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Macreedy's Day: BAD DAY
AT BLACK ROCK (1954)
Review Copyright Roger Zotti,
2001
A hot summer day in 1945, and for the first time in four
years a train stops in the desert town of Black Rock. A one-armed man disembarks.
WW II veteran John J. Macreedy has come to the one horse town to present
the Medal of Honor to the father of the man who saved his life in Italy.
Macreedy soon learns that the man for whom he is looking, a Japanese-born
farmer named Komoko, has been murdered, and that now he (Macreedy) is in
danger from the thugs who control the town, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan) and
his henchmen, played by Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Before Macreedy's
arrival he struggled painfully. To Doc Velie (Walter Brennan) and Pete Wirth
(John Ericson) he reveals his inner turmoil. He says, "I was washed up when
I got off that train...I had one last duty to perform before I resigned
from the human race ÉI was looking for some place to get lost...because
I was afraid I couldn't function any longer. Luckily, your friend Smith
changed my mind."
A wonderful teaching movie, Bad Day at Black Rock fits
Syd Fields' paradigm. Fields, the author of Screenplay: The Foundations,
wrote (and he almost seems to have Bad Day at Black Rock
in mind): "Beginnings and endings are related...No loose ends...Everything
is resolved dramatically...all questions raised are answered."
Bad Day at Black Rock begins, we recall, with Macreedy's
arrival on the Southern Pacific and ends with his departure. "First time
the train has stopped here in four years," the conductor says, but Macreedy
corrects him, "Second time." A perfect ending!
Don McGuire's screenplay was nominated for Best Screenplay, while Tracy
garnered a nomination for Best Actor and John Sturges for Best Director.
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