The Champ. 1979
I was 8-years-old when I saw The Champ. The same age Ricky Schroder was when he played T.J., the son of Billy Flynn, a once great boxer who became a has-been, played by Jon Voight.
Till this day, it’s one of the greatest performances acted out on the big screen, and it was pulled off by an 8-year-old. Schroder out preformed two of Hollywood’s biggest hitters at the time. Fay Dunaway and Jon Voight.
Watching T.J. break down while coming to grips with the death of his father is heart wrenching, brutal and one of the most believable scenes I’ve ever watched on film. It's hard to believe this was acting. Isn't it?
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie hasn’t held up as well. I went back and watched it a few years ago and had a hard time sitting through it, but Ricky Schroeder stole every scene.
I’ve often wondered HOW? How the fuck can an 8-year-old pull off something so unbelievably realistic? What was he told to think? Where did he pull the emotions from? Did he deal with death in his young life to be so believable? He had to be guided, right? It was too genius of a performance. How do you get an 8-year-old to cry like that? What are all the tricks you pull out of your acting books?
Here’s the bitch of that genius acting… Schroder only won the Golden Globe Award for "Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture". Nope, no Academy award. Not even a nomination. I wonder what the reason for that was? Hmm.
BEST NEW MALE STAR?
It’s one of the biggest robberies in movie awards history! Even science has proven that the death scene in The Champ is the saddest scene in movie history.
And who made that possible?
It sure as hell wasn’t Jon Voight’s overacting.
And Fay Dunaway wasn’t even in that scene.
It was Ricky Schroeder!
For those who have never seen this moment, enjoy!
(If you don't mind watching a child having a mental break down)
Wanna start a petition? Forget your political bullshit, or the attempts at saving the rain forests. Start a petition to have the Academy Awards and The Golden Globes reverse their decision in not giving Ricky Schroeder an academy award for 'Best Male Actor'.
Help the world see how Hollywood treats children.
OH! And maybe an apology for making an 8-year-old go through that emotional ordeal. Wasn't that performance so good, it didn't seem like acting? Would you allow your 8-year-old to break down like that?