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| Russell Collins, Dean Jagger, and Robert Ryan in the 1955 classic, Bad Day at Black Rock. C: William Mellor. D: John Sturges. |
It's September 1945, the end of WWII, and the passenger train stops in Black Rock. Trains never stop in Black Rock, but this one does. A stranger gets off the train. The townspeople emerge from their complacency, grim-faced, displeased. Who is this stranger? What does he want? What's he digging around here for? Before he's spoken a word, everyone in town gets nervous.
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Is Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) simply a crime drama? Is it film noir? Is it a modern-day western?
This film was mostly shot about 15 miles north of the Owens Valley town of Lone Pine, California. Production crews built the fictional town of Black Rock there for director John Sturges. Hundreds of movies have been filmed in and around Lone Pine, mostly westerns. Geographically it qualifies as a western.
Thematically? One man against a handful of thugs in front of a town of cowering or indifferent citizens? Sounds like High Plains Drifter (1973). Sounds like High Noon (1952). Sounds a little like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Sure, there are no horses or cowboy outfits in Bad Day at Bad Rock. And Pulp Fiction has no fedoras or Tommy guns; yet it's still a gangster film, while Some Like It Hot (1959), despite fedoras and Tommy guns, isn't. Bad Day at Bad Rock is a modern-day western.
It is certainly a dark film—even pessimistic. If Niagara (1953) qualifies as film noir, which it does routinely, then Bad Day at Black Rock is likewise film noir. It's a film noir western.
Lone Pine and the remnants of "Black Rock" are situated against the backdrop of the eastern Sierra Nevada and Mount Whitney. In the previous decade, a dark chapter in American history occurred at Manzanar, just south of the Black Rock set. A history of Manzanar can be found here.
Bad Day at Black Rock features what was then a bold take on American history, some spectacular cinematography, and spot-on performances by everyone. Along with the actors in the screenshot, Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Anne Francis, and John Ericson are well-cast.
