Word: benko
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...STEPHEN BENKO Chester...
...weighs 285 Ibs., and serves his opponents a punch that would scarcely be too stiff for a six-year-old's birthday party. Like Carnera, El Toro (touchingly portrayed by Wrestler Mike Lane) falls among thieves. A well-known gambler and fixologist named Nick Benko (played good and heavy by Rod Steiger) buys up his contract and starts to fatten the Bull for the kill...
Comes another hitch. The champ (Max Baer) gets sore at some of Bogart's publicity, refuses to play along with Benko's boy. "Carry him for six rounds," Benko begs. "You don't want to louse up the film rights." Baer refuses, and what happens next is a ghastly digest of the 1934 fight, in which Baer gave Carnera the most brutal beating he ever took (eleven knockdowns in eleven rounds), and won the heavyweight championship. The eleven rounds are condensed into several of the most savage minutes seen on screen in recent years, and when they...
...climax, however, comes next day. Bogart goes over to Benko's place to pick up his boy's purse. After the bossman's deductions are made, it comes to exactly $49.07. "Fighters," somebody remarks with a self-satisfied leer, "are dirt...
Back in Bisbee, Ariz., Benko's marksmanship was no surprise. He had always been a "gun nut," owned eleven weapons, reloaded his own ammunition. Long before he thumbed a machine gun, he was a champion rifle shot. Home-towners recognized his virtuosity: when he enlisted he was president of the Bisbee Rifle Club...