Review: Bad Day at Black Rock

One-armed MacReedy (Spencer Tracy) arrives in title dead-end town just after WWII, on a train that rarely ever stops at this forgotten, decrepit town. In fact, it’s been four years since the train stopped there. MacReedy is looking for a Japanese farmer who lived there before the war. Unfortunately, the townsfolk are either apathetic, distrustful, or violently antagonistic towards the stranger in town, and everyone seems afraid of the put-upon town leader, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan). Smith suggests the farmer was relocated after the war, MacReedy isn’t buying any of that, much to the chagrin of everyone in town who just wants him to go away and leave the past in the past. MacReedy knows something stinks in Black Rock, and he intends to get to the bottom of it (no pun intended. I promise). Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are Smith’s pit-bulls, with the fabulous names Coley Trimble and Hector David, Dean Jagger is the constantly soused, utterly useless Sheriff, Walter Brennan is note-perfect as crotchety Doc, who doesn’t want trouble stirred up and had given in to a life of apathy until MacReedy showed up. Meanwhile, Anne Francis and John Ericson play a young brother-and-sister team who just want MacReedy to leave things be and get on outta here. Something stinks in Black Rock, and the few townsfolk we see are either a part of it or cowardly turn their backs to it. It makes MacReedy sick.

1955 John Sturges (“The Great Escape”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Kind Lady”, “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, “Last Train From Gun Hill”) flick works as either an indictment of apathy in the face of injustice and the McCarthy witch-hunts, or as an indictment of Japanese-directed WWII racism. The themes were very relevant for the time the film was released, but aren’t exactly irrelevant now, either. It’s interesting that Sturges is a director with a lot of experience with westerns, because although set post-WWII Black Rock sure is a dead, dusty town that could’ve easily existed in the old west. Basically a western/mystery set in post-WWII, I find this tough stuff not just due to the presence of gruff tough guys like Tracy, Borgnine and Marvin, but also the landscape is harsh, rough and completely complimentary to the characters and plot/action. There’s something more than gruff action going on here, though. This film has something to say, as Sturges and his screenwriters present us with a town of thugs, racists, cowards, and followers, and use Tracy’s MacReedy to show utter contempt and embarrassment towards them. The townsfolk and the secret they are harbouring is embarrassing and shameful, and it’s fitting that the completely spineless and frequently drunk sheriff sleeps in his own jail cell.

The film is expertly directed by Sturges who manages to get in and out in under 80 minutes (Or just a tad over 80 if you’re watching it in NTSC format). Given the power contained within those minutes, it’s pretty damn terrifically efficient filmmaking. Sturges and cinematographer William C. Mellor (“The Diary of Anne Frank”, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”) manage to give us some really good shot composition and use of the frame throughout as well. There’s also some really nice detail in the film’s look, with everything looking rundown and full of dust and cobwebs, befitting its decrepit, outdated nature. The music score by Andre Previn (“Elmer Gantry”, “My Fair Lady”) is also outstanding from moment one.

It’s superlatively acted for the most part, with Ernest Borgnine (the same year he played his Oscar-winning title role in “Marty”) and Lee Marvin particularly well-used in perfect roles. ‘You look like you need a hand’, a slimy, slinky Lee Marvin says to Tracy at one point. He’s at his mean-spirited best here. Borgnine meanwhile, is the perfect barrel-chested bully boy who is all brawn and no brains. He’s itching to get walloped by a one-armed man (Well, technically it appears to only be his hand that has been amputated, but still…Poor, poor, stupid Coley). It’s guys like Coley and Hector and the rest of the pathetic town that allow the film’s villain, Reno Smith to scare and intimidate. Robert Ryan isn’t my favourite actor but as the outwardly respectable-seeming but thoroughly rotten Smith, he gives one of his best performances. He’s pretty much the unofficial ruler of the town, as the soused and spineless sheriff is even subordinate to him. Anywhere else in America, and Smith would probably be rendered ineffectual (though he does claim to have connections elsewhere that may be mere bragging), but in this piss-stain on the stars and stripes? He’s the head of the snake. Veteran character actor Dean Jagger is perfect casting as the drunk and useless sheriff who may, if he can sober up for a minute be able to muster up some belated courage from deep within himself. Walter Brennan doesn’t get a whole lot to do, but his inimitable presence really is needed here for western iconic value, if nothing else. Spencer Tracy (a fantastic actor when cast in a part like this) gives a powerful lead performance as a man who may be older and not as strong-looking as say Ernest Borgnine’s character, but Tracy imbues the character with a grim stillness that suggests fucking with him isn’t ideal to your well-being. In addition to having karate skills beyond what one might expect from basically a one-armed old man, MacReedy’s gonna teach these people a lesson with a little righteous anger and condemnation. The interesting thing is the rather unafraid demeanour with which the seemingly older and disabled MacReedy greets the likes of Borgnine and Marvin’s bully boy goon characters here. There’s something genuinely hilarious about his coolness towards two idiots puffing their chests out at a white-haired one-armed man. Make no mistake though, MacReedy is fixing to get pissed off here, and frankly the audience member is just as pissed off about what has happened here and the seeming lack of giveashit (or a spine) amongst the townsfolk. At one point he remarks of Black Rock ‘One town like it is enough’. I’d argue more than enough, actually. The only sour note comes in the form of the sole female participant Anne Francis, who fails to distinguish herself yet stands out like a sore thumb in not only the scenery, but amongst her more impressive co-stars. She reeks of ‘mandatory estrogen injection’ from profit-driven producers.

Extremely powerful and efficient stuff, a minor classic. Scripted by Don McGuire (The middling war satire “Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came”), and Millard Kaufman (Sturges’ “Never So Few”, as well as “Raintree County” and “Take the High Ground”), from a story by Howard Breslin, it’s a ‘guy movie’ with a little bit more going on than many. Must-see stuff.

Rating: A-