The Ring (1952)

Rita Moreno & Lalo Rios

For most of the Golden Age of Hollywood, individuals of Mexican descent were rarely seen on the silver screen. When they did appear in a movie, they were often portrayed as gross stereotypes, such as the bandido or lazy Mexican. This began to change after World War II, when movies focusing on Mexican Americans began to appear. Among these movies was the low budget film The Ring (1952). Now known for featuring Rita Moreno in her first lead role, The Ring (1952) was among the first movies to deal with discrimination against Mexican Americans.

The Ring (1952) centred upon Tomas Cantanios (Lalo Rios), a young Chicano living in East Los Angeles. After his father was laid off from his job and following a street fight, Tomas is discovered by boxing manager Pete Ganusa (Gerald Mohr). Tomas then begins boxing to make money for his family under the Anglicized name Tommy Kansas, against the wishes of his father (Martin Garralaga) and his girlfriend (Rita Moreno).

The Ring (1952) was based on the novel The Square Trap by Irving Schulman, who also wrote the movie's screenplay. The novel's trip to the big screen began in the late Forties. The October 1 1949 issue of Box Office reported that Filmmakers Inc., the independent film company founded by actress Ida Lupino, producer Collier Young, and screenwriter Malvin Wald, would produce Pachuco, a movie based on a novel by Irving Schulman, to be distributed by RKO. Filmmakers Inc. never did produce the movie Pachuco. Eventually, the screen rights to the novel would be purchased by King Brothers Productions, an independent film company that had produced such films as Dillinger (1945) and Gun Crazy (1950). In 1951 King Brothers Productions submitted the screenplay, under the title The Ring is a Trap, to the Production Code Administration. The title was eventually shortened to simply The Ring.

What set The Ring (1952) apart from its contemporaries, let alone earlier movies, is that it had a large Latino cast. Indeed, while Gerhard Mohr and Rita Moreno are top billed, it is Lalo Rios, playing Tomas, who is the star. The movie centres on the character of Tomas and he appears in the majority of its scenes. This makes The Ring one of the first movies to feature a Mexican American in the lead role. Lalo Rios had earlier appeared in another film that dealt with racism against Mexicans and Mexican Americans, The Lawless (1950). In the film Lalo Rios played Paul Rodriguez, a young fruit picker in California who finds himself the victim of bigotry. What separates The Ring (1952) from The Lawless is that the latter film is largely told through the eyes of a white character (Macdonald Carey as newspaper editor Larry Wilder). Sadly, Lalo Rios would never again have a major role like Tomas in The Ring (1952). For the rest of his career he appeared primarily in supporting roles and bit parts. Following The Ring (1952), his most significant role may have been Risto, the nephew of Grandi (Akim Tamiroff ) who hurls acid at Mexican special prosecutor Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) in Touch of Evil (1958).

Tommy's love interest in The Ring (1952) is also the film's leading lady, Rita Moreno as Tomas's girlfriend Lucy. The Ring was only her fourth film and, oddly enough, only the second time the Puerto Rican Rita Moreno ever played a Latina (she played Latina runaway Dolores in So Young, So Bad in 1950 before playing a bit part in The Toast of New Orleans the same year and the first of many island girls in Pagan Love Song, also in 1950). Lucy is a significant break from earlier portrayals of women of Mexican descent in American film. For much of American film history, women of Mexican descent were portrayed as such stereotypes as hot tempered, hypersexual señoritas or submissive mamacitas. Lucy was neither of these stereotypes. Instead Lucy was a nice Mexican American girl who is not afraid of telling Tommy she disapproves of him boxing while remaining supportive of him. It is notable that while Miss Moreno has been critical of many of her early roles, she has always looked back fondly on The Ring (1952). She would later say of the film, “Everyone in the film and in the family are good people. He’s not a gangster, he’s not a bad boy. She’s a good girl. She has very traditional Mexican values. She doesn’t want him to box."

Tommy's friends also play a significant role in The Ring, each of them played by Latino actors. For many of these actors, The Ring would be their only credit. This was not the case with Puerto Rican actor Tony Martinez. He had already appeared in three films. Later in the Fifties he would play what may be his best known role, that of Pepino in the sitcom The Real McCoys. The fact that actual Latinos played Latinos in The Ring further set it apart from many other movies of the time. Often times, individuals of Mexican descent would be played by white people in brownface or individuals of yet other ethnicities.

One notable Mexican American member of the cast is Art Aragon, playing himself as the final boxer Tommy faces in the movie. Art Aragon was a lightweight boxer of Mexican descent from New Mexico. He was extremely popular in Los Angeles and even mingled with the Hollywood elite. He was friends with Audie Murphy and even reportedly dated Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. He also appeared in a few films beyond The Ring.

Of course, what truly sets The Ring (1952) apart is that it is among the very first movies to examine discrimination and racism against Chicanos. In fact, when the original screenplay was submitted to the Production Code Administration, the PCA suggested changes be made to the film's dialogue, remarking, "We feel it would not be good to infer that the police discriminate against these boys because of their nationality."Despite this suggestion, some indication of racism on the part of the police against Chicanos remains in the film. Early in the film two police officers stop by Tomas and his friends' clubhouse for no other apparent reason than to harass the boys. Later in the film the boys go to a diner in Beverly Hills. There the waitress is downright rude to them and the management actually calls the police despite the fact the boys are well behaved and have done nothing wrong. Fortunately, the police officer (played by John Crawford, who later played Sheriff Ep Bridges on The Waltons) is sympathetic to the boys after he learns one of them is boxer Tommy Kansas.

The Ring even portrays the little known fact that Los Angeles was a segregated city. Early in the movie, Tomas and Lucy go to the local roller rink. They are not allowed in as it is not "Mexican night." Indeed, there are signs plainly posted above the box office stating a separate night for African Americans and a separate night for Mexican Americans.

At least one critic reacted poorly to the presentation of racism against Chicanos and the segregation that existed in Los Angeles in The Ring (1952). The critic at The Hollywood Reporter described The Ring (1952) as  "a depressing, rather pointless harangue on American discrimination against its Mexican minority group." They further claimed it offered "such a bleak outlook for the Mexican-American that it emerges only as the type that does this country definite disservice abroad" and claimed The Ring appeared "to show that if a Mexican can't make good in the ring, or in some other exhibitional profession, there isn't much hope for him in this 'land of bigotry.'" To add insult to injury, the critic indicated that its only audience would be "East Los Angeles, the Mexican-American population and those who love films depicting minorities as abused in America." It is tempting to view this review as rooted in racism, particularly as The Ring (1952) portrays Chicanos in a very positive light. They are treated with dignity rather than as stereotypes, and portrayed as hard working, honest people. That it portrays the racism they faced daily in Los Angeles would not seem to me to be a legitimate criticism against it.

As it is, The Ring (1953) stands as a document of Los Angeles County in the early Fifties in other ways. As an independent film made on a low budget, it was largely shot on location around Los Angeles County. Indeed, the opening shot is of historic Olvera Street. The street fight that draws Pete Ganusa's attention to Tommy took place outside what would become the Dresden Room in downtown Los Angeles in only a few years. As might be expected of a boxing movie, boxing venues do appear in the film. Both the American Legion Post 43's Hollywood Stadium and the Valley Garden Arena appear in the film.

Sadly, The Ring (1952) suffered from one of the worst publicity campaigns of any movie in the Fifties. While The Ring (1952) is essentially the story of a young Chicano's personal journey, including the racism he encounters, one would not know it from the film's posters. Some might even be considered racist by today's standards.  Perhaps the worst of the lot featured the tagline "They call me 'Dirty Mex' but still chase my women!," complete with a provocative illustration of Rita Moreno in a gown and Tommy in his boxing shorts and robe. Another poster, featuring Tommy on the ropes, had the tagline, "I was slaughtered to please the crowd!," accompanied by another tagline, "They called me 'Dirty Yellow Mex!'...I'm not good enough for them--but my women are!" None of these posters truly captured The Ring (1952), which was not a violent, overly sensationalized movie at all. Lucy was a clean cut girl, not a femme fatale, while Tommy was simply a good boy seeking to find his way in the world.

Contrary to its promotional material, The Ring (1952) is a very fine movie that is hardly sensationalized. It avoids most of the cliches often found even in the best boxing movies. There is no villainous boxer who fights dirty. Tommy is never asked by mobsters to take a dive. There are no corrupt promoters who cheat Tommy and Pete out of money. That is not to say that there are not things in The Ring (1952) that one hasn't seen in other films. Like many previous characters in boxing movies, Tomas comes from poverty. After several fights, Tommy does become punch drunk, which naturally becomes a cause of concern for him. Even so, these seem like natural outgrowths of the plot, and not cliches inserted into the film because they are common to most boxing movies.

Indeed, in many ways The Ring is less about boxing (and less about racism against Chicanos, for that matter) than it is about Tommy's journey of self discovery. Contrary to what the critic at The Hollywood Reporter claimed in his review, there is a good deal of hope for Tommy at the end of The Ring. He still has a family that loves him. He still has a girlfriend who loves him. He still has friends who love him. At the core of The Ring is the importance of family and friends. The Ring (1952) presents Chicanos as human beings rather than stereotypes, and in doing so it became a truly pioneering film.