Bad Day at Black Rock
Short description
In the years just after the Second World War, a one-armed veteran named John J. Macreedy arrives by train at Black Rock, a small town in the American desert Southwest. He is looking for a Japanese-American farmer, the father of a man who saved his life during the war. The townspeople are strangely hostile and evasive, and the few residents he questions offer no answers. It becomes clear that they are hiding something, and the more Macreedy asks, the more openly threatening the town becomes, until he is attacked.
John Sturges directed the film from a screenplay by Millard Kaufman, with Dore Schary producing. It is the second of the eighteen features Sturges directed, following Thunderbolt and preceding Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Spencer Tracy plays Macreedy, and Robert Ryan, Walter Brennan, Lee Marvin, Dean Jagger and Anne Francis appear among the townspeople. Made for about one million dollars, the film returned roughly four million worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 7.7 out of 10 from more than twenty-three thousand votes, and on TMDB 7.3 out of 10 from several hundred votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10, drawn from thirty-five reviews, places it above the audience scores. The film runs eighty-one minutes and mixes crime, drama, mystery and western elements.
What's left behind the scenes
- The train scene that opens the film was added after preview screenings at the request of viewers who disliked the original opening. Director John Sturges had already begun filming the adventure drama 'The Scarlet Coat' (1955), so the scene was handled by producer Herman Hoffman. The filmmakers wanted a front view of the train, as if it were rushing straight toward the audience, but attempting to fly a helicopter in front of the train would have ended in disaster. Stunt pilot Paul Mantz suggested a solution: film the train moving in reverse, fly the helicopter behind the receding train, and then simply run the film backward.
- Just before filming began, Spencer Tracy (who played the protagonist John McGregory) considered leaving the project due to his struggle with alcohol. MGM executives contacted the actor and informed him that, as a precaution, they had sent the script to Alan Ladd, and that Ladd had agreed to play McGregory if necessary. Tracy pulled himself together and worked with Sturges, and in reality, no script had ever been sent to Ladd.
- Filming the night ambush took a day and a half. Robert Ryan's stunt double was dressed in a fireproof suit and gloves, then coated in a flammable substance (as he was supposed to be hit by a Molotov cocktail and burst into flames). The stuntman took a deep breath at the wrong moment and burned his lungs, which required hospitalization. The next day, however, the stuntman was already back on set.
- Ernest Borgnine (who played Colly Trimble) performed the scene where he falls through a closed door onto the street without a stunt double. He was unaware that director John Sturges had ordered the door to be nailed shut. The actor literally burst through the door and looked stunned, as he did not expect it to be boarded up; this was exactly the reaction the director was counting on.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
