Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]

Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]
by John Sturges

Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]
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VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Robert Ryan, Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan
Director: John Sturges
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 81 minutes
Release Date: 1996-08-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Studio: MGM (Warner)

VHS Movie Reviews of Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]

Movie Review: This bad day presents a very good film...
Summary: 4 Stars

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 clich?d 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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Summary of Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]

One of the first Hollywood films to deal openly with white racism toward Japanese Americans during World War II, this drama directed by 1950s action maestro John Sturges (The Great Escape) stars Spencer Tracy as a one-armed stranger named MacReedy, who arrives in the tiny town of Black Rock on a hot day in 1945. Seeking a hotel room and the whereabouts of an ethnic Japanese farmer named Komoko, MacReedy runs smack into a wall of hostility that escalates into serious threats. In time it becomes apparent that Komoko has been murdered by a local, racist chieftain, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who also plans on dispensing with MacReedy. Tracy's hero is forced to fight his way past Smith's goons (among them Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin) and sundry allies (Anne Francis) to keep alive, setting the stage for memorable suspense crisply orchestrated by Sturges. Casting is the film's principal strength, however: Tracy, the indispensable icon of integrity, and Ryan, the indispensable noir image of spiritual blight, are as creatively unlikely a pairing as Sturges's shotgun marriage of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven. --Tom Keogh

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