Full Download Bad Day at Black Rock
Movie Information
A one handed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
A one handed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
Director:John Sturges
Writers:Millard Kaufman (screen play), Don McGuire (adaptation), 1 more credit »
Stars:Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
Storyline
From the time John J. Macreedy steps off the train in Black Rock, he feels a chill from the local residents. The town is only a speck on the map and few if any strangers ever come to the place. Macreedy himself is tight-lipped about the purpose of his trip and he finds that the hotel refuses him a room, the local garage refuses to rent him a car and the sheriff is a useless drunkard. It's apparent that the locals have something to hide but when he finally tells them that he is there to speak to a Japanese-American farmer named Kamoko, he touches a nerve so sensitive that he will spend the next 24 hours fighting for his life.
Full User Reviews
John Sturges directed
this quintessentially tight-constructed masterpiece. This is how it was
done in the good old days: nothing falls by the wayside. Tight, clear
characterizations, with minimalist dialog, costume, manner, and facial
expression all reflecting the inner lives of people in their
self-constructed hell. Check out how Hector (Lee Marvin) uses the word
"boy" to suggest racial overtones well in advance of the slowly-revealed
background plot; how Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) in his dark suit and
no-nonsense manner contrasts with everyone else's casual dress and
edginess, perfectly reflecting his role as avenging angel; how Coley
(Ernest Borgnine), trying to run Macreedy off the road, resembles
(probably unintentionally) Joe McCarthy, especially as caricatured by
Walt Kelly; and of course how the arch-villain, Reno Smith (Robert
Ryan), suggests limitless power with his inimitable smirk and almost
languid movements: he controls the town without actually doing anything
overt--until Macreedy forces his hand. Nicely turned performances by
other major players, too: Dean Jagger (the drunkard Sheriff Tim), Anne
Frances (nervous Liz), and Walter Brennan (loquacious, self-justifying
Doc). The suggestion that one man can--literally single-handedly--make a
moral difference is inspiring (and how that one hand utterly confounds
Coley is a nifty, low-key precursor of Bruce Lee-inspired acrobatics).
This is a keeper.
