It may have been based on a couple of things, actually.

"The Harder They Fall" (1956), one of the great boxing movies and film legend Humphrey Bogart's last picture, was based directly on the novel of the same name by Budd Schulberg. However, Schulberg's book is allegedly a fictionalized take on the career of real-life prize fighter Primo Carnera.

Carnera himself sued Columbia Pictures, saying the movie was based on him and didn't put him in a very good light, but he lost the suit.

"The Harder They Fall" certainly doesn't put its fictional fighter, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane, "Demon Keeper," 1994), in a good light. The film stars Bogart as a former sports writer hired to work for a crooked promoter to help him promote a young boxer, Moreno, whose fights are being fixed.

Bogart's character was also supposedly based on a real person: sports writer Harold Conrad.

Again, it's Conrad doing the alleging here. He says it in his book, "Dear Muffo: 35 Years in the Fast Lane," which includes an anecdote of him introducing himself to Bogart and saying, "I just want to tell you how proud I am that you're playing me in 'The Harder They Fall.'" Bogart was, reportedly, not impressed.

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. 

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.