged to utter the deathless line 'I've come home, poppa' after killing an opponent in the ring. See it for Cobb and the ninety per cent vintage Odets.
Review of Golden Boy
