Bad Day at Black Rock

Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 film from MGM, directed by John Sturges. It is a film about xenophobia and racism, specifically against Japanese-Americans, yet there are no Japanese actors in the cast. And though it's set in 1945, it follows the traditions of Westerns. It is also something of a masterpiece.

The beginning of the film shows a train hurtling through the Southwest. It makes a stop at the very small town of Black Rock, and the few citizens are stunned--it's the first time the train has stopped in four years. Disembarking is a one-armed man in a black suit, Spencer Tracy. He is looking for someone, but he is treated with the direct opposite of hospitably, and the men in town (there is only one woman in the cast) behave suspiciously.

As the film goes on (it takes place over a twenty-four period, hence the title) Tracy realizes something is up, and that the people are hiding something. He is looking for a man named Komoko, who was a Japanese-American farmer. He is told by the local land-owner, Robert Ryan, that Komoko was shipped off to an internment camp, but after Tracy checks out the missing man's burned-out homestead and what looks like an unmarked grave, he has his doubts. By now the threatening townsmen won't let him leave, nor will they place his phone calls or send his telegrams, but he is assured by the town's doctor (and mortician), Walter Brennan, that he probably won't be killed before dark.

That this film came during the height of xenophobic 1950's isn't a surprise. It's extremely unsettling, like something you might see in a Twilight Zone episode, when Tracy encounters one unfriendly face after another. In addition to Ryan, the heavies in the cast include Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine, so there's some major muscle on display. Ryan, who calls the shots in town, is a metaphor for intolerance, especially in his speech about how he wished people would leave the West alone. "Alone to do what?" Tracy pointedly asks him.

The film was directed by John Sturges in CinemaScope. Sturges was well-known for Westerns, such as The Magnificent Seven, and there's some beautiful composition here. In one scene there were thirteen individuals in a tableau (I had time to count them) and it's beautiful to behold. Sturges, Tracy and screenwriter Millard Kaufman were nominated for Oscars.

If that's not enough, there's a marvelous scene in a diner where Tracy, using only one arm, knocks the stuffing out of Ernest Borgnine.