The Square Jungle 1955

Pat Quaid, Jim Backus, an alcoholic San Francisco widower, ends up in jail. His grocery-clerk son, Eddie Quaid, Tony Curtis, needs $25 to bail him out, and when he can’t borrow it, Eddie enters an amateur fight contest and wins it.

Julie Walsh, Pat Crowley, is in love with Eddie, but her father disapproves of the Quaids, particularly Eddie’s father, so Julie stays away. Pat Quaid, once a promising prizefighter, urges his son to give boxing a professional shot, and Eddie agrees on the condition that Pat quit drinking.

Eddie decides to adopt his dad’s old ring name, Packy Glennon. To train him, the Quaids turn to Bernie Browne, Ernest Borgnine, who has also wrestled with booze. Bernie’s coaching pushes Eddie toward a showdown with Al Gorski, John Daheim, for the middleweight championship. Julie appears, but Eddie snaps at her. Pat reveals that Julie’s father has recently committed suicide, and Eddie chases after her.

Eddie wins the fight and becomes increasingly arrogant. He trains lazily for the rematch with Gorski and is beaten badly. A referee’s decision to stop the fight might have saved Eddie from permanent damage or death, but Eddie complains that Tommy Dillon, John Marley, stopped it too soon and should be banned as a referee. In a third and final bout, Eddie floors Gorski mercilessly. Dillon, the ref, doesn’t stop it this time. The crowd jeers Eddie as he leaves the ring while Gorski lies unconscious. A depressed Eddie goes on an alcoholic binge with another woman at a motel. He feels dead inside, but when Julie gets him back to a boxing arena, Eddie discovers that Gorski and the spectators have forgiven him.