Review of Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) by Josh H — 06 Nov 2007

â??Patriotic drunk.â?? The best line of a film with a socially important message, but I didnâ??t feel that the story was very well developed. Apparently Black Rock has around fifteen citizens; only one of which is a woman. The flaws in setting distracted me from the plot. What does this town do when theyâ??re not covering up their past injustices? Why does everyone blindly follow Smith? We never see much emotional depth; we never see what is truly driving the decisions of these people. In the final scene Doc asks Macreedy for the medal b/c â??It might help the town come back,â?? yet it appears that there is no town left. Maybe that was the point, but it came across as all was well now. There were just too many flaws that the film seemed to ignore. Plus the score was quite annoying.

This film is clear in its moral that taking a stand against wrong doing is important and necessary and in its damnation of racism and the apathy that surrounds it. But I just felt the meaning was overly simplified. I realize this was one of the first films to acknowledge the abuse of Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor (which does make this an important movie), but in my opinion the methods subdue the message here.

This film reminds me of William Faulknerâ??s short story â??Dry Septemberâ?? with its escalating ignorant violence, especially when Peter Wirth reveals how Komoko was killed. â??We were all drunk. Patriotic drunk.â?? (a great description of how this country sometimes feels to me: inebriated with hate, fear and patriotism) But unlike Faulkner it felt like â??Bad Day at Black Rockâ?? was abridging a complicated issue which cannot be dealt with in a simple way.

There were, however, a number of redeeming qualities including some powerful dialogue:

â??This guy is like a carrier of smallpox! Since he arrived, this town has a fever... an infection. And it's spreading!â??

â??I don't care anything about Black Rock. Only it just seems to me that there aren't many towns like this in America. But... one town like it is enough.â??

â??Somebody's always looking for something in this part of the West. To the historian it's the Old West, to the book writer it's the Wild West, to the businessman it's the Undeveloped West -- they say we're all poor and backward, and I guess we are, we don't even have enough water. But to us, this place is *our* West, and I wish they'd leave us alone!â??

And some nice performances: Walter Brennan as Doc Velie, and an intimidating Lee Marvin (great pipes) as Hector.

The fight between Macreedy and Coley was a bit over-the-top, but still pretty cool to see a one-armed Spencer Tracy (the quintessential good guy) beat down on Ernest Borgnine. Tracy was nominated for Best Actor, but I feel his performance is overrated.

There was one amazing shot in the film as the Doc is reflected in the window of the hotel. He is facing the evil men of the town on the other side of the glass, but it appears he is looking in the same direction as they are, but then he turns his back on them and walks away. A beautiful shot filled with brilliant symbolism. The opening sequence following the train was also visually stunning in MGMâ??s first experiment with Cinemascope.