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80% Critic Match
Joe Palooka in the Knockout
“Joe kayoes a gambling gang in his third big film hit!”
8.0 / 10• 1947• 1h 12m•NR• English
ComedyDrama
Storyline
The third of the Monogram series based on Ham Fisher's "Joe Palooka" comic strip, opens with Knobby Walsh, the manager of Joe Palooka trying to talk his way out of a traffic citation, and the story leading to that point is told in flashback as narrated by Walsh. Heavyweight champion Joe, after knocking out an opponent who later died in his dressing room, feels responsible and threatens to give up boxing. But the dead fighter's fiance thinks he died as the result of a drug that was given to him by a gang of gamblers, who made a rich haul betting on Palooka. Joe, Knobby and the police unite to run down the gamblers, but not before Joe also is nearly murdered by the same means...a poisoned mouthpiece. Elyse Knox is along as Joe's sweetheart Anne Howe, although Anne and Joe had long been married in the comic strip.
Cast & Crew
Leon Errol
Knobby Walsh
Lead
Joe Kirkwood Jr.
Joe Palooka
Morris Carnovsky
Howard Abbott
Elyse Knox
Anne Howe
Billy House
Sam Wheeler
Trudy Marshall
Nina
Marc Lawrence
John Mitchell
Whitford Kane
Max Steele
What People Are Saying
4.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Reginald Le Borg's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
4.0
“Every frame feels alive. Joe Palooka in the Knockout is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
