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Load of rubbish!!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Blistering performances.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

a film about passion. in different aspects and nuances and forms. few great performances - Mary Astor and Burt Lancaster first-. the atmosphere of small town from desert. the geography of bad guy life, weakness and use of people. and the quiet Charming Prince. this is all. at the first sigh. because the most fascinating ingredient is the not so ambiguous relationship between the characters of Wendell Corey and John Hodiak.something missing. the censorship, the scandal, the stones of conservative public. and, maybe, the cause could be the chemistry between Eddie and Johnny, too realistic for our time in same measure, who saves the film. because all is well known. except the extravagant triangle who , to the end, becomes so clear, after few clues. but this is only the op of the mixture of liaisons of love, passion and desires.the love for her daughter of Fritzie, the affection for Paula of the Tom Hanson, the classic fascination of freedom and fake love story are, in same measure important. sure, Desert Fury is far to be the best film of genre. but it remains special. for the strange form of courage/unconscious of its director.

Oh god, what a petrie dish fry up! DESERT FURY is literally hysterical, like a shrill daytime soapie with cinema values. Made in 1947 in perfect glossy Technicolor to distract you from the beserkness and tawdry storyline, this is one terrific exercise in censorship busting antics that managed to fulfill it's reputation. Lizabeth Scott, like a naughty green fairy loose from a bottle of Absinthe, Wendell Corey as the housewife to creepy-teeth gangster mate John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster pretending he doesn't know and Mary Astor the battle cruiser mother each out vie each other in every scene with a regular exchange of niceties followed by face slapping or tantrum and threat. Every scene, like a roundelay of temperament. DESERT FURY is genuine queer cinema. With incest hinted, guns and car tyre screeching, sinister sunglass wearing and cactus pricks everywhere, this wacky hussy of a film makes for a terrific couch night with friends who have never seen it.

You Tube is a great place to watch all these old movies. But as I wrote as my "Summary" (1947--2010) too many years have gone by and no matter how much we like the interpreters..., something has to give. Now we see too many downfalls that at the time (maybe) people weren't aware of.For example: Lizabeth Scott, as lovely and personal as she was (her voice was as attractive in its whispering as Ava Gardner's) was a wrong choice to play the daughter of Mary Astor (excelent, beautiful, very talented actress) since the age difference was minimal, most of the time unnoticeable. But..., since at the time Scott was the producer's... friend, there was no other choice!! John Hodiak was in no way presentable on his bare chest, at least now that we have become accustomed to gym exercised torsos. Burt Lancaster set of hair was so gorgeous that every time he appeared I, at least, lost track of what they were saying. Lizabeth Scott hair was also a miracle, product of Hollywood hairstylists: Fabulous. Something that drove me mad was that oval window in Scott's bedroom... Have you ever seen anything so outrageously artificial outside of an amateurish theatrical production?? Censure at the time was so frightful that most of the dialog is highly hilarious, trying to say without saying what was going on between Mr. Hodiak and Mr. Corey's characters (they were lovers).The final resolution of the story is so abrupt that one could think Scott's character was an alien without human sentiments. All of a sudden she falls in love with the remaining man, because obviously she was "a good girl" after all. Silly movie. The most enjoyable thing: That extraordinary "Town and Country" convertible she was driving all the time. Magnificent car.

Probably the most distinguished feature of DESERT FURY is the spectacular Technicolor Paramount lavished on it, a story of personal conflicts among Nevada's gambling set. Another distinguished feature is MARY ASTOR as Fritzi, a hard-boiled dame who runs a gambling establishment and keeps a tight leash on her willful daughter (LIZABETH SCOTT). Scott is strikingly photographed and reminded me of a more animated version of Veronica Lake.But complications arise when two men pay too much attention to Astor's daughter--JOHN HODIAK (a no good hunk who may or may not have murdered his wife) and BURT LANCASTER as a wary police officer who keeps Lizabeth Scott on his radar at all times.It's fun as melodrama, nothing more or less, and at times achieves something of a camp classic with Astor's butch performance as she effortlessly steals the film's acting honors. Take it or leave it, it's all in good, steamy fun with lots of fury going on under those hot Technicolor lights.