Silliphant pours on the pathos, almost past the breaking point in this decidedly old hat episode. Horace MacMahon is not present -no reason given.
The winner in the acting sweepstakes for me is Diane Ladd, strong and empathetic as boxer Harry Guardino's wife. She plays a waitress (15 years before her "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" assignment) who has developed a hybrid rose that is a breakthrough. Hubby Guardino wants her to head to Baltimore for a national competition hoping her rose will win, but to finance her trip he risks his life getting back in the ring to fight Rocky Graziano (the real one, in an acting role!).
Less successful are Guardino, playing up the "pipe dreams" theme with an overwrought performance that reeks of the Brando/Paul Newman school of acting, while taking the cake is veteran House Jameson as the drunken ex-doctor who agrees to fraudulently approve Harry's medical condition that allows the fight to go on. His sweaty, tearful, hard to watch his confession to the cops that he's responsible for "murdering" the fighter is a lesson what not to do in the acting profession.
The awkward flashback structure is a poor choice, making this episode a toss-up: is it a powerful drama, or milking a sentimental theme for all it's worth?