Anyone ever see this Spencer Tracy movie? I remember seeing the first part of Bad Day at Black Rock years ago on TV. I had originally thought it would be a western, but no, it takes place in the 1940s (though filmed in 1954). Spencer Tracy was nominated for Best Actor for his role as a stranger in a small town. His search for a Japanese farmer stirs up the citizens, obviously due to some bad deeds on their part. Robert Ryan, Walter Brennan, Dean Jagger, Ann Francis, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine (who did win the Best Actor Oscar that year for the title role in Marty).
The cinemascoped desert and dusty town adds to this movie, and it is a surprise how the script doesn’t waste time with its secrets. The cast is superb, but the story is a little too heavy. There’s an obvious preachiness to it. No, it’s not preachiness, it’s just a message movie that likes the message too much.
Anyway, a decent movie and one that’s easy to watch, especially after the hellish night I had last night. Let’s just say don’t book a U.S. Airways flight from Phoenix to Flagstaff. It’s the most unreliable flight in the airline business. When my energy returns, I’ll tell you all about it. Meanwhile, watching Spencer Tracy taking on the bad guys helps me feel better.
