This bad day presents a very good film...
Added 11/18/2009
At times it can feel a tad stiff, but overall, John Sturges intense look at racism during WW2 is quite engaging and often unsettling. Using a dusty backdrop that elicits a feeling of isolation and segregation in itself, `Bad Day at Black Rock' is a film that you feel in your bones.
The small town of Black Rock isn't the most hospitable of towns. John Macreedy finds that out first hand when he arrives mysteriously and immediately under speculation. With one hand in his pocket, Macreedy tries to keep peace while searching out a certain Japanese man that no one in the town seems comfortable talking about. Soon his questioning goes too far and his life is placed on the line as Reno Smith, the unofficial law of the land, begins to ponder how easy it would be to make Macreedy `disappear'.
The films moral breakdown may seem rather tame compared to the issues presented in films today, but the way in which racism is addressed (which was a big step for film in the 50's) is done rather bluntly and powerfully, especially when you consider the fact that just a few years ago people in the states were treating Middle-Easterners just as cruelly as the Japanese are treated in this film (off screen).
It's a poignant message.
The real highlight here is the acting. Across the board the performances are strong and memorable. Spencer Tracy is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. His portrayal of Macreedy is stunning to say the least. He captures this `calm before the storm' about him without ever once overreaching. He maintains a believable stillness. Robert Ryan is Tracy's opposite, and he uses his demeanor to create a perfect villain. His arrogance and oppressiveness is chilling. I also really enjoyed what Walter Brennan and Dean Jagger lent to the film, especially Jagger, who managed to give a clichéd stock character (the manipulated sheriff) a life all his own.
In the end I recommend this film, for it has a poignant message that we do well to entertain in these politically charged times. The film also shows how a small town can become so burdened by their own secrets that they seek almost any avenue to reach solace, even if that leads to even darker secrets.
This one will make you think.
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movie review
Added 10/6/2009
I saw Bad Day At Black Rock With Spencer Tracy years ago and always wanted to see it again! Having the DVD is great! Now I can watch it anytime!
It is a great mystery/adventure out west! Good action and acting! Spencer Tracy at his best!Robert Ryan as one of the heavys is very good too!The scenery really sets the tone of the movie! Dry and bleak!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Finally Got the Movie!
Added 7/16/2009
I've been trying for YEARS to get this film for my Dad, who has always said that it was one of his favorites. After trying twice to get it through best buy online, who seemed to send me the same broken dvd both times, I was ready to give up. I was so excited to see it here on Amazon that I scooped it up instantly. My Dad said it was like having Christmas in the middle of the year when I gave it to him.
Spencer Tracy is a stranger to a town that hasn't had a visitor in years. When the corrupt towns people start to push him around, he pushes back. This was an awesome movie with not too much violence and was straight to the point. I loved it! My Dad loved it! Heck, I'm sure my dog loved it, too!
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This is the first time the Streamliner has stopped here in four years.
Added 7/12/2009
Well this movie surely was not what I expected. I had in mind cowboys in monochrome with black and white hats. Little did I suspect CinemaScope in the story with depth.
Everybody in town looks up as the streamliner comes to a stop in the town of Blackrock. A stranger John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) steps off the train. Will you be here long asks the porter. Only a day is the reply.
Everybody in town is antagonistic and grills Macreedy. We pretty much seen the formula and immediately realize that the town has something to hide. What is it? Moreover, why are they suspicious of the stranger?
The story is not unique but how it plays out his and we are intrigued in watching the interaction between the men as they try to size each other up. There is a lot of soul-searching in this movie. Will Macreedy uncover the town's secret before they uncover his? And if so will he live to tell?
The only character that is really out of place and I suspect was just placed there because of Hollywood's requirements is Liz Wirth (Anne Francis) that is out of place. This was two years before the movie "Forbidden Planet."
You can see John Sturges' signature in the camera angles and subject matter as it parallels his other movies.
Inherit the Wind
Forbidden Planet (Ultimate Collector's Edition)
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A Masterpiece
Added 4/3/2009
Led by outstanding photography and one of Spencer Tracy's most powerful performances, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK is jarringly good for a movie relatively few people outside film class have ever seen or even heard of. I saw it on TCM for the first time a few years ago. Not only was I shocked by how good it was, I was surprised it wasn't a cowboy movie set in the "wild west." (I suppose I'm in good company. When Gene Siskel saw "Fargo," he thought he was going to see a cowboy movie.) Far from being disappointed, however, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK instantly became one of my all-time favorites. The story, acting, dialogue, and photography are first-rate. Visually, it's John Sturges's best work.
It is well to remember that this movie hit the theaters just ten years after WWII. In 1955 there were virtually no second thoughts in this country about how we had summarily imprisoned loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry simply because of that ancestry. Fittingly, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK was filmed outside the tiny desert town of Lone Pine, California, just ten miles down the road from Manzanar, one of the Japanese-American "internment camps." Manzanar is now a National Historic Site operated by the US National Park Service. It isn't easy to get to; and it's gut-wrenching to see the museum exhibits, including the huge photograph of a white woman standing under a storefront sign with the words: "Japs Keep Moving-This is a White Man's Neighborhood." But every American ought to go there. (By the way, while you're in the area visit the Lone Pine Film History Museum. Literally hundreds of movies have been filmed in Lone Pine and in the nearby Alabama Hills. An entire wall of the museum is dedicated to BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK.)
There are maybe forty or fifty DVDs any self-respecting movie fan ought to own. This is one of them. Buy it. (Caveat emptor: The "film historian" Dana Polan is an egghead who spends an hour and twenty minutes deconstructing BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK instead of giving us film history. No matter; buy the DVD anyway.)
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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This bad day presents a very good film...
Added 11/18/2009
At times it can feel a tad stiff, but overall, John Sturges intense look at racism during WW2 is quite engaging and often unsettling. Using a dusty backdrop that elicits a feeling of isolation and segregation in itself, `Bad Day at Black Rock' is a film that you feel in your bones.
The small town of Black Rock isn't the most hospitable of towns. John Macreedy finds that out first hand when he arrives mysteriously and immediately under speculation. With one hand in his pocket, Macreedy tries to keep peace while searching out a certain Japanese man that no one in the town seems comfortable talking about. Soon his questioning goes too far and his life is placed on the line as Reno Smith, the unofficial law of the land, begins to ponder how easy it would be to make Macreedy `disappear'.
The films moral breakdown may seem rather tame compared to the issues presented in films today, but the way in which racism is addressed (which was a big step for film in the 50's) is done rather bluntly and powerfully, especially when you consider the fact that just a few years ago people in the states were treating Middle-Easterners just as cruelly as the Japanese are treated in this film (off screen).
It's a poignant message.
The real highlight here is the acting. Across the board the performances are strong and memorable. Spencer Tracy is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. His portrayal of Macreedy is stunning to say the least. He captures this `calm before the storm' about him without ever once overreaching. He maintains a believable stillness. Robert Ryan is Tracy's opposite, and he uses his demeanor to create a perfect villain. His arrogance and oppressiveness is chilling. I also really enjoyed what Walter Brennan and Dean Jagger lent to the film, especially Jagger, who managed to give a clichéd stock character (the manipulated sheriff) a life all his own.
In the end I recommend this film, for it has a poignant message that we do well to entertain in these politically charged times. The film also shows how a small town can become so burdened by their own secrets that they seek almost any avenue to reach solace, even if that leads to even darker secrets.
This one will make you think.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
movie review
Added 10/6/2009
I saw Bad Day At Black Rock With Spencer Tracy years ago and always wanted to see it again! Having the DVD is great! Now I can watch it anytime!
It is a great mystery/adventure out west! Good action and acting! Spencer Tracy at his best!Robert Ryan as one of the heavys is very good too!The scenery really sets the tone of the movie! Dry and bleak!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Finally Got the Movie!
Added 7/16/2009
I've been trying for YEARS to get this film for my Dad, who has always said that it was one of his favorites. After trying twice to get it through best buy online, who seemed to send me the same broken dvd both times, I was ready to give up. I was so excited to see it here on Amazon that I scooped it up instantly. My Dad said it was like having Christmas in the middle of the year when I gave it to him.
Spencer Tracy is a stranger to a town that hasn't had a visitor in years. When the corrupt towns people start to push him around, he pushes back. This was an awesome movie with not too much violence and was straight to the point. I loved it! My Dad loved it! Heck, I'm sure my dog loved it, too!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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