Year: 1951
Director: John Berry
Country: US
Language: English
He Ran All the Way was the last motion picture John Garfield ever made. Despite no evidence that he was ever a part of the communist party, the HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Commitee) blacklisted him from Hollywood for refusing to name names. He had planned on making a comeback, but died from heart problems a year later at the young age of 39.
In this, Nick and his partner Al stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot and Nick (John Garfield) kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets Peg Dobbs (Shelley Winters). They go back to her apartment and he forces her family to hide him from the police manhunt.
Shelley Winters movies are always fun to watch, as one doesn't know how her character will end up. In many, though not all, of her best regarded outings, she falls in love with the antagonist and then meets an untimely end. This meta- uncertainty creates a lot of doubt and suspense for fans of her work.
The script, by Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler, packs a mean punch by allowing the atmosphere of paranoia and tension to slowly rise until it engulfs the picture. Franz Waxman's music is nerve rattling; the cinematography and editing are masterful, usually such visual feasts could only be seen in Orson Welles' pictures.
It's unfortunate that so many talented individuals who were involved in making this picture were labelled as "communist" by the HUAC. Also unfortunate that this would be Garfield's last picture as he had not yet reached his peak in terms of performing. He Ran All the Way is a fun foreboding picture that will live long in the memory of cinema.
No comments:
Post a Comment