Early on it feels like this is going to be a film about the world of corrupt boxing. The title of the movie, The Big Punch, even sells that image. But surprisingly, it is not really about that at all but about examining your life and deciding what really makes you happy. The question is asked “If you had one day left to live, how would you live it?” Would you do something entirely different with that last day or would you do what you are already doing? In other words, are you content with the life you are living? The question is posed by Chris Thorgenson (Wayne Morris), a former boxer who turns down an offer for $50,000 to box so that he can instead become a priest. The money doesn’t interest him but commanding a pulpit and saving souls does. His message gets through to Johnny Grant (Gordon MacRae), who is being paid to take a dive in an upcoming bout. This leads Johnny into winning the fight after all, and going on the run from his manager who lost a lot of money betting against him. In retaliation, the manager kills a police officer and frames Johnny for it.
On the lam, Johnny is reunited with Chris, who takes him in and secures him a job in a bank, unaware of the false accusation of murder hanging over him. Johnny hires a private investigator to help clear his name but this backfires when the investigator arrives with evidence against him and tries to blackmail Johnny into robbing the bank. With nowhere else to turn, Johnny tries to flee again, only to be stopped by Chris, who has an idea on how to clear everything up once and for all.
This is a fairly straightforward story about corruption and salvation, a subject that often makes it into films of this kind. Though it is a bit generic it is helped out a lot by the earnest performance by Wayne Morris who never quite crosses the line into being sanctimonious. Lois Maxwell is also a welcome addition as Karen Long, a woman who gets involved in helping Johnny clear his name and pave the way for him to return home. Lois is, of course, best remembered as Miss Moneypenny in the early James Bond films. These early roles of hers left her jaded against the studio system for years and she relocated to Rome for a while because of this. She is fine here but you can tell she is better than the material she is being given.
The message about living your best life gets a bit muddled in the mix, unfortunately. In the end, after everything is wrapped up, Johnny is returning to the city to presumably resume his life as a boxer. A better film would have found a way for him to find what he was missing in his life in this new location, aided by the example of this young priest. But that isn’t what happens here and he is returning to the big city like he had never left it. There is even some lip service to the possibility of a romance that could have been brewing between him and Karen but he dismisses that abruptly in the end. It makes for a rather unsatisfying conclusion. This is an average film that had the potential to be more. As is, it is merely an adequate bit of entertainment to wile away a piece of your time. If this was your last day alive, would you spend any of it watching this one? 1948 - 80 minutes
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