Watch Bad Day at Black Rock For Free

Really Surprised!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

SYNOPSIS: A mysterious, one-armed stranger arrives at a lonely western whistle-stop. What's his purpose? Why is he asking questions? NOTES: Nominated for the following prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Actor, Spencer Tracy, who lost out to Ernest Borgnine's performance, not in this picture, but "Marty"; Best Director, John Sturges, who lost out to Marty's Delbert Mann; Best Screenplay, Millard Kaufman. This award was actually won, of course, by Paddy Chayefsky for "Marty".Number five in The Film Daily's annual "Best Films" poll of USA and Canadian movie critics. Number four on the the National Board of Review's list of the Best American Films of the Year. Negative cost (excluding studio overheads): $1.2 million. Domestic rental gross: In excess of $3 million.Re-made in 1960 as "Platinum High School".COMMENT: "Back in the early days of CinemaScope," John Sturges tells us, "the wide, wide wide-screen was considered desirable only for enormous spectacles using thousands of people and mile-high sets. I thought it ought to be the other way around. Here I was with one man stuck in the desert. It occurred to me that the way to show the isolation of this one man in the desert was to use all this space, to surround him with space. The more space you have around him, the more you isolate him. And the more you isolate him, the more suspenseful your story becomes." Of course, Spence wasn't the only man in the town. He was the stranger, probing, asking questions, interacting with the tight- lipped townsmen who regarded him with suspicion, distrust, and even hate. Why? Under Sturges' riveting direction, Bad Day at Black Rock comes across as an engrossingly suspenseful story, stunningly directed, atmospherically photographed and vividly enacted by a first-rate cast led by Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis and Ernest Borgnine.

One year after she appeared in this modern western, Anne Francis starred in the iconic science fiction film, "Forbidden Planet". The town that serves as the setting for this film is so isolated that it could be on some similar, distant planet. I have been to actual towns in Montana and Wyoming with even fewer than 15 residents, but there always was the presence of at least some kind of activity, business, or industry in these towns. Even if the road through one of these towns wasn't paved, there was always an occasional visitor passing through, including myself. In Black Rock, on the other hand, no one person or business seems to be there for any particular reason, other than for some sinister purpose. Aside from occasional hunting for subsistence, no one appears to do much of anything other than hanging out in the only hotel's lobby. A hotel for whom? Liz (Anne Francis), the only female resident for miles, runs a service station, but for whom? For Coley's (Ernest Borgnine's) old crate or for Smith's (Robert Ryan's) dilapidated wagon? From a purely economic perspective, in order for these establishments to exist, they need customers, and there just aren't enough of them to justify their survival as "going concerns". It is as if this town lives only in the world of science fiction because it could never subsist in reality. Or could it?The scenes of the train speeding through the remote wilderness, filmed in CinemaScope, are among the most effective segments of the movie. From the very start, by the very presence of the train and even more by its actual stopping for the first time in four years at the town's "station", the viewer immediately senses the sudden, physical encroachment of the civilized world that lies somewhere far from Black Rock.The central character, Macreedy, played very well by a prematurely aging Spencer Tracey, has business with Mr. Komoko, a Japanese-American farmer who supposedly lives outside the town in an area called Adobe Flats. Is it only a coincidence that Lone Pine, California, the film's actual locale, is near the site of Manzanar, one of the largest Japanese-American internment camps during World War II? From the minute he steps off the invasive train, Macreedy is met with intense suspicion, and the discomfort of the townspeople grows even more when he seeks information about Mr. Komoko, of all people. Do the town's mostly idle inhabitants have a problem with the farmer's ethnicity or rather with the fact that he might be the only resident for miles who actually produces anything? Maybe a combination of both.The excellent acting by a very talented cast is one of the most positive aspects of this film. For me, there was too much inactive loafing in the hotel lobby by the mostly disagreeable characters to maintain my interest, but I was surely jolted awake by Mr. Tracy's improvised Molotov cocktail, an experience that is not to be missed."This is my town, Mr. Macreedy, like it or not!" snaps Liz. What's to like here, Liz? Poor Anne Francis. She always ends up in the creepiest places, not only on distant Altair-5 and as a victim of a mean pranks by the thugs of North Manual High but now as a prisoner of this remote, rotten town, consisting of nothing but very unlikable folks. The woman never seems to catch a break.Despite the bone dry sense of total isolation and relative inactivity, see this one for its very able cast. You can't go wrong there.

I've always been intrigued by this film but never saw it until December 2014 when I was able to see it in high definition and widescreen. It turns out to be a simple but effective story of a man trapped in a hick town by a bunch of townsfolk who are all more or less implicated in the murder of a Japanese-American man just after Pearl Harbour. A good cast with some tense moments – shorter and simpler than I imagined. The early cinemascope format makes the best of the train sweeping in and of the rocky scenery in the desert around the town but as most of the picture is set in either a garage, hotel lobby or sheriffs office it is rather wasted. Fairly enjoyable – a sort of 'Noir Western'.

American film 'Bad Day at Black Rock' begins with an express train running through Mojave desert in California.It makes an unscheduled stop at a small town which has not seen any train stop there for the last four years.This brief yet interesting description is enough to guarantee ample thrills to viewers.However,director John Sturges and his leading man Spencer Tracy contribute a lot to ensure that their film also discusses some issues of supreme importance especially the hypocrisy of small town people who would do anything to let some secrets remain buried in the ground.This is plenty of action in the film with imaginative use of hands and mouths.Apart from some good performances by Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine, it is actor Spencer Tracy who completely dominates the film.It is said that a leading man doesn't lose cool easily.However, no hero would keep quiet when unjustly provoked.It is precisely for this reason that he emerges as a true hero despite having a severe physical handicap.