Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, (more)
- Director(s):
- John Sturges
- Category:
- Mystery & Suspense
My RatingTheatrical Release Information | See Details About All Versions
This powerfully tense, fast-paced suspense drama also yields a grim social message about racial prejudice. Spencer Tracy is John J. MacReedy, a one-armed stranger who comes to the tiny town of Black Rock one hot summer day in 1945, the first time the train has stopped there in years. He looks for both a hotel room and a local Japanese farmer named Komoko, but his inquiries are greeted at first with open hostility, then with blunt threats and harassment, and finally with escalating violence. MacReedy soon realizes that he will not be allowed to leave Black Rock; town boss Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who had Komoko killed because of his hatred of the Japanese, has also marked MacReedy for death. MacReedy must battle town thugs, a treacherous local woman (Anne Francis), and finally Smith himself to stay alive. The entire cast is flawless, especially Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as the mean-spirited town bullies, and the relentlessly paced action never eclipses the film's sobering themes. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 81 mins
Complete Cast:
- Spencer Tracy - John J. Macreedy
- Anne Francis - Liz Wirth
- Walter Brennan - Doc Velie
- John Ericson - Pete Wirth
- Russell Collins - Mr. Hastings
- Robert Ryan - Reno Smith
- Dean Jagger - Tim Horn
- Ernest Borgnine - Coley Trimble
- Lee Marvin - Hector David
- Walter Sande - Sam
- Director(s):
- John Sturges
- Writer(s):
- Don McGuire, Millard Kaufman
- Producer(s):
- Howard Hoffman, Dore Schary
- Categories:
- Mystery & Suspense
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1955 - Bad Day at Black Rock - Cannes Film Festival - International Prize- Best Actor








