| ||||||||||||||||||||
From director J.J. Abrams comes the next installment in the Star Trek saga, Star Trek Into Darkness. See it at Cinemark theaters now and pre-order on Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD, and the Exclusive Starfleet Phaser Gift Set. Shop Star Trek Into Darkness and more in the Star Trek Store. Learn more |
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Special Features
- Crossfire: Hate Is Like a Gun featurette
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Product Description
Customer Reviews
"Crossfire" was one of the greatest low budget achievements in film history, earning five Academy Award nominations. Director Edward Dmytryk turned out a gem on a $550,000 budget. It was shot in 20 days. Dmytryk shot 140 scenes distributed out over a 6 1/2 hour daily schedule, a pace of 20 scenes per day.
The film noir classic was based on the novel "The Brick Foxhole" written by ex-Marine Richard Brooks, who would later became a film writer, and finally the great director of classics such as "Elmer Gantry" and "In Cold Blood." Brooks' novel differed from the film in one basic area. In the book Montgomery, the hateful killer, murdered a homosexual, while also revealing a hatred for Jews. In the movie he was revealed as a former police officer from St. Louis who detested Jews, killing kindly Sam Levene, who invited him into his Washington, D.C. residence for a drink.
The film encompasses one very busy night in our nation's capital, in which Robert Mitchum, playing a worldwise, cool-headed sergeant, helps police detective Robert Young to solve the case. Mitchum is determined from the outset to clear George A. Cooper, the vulnerable young soldier on whom Ryan seeks to pin the crime, taking advantage of the fact that Cooper had been drinking and cannot initially adequately account for his time during the time period of the crime.
Cooper's cause is aided by Paul Kelly, who plays a bizarre, mentally troubled man with a penchant for alcohol and a strong urge for B-girl Gloria Grahame, who takes Cooper back to her apartment. Not wanting to get involved, Grahame refuses to help provide Cooper with an alibi, not even after Cooper's wife, Jacqueline White, has interceded on her husband's behalf. Just as Young, Cooper and White are about to leave, Kelly, having overheard the conversation, walks into the living room and corroborates Cooper's account of events.
Ryan commits a second murder, killing fellow soldier Steve Brodie when he fears that he will go to the police, strangling him with his victim's Army tie. It is the shrewd Young, who reveals to Mitchum that his own Irish immigrant grandfather was killed by a bigoted mob not long after coming to America, whose expertise ultimately traps Ryan into revealing himself. He uses young Southerner William Phipps, a soldier Ryan likes to make fun of, to reveal information that proves perfect bait for the merciless killer, who falls into the trap.
One outstanding noir ploy of the film is that, in order to hide Cooper from the D.C. police while he is under suspicion for murder, the wily Mitchum takes him to an all-night movie theater. Mitchum and fellow soldiers periodically surface in the darkened theater to hold quiet strategy sessions, focused on the task at hand of clearing Cooper and proving their steadfast belief that Ryan is the killer of Levene. The all-night theater idea was adapted from Brooks' novel.
RKO intended to use the "Crossfire" team of Dmytryk, producer Adrian Scott and screenwriter John Paxton on numerous other projects. The right wing anti-Communist witch hunt period surfaced at that inauspicious point as Dmytryk and Scott eventually went to jail for contempt of Congress as two members of the Hollywood Ten.
All of which is accomplished in deep shadows on cheap sets. There's a short, 9-minute featurette bundled on the dvd entitled "Hate is like a gun." (DON'T watch it before you watch the movie for the first time; it gives away most of the major plot points.) The featurette contains archive footage of director Edward Dmytryk discussing CROSSFIRE. Made on a limited budget for RKO, Dmytryk recounts how he wanted to flip-flop the normal economics of a movie, so he decided to spend the bulk of the budget on actors and proportionately less on lighting, sets, etc. I was tempted to write `at the expense of...' but the shadowy, seedy look serves the movie admirably. The three Bobs this approach allowed Dmytryk to afford - Young, Mitchum, and Ryan - would have been more than worth the sacrifice, though.
Sam Levene plays Joseph Samuels who will be brutally beaten to death simply because, the movie will soon explain, he was Jewish. Samuels was last seen at a hotel bar, drinking with a group of soldiers who are about to be mustered out. He invites a lonely, despondent and seemingly disoriented soldier - George Cooper as Cpl. Arthur Mitchell - to his room. They're joined by a couple of other soldiers, including characters played by Steve Brodie and Robert Ryan , and before the night is through Samuels will be dead and Cpl. Mitchell will be missing and eagerly sought by police Captain Finlay (Robert Young) in connection with the murder.
Although it's nowhere near as preachy as `Gentleman's Agreement,' CROSSFIRE does carry a strong message of religious and societal tolerance that comes across as heavy-handed today. In their informed commentary track, Alain Silver and James Ursini rightly observe that this movie's message had to be sold to its audience, while we accept it as a given today. Enough already with your folks coming over from Ireland, Capt. Finlay! More `subversive,' to their view, is the non-judgmental attitude CROSSFIRE takes toward the b-girl (played to Academy Award nominee perfection by Gloria Grahame,) Cpl. Mitchell befriends and may provide an alibi for him when the police and - gasp! - his wife close in.
The `message' didn't make me realize that anti-Semitism is evil, that in some places it's pervasive, or that it's something that needs to be fought. Young's delivering-the-message scenes were, therefore, a little lost on me, although I found them interesting in a historical sense. And even though Robert Mitchum was a tad wasted - more a bystander than a central character - Ryan, Young, and Grahame more than compensated with their powerful characterizations. Strongest recommendation for this great crime thriller.
we need more like this.
B&W too.
do not pass it up.
john j wedrall
Look for Similar Items by Category
|
