BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: John Sturges
Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine,
Walter Brennan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger,
Lee Marvin, John Ericson, Russell Collins
Classic paranoid thriller about a one-armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) who gets off the train in the hole-in-the-desert town of Black Rock, checks into the local hotel, and incurs the wrath of just about everybody when he starts poking around asking questions about a Japanese truck farmer who vanished from the community at the start of World War Two. Like "High Noon", which in some ways it resembles, it's a study in concise cinematic storytelling, with standout performances by Tracy and a great supporting cast. According to the lore on the video package, it was originally made without music, but preview audiences didn't know what to make of that, so a nonstop score by Andre Previn wound up on the soundtrack. It's too bad. The impact of all that silence, in this movie, could be devastating.
Anne Francis
(1930-2011)
