When Vic "Bomber" Bealer enters the ring, he comes out a winner. But there may be one opponent this amateur boxer may never defeat: himself. Jon Voight answers the bell as Bealer in The All-American Boy, a provocative study of alienation. Drifting through a string of passionless affairs (E.J. Peaker, Rosalind Cash and Anne Archer play the women in Bealer's life), working a dead-end gas-jockey job in a dusty nowhere, Bealer knows he's safe in his cocoon of noncommitment. But there's a flicker of hope inside him not yet extinguished. He's the local boxing champ, gifted with hard-hitting talent that with work and resolve may be enough to springboard him to the amateur nationals and beyond. Only Bealer himself can make it happen. It may be more responsibility than he can shoulder.

An interesting attempt at epic filmmaking, THE ALL AMERICAN BOY takes a look at a boxer's life inside the ring and out. Jon Voight in one of his earliest roles plays Vic Bealer, an up and coming boxer emerging from a destitute background. Bealer has troubles breaking away from his old buddies, a motley crew of directionless men going nowhere. He begins to fall into this depressing scene too deeply and struggles to continue in his brutal career choice.

The film is notable for the performances of many young actors such as Voight in the lead as well as Rosalind Cash and Anne Archer. The film's narrative is told in a segmented style: "The Manly Art in Six Rounds." Shelved for several years, THE ALL AMERICAN BOY was finally released in theaters in 1973.