Bad Day at Black Rock
by John Sturges
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dean Jagger, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Spencer TracyDirector: John Sturges
Brand: TRACY,SPENCER
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
Published: 2005-05-01
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 66902
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Spencer Tracy stars with Robert Ryan, Lee marvin, Ernest Bornine and Walter Brennen in this offbeat and chilling tale of a man pitted against an entire town. Year: 1954 Director: John Sturges Starring: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter BrennanRunning Time: 82 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR Age: 012569690226 UPC: 01256969022
Movie Reviews of Bad Day at Black Rock
Movie Review: Any day's bad when you cross Spencer Tracy, or, Man in Black Nearly Gets Killed in Desert
Summary: 5 Stars
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955) is a favorite film of mine because it is so natural and minimalist that it is often taken for a true story. Which it is not. The 80-minute movie seems longer, in a good way, because the suspense is unidirectional and almost predictable. Any movie that begins with this beautiful train barreling ominously toward us through the desert, well, you KNOW this is gonna be good!
Set in 1945, this is the touching, horrifying story of John MacCreedy (Tracy), and right there is your Great-Film flag. How many films are deeply touching AND horrifying? Cinema legend John Sturges directed this painful search - MacCreedy is trying to find a dead buddy's father. MacCreedy is a highly decorated WWII hero whose life was saved by his pal Joe Kamoko. MacCreedy is trying to find Kamoko, Sr., so he can present him with his son's posthumously awarded medal.
MacCreedy discovers quickly that Kamoko, Sr., was brutally murdered by the men of the town right after Pearl Harbor. The villains are colorful and weird: legendary Robert Ryan plays Reno Smith, the gang leader and murderer. His accomplices include Coley (Ernest Borgnine), Hector (Lee Marvin) and a young gay character Pete (a gorgeous John Ericson). In the film, Pete's evil sister Liz (Anne Francis) tells MacCreedy that her brother "is a pushover for a muscle-man." Cheeky!
After hair-raising, tense moments that are nearly unbelievable, MacCreedy manages to kill Smith with a Molotov Cocktail and emerge safely with the help of the town doctor (an intelligent, heart-wrenching performance by Walter Brennan). At the very end, Doc asks MacCreedy if the town can have Joe's medal, and MacCreedy gives it to Doc.
I always imagined it was a Silver Star, because Joe died saving MacCreedy. Also, we do not know where exactly this is set, because it was filmed in the Alabama Hills at Lone Pine, California. Maybe it was set in Arizona or New Mexico. MacCreedy is a sort of Man in Black, always wearing his black suit in the searing heat (topped off by a gorgeous brown Fedora). Even the cover art for the DVD here has a sort of MIB flavor to it.
Highly original, quite eccentric too, this film.
MacCreedy is calm, cool and mysterious - and the fight scene he has with Coley is one of the more awesome martial arts scenes ever filmed. A big, fat bull of a bully getting his butt handed to him by Spencer Tracy ... JUDO EXPERT! And did I mention that MacCreedy is one-armed? In this sense I see this film as one of the inspirations for the blind swordsman character, Zatoichi.
It always surprises me that Tracy refused this role flat out, until they called and told him Alan Ladd had accepted the role. Tracy immediately called back asking for the role. He got it, and Ladd was clueless in England at the time!
Alec Baldwin commented about Tracy, saying BAD DAY was his last brightly colored role. Baldwin suggests that Tracy's alcoholism took him into dark corners after this film. While I would not exactly argue with Baldwin's odd comment, all I can say is that Tracy did pretty darned well after BAD DAY.
He starred in the incredibly underrated comedy DESK SET, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, THE LAST HURRAH, INHERIT THE WIND (vid. my review), THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, and his final performance when he was dying of cancer, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER. Not that dark for a man who only had 12 more years to live after making BAD DAY.
You cannot possibly live another day without watching this absolute classic. Here's a did-you-know incentive: BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK is one of the most screened films at the White House!
Summary of Bad Day at Black Rock
A mysterious one-armed man gets off the train in the isolated town of Black Rock and sets the town on edge with his investigation of a missing man.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 10-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD
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