Bad Day at Barack Rock - a real-life film noir

[arendt]

DISCLAIMER: I will support the Democratic nominee, whoever it is. I have endorsed no candidate. But, its hard to ignore the media mugging that Obama is getting. And, as usual, I got carried away by the analogy.

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...something happened in "Black Rock" ,something that its inhabitants are anxious that it remains in the shadow.Enter Spencer Tracy who seems to know too many things he should.Then all the inhabitants all stand together ,and their conspiracy of silence becomes threatening...

Tight, clear characterizations...reflecting the inner lives of people in their self-constructed hell. Check out...how Coley (Ernest Borgnine), trying to run Macreedy off the road, resembles (probably unintentionally) Joe McCarthy, especially as caricatured by Walt Kelly; and of course how the arch-villain, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), suggests limitless power with his inimitable smirk and almost languid movements: he controls the town without actually doing anything overt...Nicely turned performances by other major players, too: Dean Jagger (the drunkard Sheriff Tim), Anne Frances (nervous Liz), and Walter Brennan (loquacious, self-justifying Doc)...

Jagger and Brennan...represent those happy to watch bad things happen if they get a quiet life.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047849/usercomments

In its post-war heyday, film noir told social truths that the establishment didn't want to hear. The genre was largely neutered by the McCarthy witchhunts, and today is still something of a cult item. That said, the current primary situation is better explained in film noir terms than by the 24/7 stream of mendacious garbage put out by the corporate media, as I will demonstrate.

I'm not black, so I'm only guessing; but it seems to me that we now have third-generation slavery (real slavery, Jim Crow, and now Drug Law Apartheid) for blacks. This is a shameful thing that most white folks (Jagger and Brennan above) just want to ignore.

The media establishment is taking the role of Reno Smith - "controlling the town without actually doing anything overt." You don't see Rupert Murdoch actually making racist remarks; but he's happy to have O'Reilly (Borgnine) or Limbaugh (Marvin) rough people up. The media audience (Jagger and Brennan) by and large keep their mouths shut, although the flap after the ABC debates reveals that there still is some decency left there.

Obama starts poking around primary-town with his inoffensive (and deliberately vague) message of "hope". He has money, and is well-dressed (clean, articulate :sarcasm: ); so there is no excuse to ignore him. Like Tracy, he is polite but firm about getting what he wants (hotel room, rental car). Just by showing up, however, he reopens the whole race issue.

And (just as Tracy had no idea of the murderous anti-Japanese racism he was stepping in front of) Obama's "first black" talking point is stepping on the media's script of the "first woman" - who will go up against McCain as GOP-lite and lose. (I am not dissing Hillary. I'm reporting the fact of what the media is doing.) So, its time to set the media bully boys on him. The flag pin thing was the kind of petty hassling that Lee Marvin engaged Tracy in, early in the movie - just probing to see what was there.

But, now we have the "Coley in a jeep" attempt by the media to run Obama off the road with the guilt-by-association Rev. Wright attacks. When, after days of media demands that he denounce Wright, Obama does it; the media beats him up for throwing Wright under the bus. This is like Borgnine demanding that Tracy pay for the damage to Borgnine's car that he got from ramming Tracy.

Just like the movie, the hatred (of the media for Obama) is finally out in the open. Its time for Obama to do something. The confrontation in the bar is the pivot point of the movie, the point where the confrontation changes from pussy-footing to outright fighting.

If Obama doesn't draw some media blood for the unconscionable racism that they are churning out to tip the vote against him, he is going to get chopped to pieces. This is America, where the electorate hates Democratic "pussies", like Mike Dukakis. Obama has been called out; he has to make somebody pay, or he will be labeled "soft".

As a film noir fan, I am glued to my seat to see how the rest of the movie turns out. As an American, I am ashamed that our country is run by such gangsterism.

[arendt]

1. crickets. front page kick. n/t

[arendt]

2. kantor, kantor, kantor... this forum can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

[arendt]

3. arendt to GD-P; arendt to GD-P; can you tear yourself away from Kantor-bation? n/t

[arendt]

4. Talk about bad timing. I'm on the last phony media scandal; but everyone is on to the new one. n/t

[arendt]

5. I got a rec - must have been a mistake :-) Now, could someone mistakenly comment on this thread? n/t

[NYCGirl]

6. I think your problem is that few people here have seen the film...

It is a great movie, with one of Tracy's best performances (one one of the few films noir shot in color — the only other one I can think of is "Leave Her to Heaven").

A fascinating post.

[arendt]

8. OK, point taken. Its just that it is widely assumed that the average age at DU is 45-50...

so people should have seen this. Plus, the cast is full of really stellar bad guys: Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine that it might appeal to someone renting by association or by actor.

Again, point taken.

Your point, though, leaves me perplexed. I have been assuming that your average person has tuned out politics in favor of entertainment (sports, TV, movies). I assumed that more people would get a movie reference than a politics reference. Are you saying that even boomers don't watch old movies anymore?

arendt

[NYCGirl]

10. I'm a total classic movie nut — but everyone I know pays little attention

to anything made before 1980. And we're all of boomer age.

It sucks.

[arendt]

13. I pay little attention to anything made AFTER 1980, crap from 20 yr old cokehead writers...

I watched them dumb-down the movies. They started doing a-historical things, put a love story in every plot line, and removed most dialogue in favor of sex and violence (they said it was for international distribution reasons). And the god-awful remakes! Who needed a camera-shot replay of Psycho?

These days, there are about three American movies a year that I want to see.

It truly does suck.

arendt

[NYCGirl]

14. A film lover after my own heart!

:loveya:

My faves are noir, pre-codes, and anything written and/or directed by Preston Sturges. (John Sturges, who directed "Black Rock", is pretty good, too.)

[arendt]

15. I'm a noir-aholic. I have seen the big sleep about ten times, and I still can't follow it. n/t

[NYCGirl]

17. Don't worry. No one can — the novel is the same way. Mitchum's version

from 1978 follows the novel a little more closely, but it's still a mishmash (and updated to the 70s, too). But I'll watch Mitchum in anything!

[arendt]

18. Yeah, but "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison"? Deborah Kerr in her umpty-ninth nun role? Puhleez. n/t

[NYCGirl]

20. Yep, I love that one. Beautiful performances. (They're even better in

"The Sundowners".)

Edited to add: I even love the crappy films Bob Mitchum did — and there are more than a few!

[arendt]

16. Also, Kubrick until the last few; Peckinpagh; anything w Faye Dunaway. n/t

[Armstead]

7. You should probably pick a flick more people have seen for an analogy

I saw it many years ago, but can't remember it (except a vague recollection that it was creepy).

[arendt]

9. Anything w Robert Ryan is creepy. That's why I thought people would get it...

but I was WRONG.

Thanks for the feedback.

arendt

[arendt]

11. Movie synopsis (spoiler alert).

The time is 1945, just after the end of World War II. The great railroad train Streamliner stops at the town of Black Rock Arizona. The train discharges a single passenger with only one arm named John J. Macreedy.The conductor comments that this is the first time in four years that the train has stopped there. Macreedy replies that he is only staying for one day, and the conductor comments that "in a place like this a day can be a lifetime." The train departs.

Macreedy is confronted by the stationmaster who complains that he had not been informed that the Streamliner was stopping, to which Macreedy replies "Maybe they didn't think it was important." Macreedy asks the stationmaster if he can get a cab to Adobe Flat. The stationmaster replies "no cab." Macreedy then asks if the hotel is open, and the stationmaster nods. Macreedy walks into town.

When the townsfolk learn that Macreedy wants to visit nearby Adobe Flat, they react with extreme suspicion and hostility. Pete Wirth, the hotel keeper, tries using a bogus excuse about war restrictions to deny renting a room even though it is obvious the hotel has vacancies. After persistence, Macreedy rents a room, only to be harassed by a cowboy named Hector for no apparent reason. Macreedy's attempts to rent a car create further hostility, prompting another local, Reno Smith, to have a private detective he knows in Los Angeles check out Macreedy's background.

Macreedy then visits the sheriff's office only to find that the sheriff, Tim Horn, is an ineffectual drunken sot. Macreedy mentions that he is trying to locate a farmer named Kumoko at Adobe Flat and Horn becomes as hostile as the rest of town. Smith then accosts Macreedy feigning friendliness. Macreedy asks about Kumoko, and Smith tells him that Kumoko was sent to an internment camp after the start of the war.

Pete's sister Liz drives up in her jeep and rents it to Macreedy, who drives off to Adobe Flat. Despite Liz's assurance that Macreedy will find nothing and Horn's feeble attempts to assert his authority, Smith, after hearing from the private eye that there are no records on Macreedy, orders another local, Coley Trimble, to get rid of Macreedy, despite protests from Pete and the town doctor, Doc Velie.

At Adobe Flat, Macreedy finds only a burned out house, a deep well and wildflowers growing in the dirt. Returning to town, Trimble rams Macreedy off the road, then harasses him for being a "road hog." Macreedy decides to leave but is unable to get transportation to the next town and finds that the train will not come until the next morning. After enduring comments of racial bigotry relating to Kumoko, Macreedy is convinced that Smith is trying to kill him and attempts to telephone the police, but Pete will not help him.

The doc offers Macreedy his hearse for escape, but it has been tampered with and will not start. After trying to telegraph the police, Macreedy visits the café, where Coley goads him with more bigoted slurs. Macreedy downs Coley with judo, then accuses Smith of murdering Kumoko; he is convinced that the wildflowers hide something buried at Adobe Flat. Macreedy reveals that Kumoko's son Joe died as a result of saving his life in Italy during the war, earning a medal that Macreedy is bringing to his father.

Doc and Pete then confess that Kumoko leased Adobe Flat from Smith under false pretenses of available water. Kumoko, despite being cheated, dug the deep well, enraging Smith. Smith is further angered after being turned down by the Marines and after getting drunk, decides to "scare the Jap" along with Coley, Pete, Hector and Sam, the café owner. The incident gets out of hand and Kumoko is killed.

Pete then calls Liz and asks her help in getting Macreedy out of town. Liz drives him out of town into the hands of Smith. Smith shoots Liz to silence her, then turns the rifle on Macreedy. Macreedy creates a Molotov cocktail with jeep gas, his necktie and a glass bottle. He hurls the bottle at Smith, catching him on fire. Returning to town with Smith, Macreedy finds the other four witnesses locked up in a cell.

The next morning, the police escort the prisoners away as the Streamliner pulls in. Macreedy, after hearing pleas from Doc, gives him the medal awarded to Kumoko's son Joe. The conductor comments that the excitement must be the reason that the train stopped here for the first time in four years. Macreedy comments "second," then boards the train.

[arendt]

12. Movie summary (no spoilers)

In 1945 a train pulls into Black Rock, hardly even a whistlestop, and lets Macreedy off. He wants to give a local Japanese farmer his son's war medal, but the townsfolk will have nothing to do with him. Written by Ed Stephan {[email protected]}

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From the time John J. Macreedy steps off the train in Black Rock, he feels a chill from the local residents. The town is only a speck on the map and few if any strangers ever come to the place. Macreedy himself is tight-lipped about the purpose of his trip and he finds that the hotel refuses him a room, the local garage refuses to rent him a car and the sheriff is a useless drunkard. It's apparent that the locals have something to hide but when he finally tells them that he is there to speak to a Japanese-American farmer named Kamako, he touches a nerve so sensitive that he will spend the next 24 hours fighting for his life. Written by garykmcd

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John J. Macreedy doesn't know it, but when he steps off the train at the jerkwater town of Black Rock, he will soon find himself the object of fear, hatred, and even a murder plot! The altruistic Macreedy came to Black Rock to hand over a posthumous military award to a local man whose son had died gallantly in the Second World War. What Macreedy couldn't know when he stepped off of that train was that the town had a shameful secret, one that must be kept at all costs. Written by Alfred Jingle

[Binka]

19. K & R Excellent Analysis!

You have done such a good job describing the film and it's nuance I don't think people would necessarily have had to see it to understand what you are saying. I think most people, yes even here on DU, want to ignore what you are talking about.

I too am perched on the edge of my seat to see the ending and to be honest I am a bit frightened. The ignorance that is so rampant here in America is disturbing and violent, this could get really ugly.

Thanks for the time you spent writing this. I wish I could give you a hug. :hug:

[arendt]

21. I'm not sure they want to ignore this; they are just so easy to manipulate...

they have the attention span of squirrels.

You know that when you shoot a squirrel, for a while after that the other squirrels steer clear of the spot, but in a short while, they come back - and you can shoot another one.

More and more, people are admitting that this country is going down the drain - and the real depression/martial law hasn't even started yet.

arendt