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The Naked Dawn
Santiago, a jolly modern bandito, has just lost his partner when he happens on the isolated farm of young Manuel and Maria Lopez...
Release : | 1955 |
Rating : | 6.6 |
Studio : | Universal International Pictures, Josef Shaftel Productions, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Arthur Kennedy Betta St. John Eugene Iglesias Charlita Roy Engel |
Genre : | Western |
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Reviews
Please don't spend money on this.
Absolutely brilliant
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Fascinating little gem of a movie offering a slice of life and circumstances that makes one ponder about it all. The film is raw in its depiction of real life not setting the stage for anything but instead jumping right into one life dynamic after another. We watch as we see and relate of how senseless and unsatisfying the lead players life is but in no way will you condemn him simply because a bit of it exists in you. That's what keeps you engaged. Its to see how he would handle these scenarios and would it be different than your approach? He steals, lies, plays with morals, corrupts and mocks (plus more) yet he does it without denial. Actually there is a sorrow about his existence and for that reason, you forgive him. The supporting players do well to help drive the human nature points especially about temptation which visit casually and effectively with them all. The thing is, can they recover? Learn from it? Not repeat it? At no time to you believe that the main player likes what he does but at the same time effectively convinces the viewer that he doesn't know what he does or what to do different except after the fact. Some of his after (s) come with consequences. There is a theme in this movie of a simple life versus a non-simple life and it asks this question? Is your life simple good or simple bad? In other words, are you hiding out and avoiding or have you found contentment and peace? Only the viewer will know. This movies has a slow but meaningful pace and Arthur Kennedy carries it along without effort. If you find this, watch it and learn from it. Have a tasty drink and some Mexican food on standby as there are beans, tacos, tortillas scenes that you can eat along with. Of course, a tasty drink too and not because they drink tequila and pulque but to wash your meal down. BTW...pulque is a fermented alcoholic milk-looking type drink made from cactus type plant popular in Mexico. If a man cannot hold his pulque well he has some work to do. Also, there is a custom that if someone pours you a glass, you must drink it down. Its the second one you get to sip...
Santiago (Arthur Kennedy) is a good-hearted bandit...if there actually is such a thing. And when he meets up with Manuel and his wife, he leads the very meek Manuel into life on the wild side. While Manuel has always been very righteous, soon he starts to enjoy the idea of wealth and soon his true, violent and selfish side comes out after making this new friendship. But he's not the only one affected by Santiago's arrival...as soon Manuel's wife, Maria, has fallen for this new mystery man! What's to come of all this?While this could have been a nice little morality tale about greed, it suffers in several ways. Its pacing is not great and has some slow moments or scenes that could have been excised. At times, the Mexicans seemed awfully silly and stereotypical. Also, occasionally the acting is a bit overwrought...though I must admit that I was surprised that Kennedy was actually pretty good in the lead...playing the Bandito.
I don't have a high opinion of Edward G. Ulmer, who strikes me as a good visual stylist -- this movie is lit like a bullfighting poster, which is a nice touch. However, he had a tin ear and his great artistic ability was coming in cheap, whether it was a stylish studio effort, like THE BLACK CAT, or a porn movie in which he's cast his daughter. I'm not making up the latter. While I haven't seen it myself, a friend who hunts Ulmer's movies obsessively told me about his conversations with the daughter about it.In any case, Arthur Kennedy is a bandito who wanders onto the farm owned by peons Eugenie Iglesias and Betta St. John. Everyone gives moderate-length speeches, and everyone's life is changed. Kennedy does well with his speeches, despite apparently having Mel Blanc voice-coaching him as Speedy Gonzalez. Betta St. John yearns for something to happen and breaks crockery to make it happen. Iglesias vacillates between goodness and greed.It's a three-person play set in Mexico from a Gogol story -- I assume, set originally in Russia. Admirers of Ulmer will admire it. I think it's an OK programmer.
A compelling movie of a different kind. When a low budget movie that was filmed in 10 days with very few characters, markedly rivets ones attention, that is a telltale sign of a a good and unusual production. The attire and settings were very convincing. The three leading characters all portrayed Hispanics extremely unusual for a 1950s western. The acting/directing was very good. The movie discusses female servitude/abuse; and the lure of money and its impact on ones loyalty, profession, and romantic decisions. With few characters and a low budget, the movie project took the very little and turned into quite an interesting and believable flick, of a different kind, that found time to examine core aspects of human behavior. In the same general genre as For Whom the Bell Tolls, but yet so different. Wow!!