{"id":6642,"date":"2017-07-22T20:56:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-23T00:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=6642"},"modified":"2017-07-22T21:00:04","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T01:00:04","slug":"wrestlecinema-part-1-10-films-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/07\/22\/wrestlecinema-part-1-10-films-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"WrestleCinema, Part 1: 11 Films About The Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wrestling has had a long history with Hollywood, dating back to the 1940’s. With the emergence of former WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson<\/strong> as Hollywood’s most bankable male star and Dave “Batista” Bautista<\/strong> emerging as a solid character actor in such franchises as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Guardians of the Galaxy<\/strong><\/em>), James Bond (in Spectre<\/strong><\/em>) and now Blade Runner<\/strong><\/em>‘s sequel, pro wrestlers are now becoming more than just bit part cameos in films. So we begin a new series here at Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/strong>, called WrestleCinema<\/strong>, looking at pro wrestling in the motion pictures realm. For our first entry, we look at 11 films that depicted varying aspects of the industry itself, featuring cameos (if not starring roles) from industry performers. (NOTE: these are all fictionalized films, they do not include documentaries. That will be a separate entry in the series)<\/p>\n

WrestleCinema, Part 1: 11 Films About The Industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

ALIAS THE CHAMP (1949)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Plot Summary (from IMDB)<\/strong>: “New York gangsters trying to muscle in on the California wrestling scene come up against a wrestler who won’t knuckle under. They frame him for a murder, and his manager and a cop set out to clear his name, catch the real killers and save the reputation of the sport of wrestling.”<\/p>\n

Director:\u00a0<\/strong>George Blair
\nWriter:\u00a0<\/strong>Albert DeMond
\nStarring:\u00a0<\/strong>Robert Rockwell, Barbara Fuller, Gorgeous George<\/p>\n

Alias The Champ<\/strong><\/em> was a film noir series, during the height of that genre’s prominence in film, centered around the pro wrestling industry and featuring the first wrestling star primed for Hollywood – the one and only Gorgeous George<\/strong>. It helped make Gorgeous George a bigger name in the mainstream and American pop culture than he already was, and he became one of the early days of television’s most watched stars. The film also includes appearances from such wrestlers as “Slammin'” Sammy Menacker, Tor Johnson, Count Billy Varga, Bomber Kulkovich, George Temple, Bobby Managoff and “Sockeye” Jack McDonald.<\/p>\n