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Bad Day at Black Rock

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Bad Day at Black Rock

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Summary

Classic suspense drama starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan. In 1945, a stranger with only one arm arrives in the remote desert town of Black Rock and enquires where he might find a certain Japanese farmer. The request creates an atmosphere of hostility and violence among the community that rapidly puts the stranger's life in jeopardy.

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Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

David Parkinson

In this simmering suspense drama, an Oscar-nominated Spencer Tracy hits the peak of his powers as the one-armed Second World War veteran, who arrives in a small south-western town to visit a Japanese farmer. However, the remote desert community harbours a dark secret that Robert Ryan and his fellow rednecks are prepared to do anything to protect. Howard Breslin's source story, Bad Day at Hondo, is essentially melodramatic. But director John Sturges and cinematographer William C Mellor achieve an atmosphere of deceptive calm that makes the wait for the inevitable (and surprisingly shocking) showdown all the more tense. Tracy gives a masterclass in screen acting and Ryan is also on career-best form, while Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are marvellously malevolent as Ryan's racist heavies.

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7.6/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameJohn J MacreedySpencer TracyReno SmithRobert RyanLiz WirthAnne FrancisTim HornDean JaggerDoc VelieWalter BrennanPete WirthJohn EricsonColey TrimbleErnest BorgnineHector DavidLee MarvinMr HastingsRussell CollinsSamWalter Sande

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJohn Sturges

Details

Theatrical distributor

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Languages

English

Available on

video

Formats

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