Review of Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) by Shourya R — 06 Sep 2008
John Sturges 1955 movie about claustrophobic paranoia and civic apathy was Spencer Tracy's last film with MGM. Clocking in at barely an hour and a half, this is a tightly wound movie like a pressure cooker ready to explode.
Set in the remote outpost of Black Rock, the vast open land surrounded by the omnipresent mountains is a constant character that looms over the would be cowboys. Spencer Tracy's character arrives in this place -- where no train has stopped in 4 years -- to find a man whose son saved his life in Italy. Instead, he finds a hostile town that exhibits xenophobia and civic apathy that is best summed up by the drunk sheriff, "I feel for you, but I'm consumed with apathy .... mostly, I try to mind my own business".
The movie was almost never made, as MGM's president felt that the movie was subversive. Controversial social issues such as the internment of Japanese American citizens, racism, and a town broiling in hatred, guilt and cowardice made this more of a prestige movie for MGM rather than a straightforward western or war movie.
Caught in a web of entrapment, Spencer Tracy will eventually learn that the fallen and the outcast come to Black Rock to find redemption.
This review of Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) was written by Shourya R on 06 Sep 2008.
Bad Day at Black Rock has generally received very positive reviews.
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