Dalton Trumbo Movies
Colorado-born Dalton Trumbo began his professional life as a newspaper reporter and editor and, like a lot of people in those professsion, was drawn into the movie business in the mid '30s. His career as a screenwriter was rather routine during the later part of the decade, his most important scripts being Five Came Back (1939) and Kitty Foyle (1940). With the outbreak of World War II, the flashes of seriousness and spirituality that had shown up in his early work became more pronounced, and he wrote such classics as the fantasy A Guy Named Joe (1943) and the fact-based Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), which emphasized the need for sacrifice in order to win the war. Following the end of the war, Trumbo's career was blighted by the increasingly unfriendly political climate in Hollywood, where the studio heads had no use for men of ideas and ideals such as him. And then, in 1947, the roof fell in on him when he was called to testify about the alleged communist infiltration of the movie business and -- along with nine others -- refused to testify. Trumbo, who was suspect for his otherwise innocuous 1943 script for Tender Comrade (which was about communal living in wartime, not covert Communist propaganda), was cited for contempt of Congress and served a 10-month jail term. Officially unemployable by Hollywood, he moved to Mexico where he continued to write -- for fees far smaller than the $75,000 a year he'd been making from MGM before the contempt citation -- under assumed names. His script for The Brave One (1956, under the name Robert Rich) earned an Academy Award. That and other honors, most notably the Oscar earned by Michael Wilson's script for Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), helped undermine the blacklist, and Trumbo later worked openly on Exodus and Spartacus, two high-profile blockbuster productions released in 1960, as well as the more modest drama Lonely Are the Brave (1962). By the end of the '60s, with a new generation in control of Hollywood, Trumbo was welcomed back as a hero from a long war, and was permitted to direct a film adaptation of his 1939 antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun (1971) -- the film was honored at Cannes, and got a huge amount of press coverage in the United States due to its seeming relevance to the Vietnam War, but many of the accolades were really intended to compensate for past injustice, rather than to recognize the movie, which was received as overly preachy and didactic, as well as unremittingly grim, by most viewers. Trumbo also contributed late in life to the political thriller Executive Action (1973), which dealt with an alleged conspiracy to murder President Kennedy, and the adventure drama Papillon (1973). ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi- 2008
- NR
Dalton Trumbo's haunting anti-war drama comes to the screen for the second time in this filmed version of the stage play starring Ben McKenzie. On the last day of World War I, American soldier Joe Bonham is hit by an artillery shell an instantly rendered a quadruple amputee. Later, as Joe regains consciousness in his hospital bed, he realizes to his horror that he has also lost his senses of sight, smell, sound, and speech. Though Joe's capacity for reasoning is in tack and his brain is still fully functional, it's locked in a broken shell of a body, leaving him hopelessly trapped in his own imagination. His only means of communicating with the outside world is to tap his head in Morse code, but do the doctors even realize what he's trying to say? Eventually, his desperate message gets though: Joe wants to be put on display as a living example of the devastating cost of war. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Dalton Trumbo's haunting anti-war drama comes to the screen for the second time in this filmed version of the stage play starring Ben McKenzie. On the last day of World War I, American soldier Joe Bonham is hit by an artillery shell and instantly rendered a quadruple amputee. Later, as Joe regains consciousness in his hospital bed, he realizes to his horror that he has also lost his senses of sight, smell, sound, and speech. Though Joe's capacity for reasoning is in tack and his brain is still fully functional, it's locked in a broken shell of a body, leaving him hopelessly trapped in his own imagination. His only means of communicating with the outside world is to tap his head in Morse code, but do the doctors even realize what he's trying to say? Eventually, his desperate message gets through: Joe wants to be put on display as a living example of the devastating cost of war. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Benjamin McKenzie
A documentary adaptation of the popular regional theatrical monologue -- in which such heavyweights as Paul Newman, Nathan Lane, and Joe Mantegna essayed the lead on various occasions -- Trumbo recounts the life and times of legendary Hollywood scribe-turned-HUAC scapegoat Dalton Trumbo. As with its source production, the film takes as its base material highly personal, detailed, and emotive letters written by Dalton Trumbo to his son, Christopher; the latter, in turn, molded the missives into a screenplay for this production. Here, however, in lieu of one actor portraying Dalton, a number of celebrities take turns narrating from the script, including Lane, Paul Giamatti, Brian Dennehy, Donald Sutherland, and others. As a visual accompaniment, the film intercuts home-movie footage from the Trumbos' lives; incisive interview material with Trumbo, his family, friends, and collaborators; and haunting glimpses of the HUAC trial hearings with the Hollywood Ten, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; as well as extracts from The Sandpiper, Johnny Got His Gun, Spartacus, and other productions authored by Trumbo. Peter Askin, who helmed the stage play, directs. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, (more)
Made for television, Ishi: The Last of His Tribe is based on the book by Theodora Kroeber. Kroeber's anthropologist husband Alfred was the man who, in 1911, discovered the last surviving member of the Yahi Indian tribe living in a barn in Oroville California. Dennis Weaver plays the Kroeber counterpart, here named Professor Fuller, who befriends the Native American Ishi and learns his language (much of the film is subtitled). Ishi is played by Joseph Running Fox as a teenager and Eloy Phil Casados as an adult. This informative and deeply moving project was conceived for TV by Dalton Trumbo, who died in 1976 before finishing his script, which was completed by his son Christopher Trumbo. Ishi: Last of His Tribe is to some people's way of thinking superior to the more expensive cable-TV retelling of the same story, 1992's Last of His Tribe, which was bogged down in revisionism and political correctness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
Combining familiar newsreel footage with freshly shot material, David Helpern's Hollywood on Trial is a documentary concerning the "communist witch-hunt" era. In the years following World War II, several ambitious Washington politicos were anxious to dissipate the last traces of Roosevelt's New Deal, and in so doing labelled virtually everything hinting of liberalism as communistic. These cynical crusaders couldn't make the headlines if they merely concentrated on such "radicals" as college professors and pamphleteers, so they targeted the most public industry of all: Motion Pictures. That's why the House UnAmerican Activities Committee conducted one-sided "investigations" of the Hollywood Left, and that's why so many actors, writers and directors found themselves on the Blacklist that no producer would ever admit existed. Most of Hollywood on Trial concerns itself with the misadventures of the "Hollywood Ten," a group of writers and directors who refused to answer the committee's questions and wound up in jail as a result. John Huston, himself briefly under scrutiny from the HUAC for being "unfriendly," narrates this surprisingly objective, multi-viewpointed film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Huston, Edward Dmytryk, (more)
The autobiography of Henri Charriere, one of the few people to successfully escape from the notorious French penal colony of Devil's Island, served as the basis for Papillon. Steve McQueen plays the pugnacious Charriere (known as "Papillon," or "butterfly," because of a prominent tatoo), incarcerated--wrongly, he claims--for murdering a pimp. He saves the life of fellow convict Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a counterfeiter who will later show his gratitude by helping Charriere in his many escape attempts, and by smuggling food to Charriere when the latter is put in solitary confinement. One breakout, which takes Charriere and Dega to a leper colony and then to a native encampment, is almost successful, but Charriere is betrayed (allegedly because he stopped for an act of kindness) and back the prisoners go to French Guiana. Years later, Dega is made a trustee and is content with his lot, but the ageing, white-haired Charriere cannot be held back. A tribute to the unquenchability of the human spirit, Papillon brought in an impressive $22 million at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, (more)
If you think that Oliver Stone invented the "political paranoia" movie, take a glance at Executive Action sometime. Based on Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment, the conspiracy theorist's bible, Executive Action perpetuates the popular urban legend that John F. Kennedy was assassinated at the behest of a right-wing cartel with military and industrial interests. The film further hypothesizes that Lee Harvey Oswald not only didn't pull the trigger, but was also set up as a disposable dupe (this notion wasn't even new in 1973). Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Will Geer play the sinister conspirators. In the film's coda, still photos of 18 witnesses to the assassination are shown, while the accompanying text informs us that all of these people had died between 1963 and 1973. We are further told that the odds against this coincidence are one in a trillion. When Oliver Stone's thematically similar JFK came out in 1991, viewers with long memories were quick to notice the eerie similarities between the Stone film and Executive Action -- right down to choice of camera angles. Hmmm....a conspiracy, perhaps? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, (more)
In 1971, Jane Fonda and a group of fellow activist performers and musicians (including actor Donald Sutherland, musician Holly Near, and writer and comedian Paul Mooney) put together a satirical revue to perform at coffeehouses and parks near U.S. Army bases for the entertainment of G.I.'s who had come to oppose the war in Vietnam. Calling the show F.T.A. (meaning either "Free The Army" or "F-ck The Army" depending on what part of the show one witnessed), the show included protest songs, anti-war humor, appearances by G.I.'s and veterans who spoke out the war, and agit-prop theater designed to increase awareness and spread resistance against the military escalation in Vietnam. After a tour of the United States, the troupe headed to the Pacific, where they performed in Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, and Okinawa. F.T.A. is a documentary of the troupe's Pacific Tour, including highlights from the show, appearances by local performers, behind the scenes footage of the logistical and political problems of keeping the show on the road, and conversations with soldiers as they discuss what they saw in battle, their anger with the military bureaucracy, and their opposition to America's presence in Indochina. American-International Pictures released F.T.A. in the United States in 1972, but it appeared in theaters the same week that Jane Fonda made her infamous trip to Hanoi; AIP soon pulled it from circulation and it has been seen very rarely since. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The author of the famous late 1930's antiwar book Johnny Got His Gun wrote and directed this film adaptation. It concerns a nameless young soldier (Timothy Bottoms) in a veteran's hospital in the World War I period. The young man has had his face blown off, he is without the use of any of his senses save touch, and also has no arms or legs. He is in a coma at the beginning of the film, and his doctors doubt that he will regain consciousness. This is also what they hope. A nurse, while changing his dressings, discovers that he is awake and responsive. The unrelieved awfulness of his situation is apparent to many. However, in order to keep the "good order" of the military, the regular Army general commanding the hospital will not allow the boy to be seen or his family notified, nor will he permit anyone to perform a mercy killing. Interspersed with this horror are flashbacks of the youth's life before the war. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
Director John Frankenheimer, extrapolating from his earlier films The Gypsy Moths and Grand Prix, examines machismo and how men test themselves to the limits of endurance in The Horsemen. The film takes place in modern day Afghanistan. Uraz (Omar Sharif), the son of Tursen (Jack Palance), the stable master for a feudal lord, is a master horseman who lives by a primitive code of honor. Uruz's family honor is damaged when he breaks his leg playing the game which is the Afghani equivalent of polo. His father, who lost a lot of money betting on his son, will barely speak to him. To regain the family honor (and wealth) he must somehow re-learn how to ride -- after his injuries cost him his leg below the knee. In the face of great obstacles, and despite the derision and treachery of others, he gains the chance to play in the games given by the king of Afghanistan. The footage of the horsemanship in these dangerous and anarchic games is one of the real highlights of this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Omar Sharif, Leigh Taylor-Young, (more)
- 1968
John Frankenheimer directed this intense film adaptation of the Bernard Malamud novel. During the days of Czarist Russia, a poor but educated Jew, Yakov Bok (Alan Bates) is abandoned by his wife Raisl (Carol White). Yakov decides to leave his small village and travel to Kiev. Since it is the time of the pogroms, Yakov poses as a gentile and takes a job as a handyman for Lebedev (Hugh Griffith), a drunken anti-Semitic merchant. Yakov rises up the ladder in Lebedev's establishment, and he is eventually promoted to factory overseer-accountant. But when a neighborhood boy is murdered, Yakov's true identity is discovered. Yakov is unjustly accused of the murder and arrested. Bibikov (Dirk Bogarde), a government attorney, believes Yakov to be innocent and attempts to discover the true killer -- realizing that if a confession is forced out of Yakov, the entire Jewish population could be in dire trouble. Bravely, Yakov puts up with the brutal prison life, refusing to confess, hoping Bibikov may discover some new evidence to re-open his case. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde, (more)
Hawaii hadn't even begun filming when director Fred Zinnemann was replaced by George Roy Hill; similarly, the role intended for Charlton Heston ended up being played by Richard Harris (though Heston would eventually star in the 1970 sequel, The Hawaiians). Based on James A. Michener's best-selling novel, the time frame of which was spread out over several centuries, the film concentrates only on the years 1820 to 1841. Still, Michener's basic point, that the virginal sanctity of the Hawaiian islands was forever shattered by the incursion of the white man, remains intact. Max Von Sydow stars as Abner Hale, an imperious minister who settles in Hawaii with his wife, Jerusha Bromley Hale (Julie Andrews). While Abner expects the islanders to adapt to him rather than the other way around, Jerusha goes out of her way to understand and appreciate her new neighbors. She eventually seeks comfort in the arms of her former lover Rafer Hoxworth (Richard Harris). Despite the lush location footage and such spectacular highlights as pagan ceremonies and an outsized typhoon, the scene most filmgoers remember is Julie Andrews' agonizingly convincing childbirth sequence. All told, it took seven years to translate Hawaii from script to screen -- and almost that long to make back its 15-million-dollar cost. In the early scenes of Hawaii (the 171-minute version, rather than the 151-minute reissue), Bette Midler plays a bit part as a ship passenger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, (more)
- 1965
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton -- then Hollywood's most bankable couple -- appeared onscreen together for the third time in this romantic drama shot on beautiful locations along the Big Sur region of the California coastline. Laura Edwards (Elizabeth Taylor) is a free-thinking artist and Bohemian who is raising a her teenage son, Danny (Morgan Mason), conceived out of wedlock, on her own. Laura has issues with conventional teaching methods, and prefers to educate Danny about both intellectual and ethical matters on her own. However, Danny has become something of a problem, and child welfare authorities demand that Danny either be sent to school or become a ward of the state. Rather than send Danny to public school, Laura arranges for him to attend a private academy run by Dr. Edward Hewitt (Richard Burton), an Episcopalian minister. Edward is at first shocked by Laura's embrace of free love and rejection of conventional moral codes, but as he gets to know her better, he finds himself increasingly attracted to her, despite the fact he has a wife, Claire (Eva Marie Saint), and two children. Before long, Edward's desire overpowers his scruples and he begins an affair with Laura. Wracked with guilt over his infidelity, Edward confesses his indiscretion to Claire, which proves to have severe and unexpected consequences. While saddled with poor reviews upon its initial release, The Sandpiper did win an Academy Award for Johnny Mandel's theme song, "The Shadow of Your Smile." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1965
This claustrophobic WW II war drama chronicles the five months which six soldiers and one woman spent trapped within a deep cave in the Italian mountains. Two soldiers die while trying to escape. The survivors try to keep sane, but keep grating upon each other. The pressure reaches a fever pitch when the British general blows his head off. The gunshot creates an explosion and the others escape. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rosanna Schiaffino, John Saxon, (more)
Although it never quite escapes the pitfalls of pretension, this film was Kirk Douglas's bid for the affections of the art house crowd, and it remains one of his best efforts. The star plays unreconstructed "rugged individual" Jack Burns, who rides throughout the modern west knocking down man-made fences. Visiting his equally rebellious friend Paul Bondi (Michael Kane), Burns deliberately gets himself thrown in jail to be nearer his pal. Frustrated that Bondi doesn't want to join Burns on the road, Burns breaks out of jail, thereby becoming a fugitive. His trail is dogged by Sheriff Johnson (Walter Matthau), a frustrated frontiersman who secretly admires the freewheeling Burns. Meanwhile, a truck driver (Carroll O'Connor) is ominously driving down the highway with a truckload of toilets. If you think there's supposed to be some symbolism in this seemingly peripheral character, you're absolutely right. Bill Raisch, a genuine amputee who played the one-armed man on TV's The Fugitive, is Douglas' surly opponent in the café brawl sequence. Filmed on location in New Mexico, Lonely are the Brave was adapted by Dalton Trumbo from Edward Abbey's novel Brave Cowboy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, (more)
- 1961
Scripted by Dalton Trumbo and directed by Robert Aldrich, this off-beat, almost eclectic film could be hailed as a thinking person's western. It is the dark cat-and-mouse tale of a sherrif's hunt for a philosophy-spouting criminal in the midst of a great cattle drive. The outlaw killed the sherrif's brother-in-law. During his flight, the outlaw pauses long enough to drop by the ranch where his former lover lives with her husband and 16-year-old daughter. While there, the rancher hires him to lead a cattle drive to Texas. The sheriff soon catches up, but he decides to help the killer with the drive before bringing him in. Along the way, the two men gain a grudging respect for one another. Also the sheriff begins to fall in love with the rancher's wife, while the crook finds himself drawn to her lovely daughter. The rancher ends up killed during the trip and this allows the romances to bloom until the widow tells the outlaw an awful secret about the young woman he loves. Grecian-style tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, (more)
Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus, eventually replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, (more)
Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, Exodus is a 212-minute screen adaptation of the best-selling novel by Leon Uris. The film is concerned with the emergence of Israel as an independent nation in 1947. Its first half focuses on the efforts of 611 holocaust survivors to defy the blockade of the occupying British government and sail to Palestine on the sea vessel Exodus. Paul Newman, a leader of the Hagannah (the Jewish underground), is willing to sacrifice his own life and the lives of the refugees rather than be turned back to war-ravaged Europe, but the British finally relent and allow the Exodus safe passage. Once this victory is assured, 30,000 more Jews, previously interned by the British, flood into the Holy Land. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
- 1959
Playwright James Lee adapted his off-Broadway play for the screen in this high-strung adaptation, directed by Joseph Anthony. In this simplistic, backroom show-business-success saga, Anthony Franciosa plays Sam, a struggling young actor who will forsake his family and take any type of menial job in order to become a Broadway star. Dean Martin is on hand as Maury, an aspiring director also trying to claw his way up the ladder of success. When Maury gets his big break, Sam wants a part in his show, but when Maury, who is unwilling to cast Sam in the production, turns down Sam's request, Sam seduces and marries Maury's girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine). In spite of everything, Maury wants his girl back, and Sam agrees to a divorce on the stipulation that Maury cast him as the star in his next show. Once again, Maury reneges and, before Sam can exact his revenge, Uncle Sam comes to the rescue and he is drafted into the army. While Sam is in the army, the era of the communist witch hunts are in full flower, and since Sam and Maury were both members of the Communist Party, upon Sam's return home he discovers that they both are blacklisted. Their passion for success still burning bright, they decide to collaborate and put together an independent production that will either mark their complete success or their complete failure. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
The once-scandalous autobiography of Frank Harris was the source of the fascinating "adult" western Cowboy. Jack Lemmon plays Harris, who when first the audience meets him is a citified desk clerk in a frontier hotel. Harboring romantic notions of the West, Harris prevails upon hard-living, hard-drinking trail boss Tom Reece Glenn Ford to take him along on Reece's next cattle drive. In the months that follow, Harris' idealized notions of the West are cruelly dispelled, though he eventually becomes accustomed to the rough-and-tumble life on the trail and to the curious cameradie between the drovers. The film's most talked-about scene finds a group of cowboys planting a rattlesnake in one of their comrade's blankets as a joke; their regretful but oddly detached reaction when the bitten man dies speaks volumes about the Real West. Also memorable is the performance of Brian Donlevy as Doc Bender, an ageing gunfighter who can't stand the notion of becoming an anachronism. One of the more unorthodox westerns of the 1950s, Cowboy is also one of the best. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Glenn Ford, (more)
Audrey Hepburn became a star with this film, in which she played Princess Anne, weary of protocol and anxious to have some fun before she is mummified by "affairs of state." On a diplomatic visit to Rome, Anne escapes her royal retainers and scampers incognito through the Eternal City. She happens to meet American journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), who, recognizing a hot news story, pretends that he doesn't recognize her and offers to give her a guided tour of Rome. Naturally, Joe hopes to get an exclusive interview, while his photographer pal Irving (Eddie Albert) attempts to sneak a photo. And just as naturally, Joe falls in love with her. Filmed on location in Rome, Roman Holiday garnered an Academy Award for the 24-year-old Hepburn; another Oscar went to the screenplay, credited to Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton but actually co-written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. The 1987 TV movie remake with Catherine Oxenberg is best forgotten. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, (more)
Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) is a cynical policeman who believes that success comes from lucky breaks. Responding to a prowler complaint at the home of Susan Gilvray (Evelyn Keyes), he is immediately attracted to her and her wealth. He returns to "check up" on Susan, and they begin an affair, conducted while listening to her husband John (Sherry Hall)'s all-night radio program. Feeling guilty, Susan ends the relationship, but Garwood remains obsessed. He pretends to be a prowler on the Gilvray property so he can respond to another police call. Drawing William outside, he shoots him and makes it appear accidental. When Garwood manipulates Susan's confusion about the shooting, she buys his story, and the lovers marry. However, upon discovering that Susan is pregnant "too soon," they flee to give birth in secret, but eventually Susan learns the devastating truth. ~ Steve Press, Rovi
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1950
1950's Emergency Wedding is a remake of 1940's You Belong to Me. The later film stars Larry Parks, who'd had a bit role in the original. Parks plays wealthy Peter Kirk, a playboy, while Barbara Hale co-stars as female doctor Helen Hunt. When Peter marries Helen, it is a "given" that he'll stay home while she works. Unfortunately, Peter becomes jealous of the amount of time Helen spends at the hospital with her patients. Out of pique, Peter makes the supreme sacrifice and offers to get a job himself. All sorts of misunderstandings and remonstrations ensue before the title Emergency Wedding is explained at the very end. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Larry Parks, Barbara Hale, (more)
The definitive Joseph H. Lewis-directed melodrama, Gun Crazy is the "Bonnie and Clyde" story retooled for the disillusioned postwar generation. John Dall plays a timorous, emotionally disturbed World War II veteran who has had a lifelong fixation with guns. He meets a kindred spirit in carnival sharpshooter Peggy Cummins, who is equally disturbed -- but a lot smarter, and hence a lot more dangerous. Beyond their physical attraction to one another, both Dall and Cummins are obsessed with firearms. They embark on a crime spree, with Cummins as the brains and Dall as the trigger man. As sociopathic a duo as are likely to be found in a 1940s film, Dall and Cummins are also perversely fascinating. As they dance their last dance before dying in a hail of police bullets, the audience is half hoping that somehow they'll escape the Inevitable. Some critics have complained that Dall is far too effeminate and Cummins too butch, but Joseph H. Lewis was never known to draw anything in less than broad strokes: recall the climax of Terror in a Texas Town, wherein Sterling Hayden participates in a western showdown armed with a whaler's harpoon. The best and most talked-about scene in Gun Crazy is the bank robbery sequence, shot in "real time" from the back seat of Dall and Cummins' getaway car. Originally slated for Monogram release, Gun Crazy enjoyed a wider exposure when its producers, the enterprising King Brothers, chose United Artists as the distributor. The film was based on a magazine article by MacKinlay Kantor; one of the scenarists was uncredited blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peggy Cummins, John Dall, (more)
- 1948
Elmer Rice's clever stage comedy Dream Girl is Hollywoodized and "dumbed down" almost beyond recognition in this 1948 film version. In place of the original play's Betty Field, Betty Hutton stars Georgina Allerton, who periodically escapes her humdrum existence by retreating into elaborate daydreams. Georgina's fantasy excursions disturb her parents (Walter Abel and Peggy Wood) and her married sister (Virginia Field), who wish that she'd grow up already and stop all this nonsense. Only when she falls truly in love with Clark Redfield (Macdonald Carey) does Georgina abandon her dream world. Like the previous year's Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the film version of Dream Girl substitutes the quiet whimsy of its source with slapstick and overstatement; additionally, Elmer Rice's three-dimensional supporting characters are transformed into cardboard stereotypes. And just so the audience doesn't miss anything, the producers have added a voiceover narration to explain what has just been seen. With all this going against Dream Girl, Betty Hutton emerges unscathed, delivering a lot better performance than her material warrants. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, MacDonald Carey, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.