Nicholas Ray may be an over-rated director in some circles (I still haven't made up my mind about that - need to see his entire output first) but this is a stunningly good debut movie. It's reputation was high, I wasn't sure how to take it... but it's lovely.
The movie begins like a trailer, with Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell looking lovingly into each other's eyes and words scrolling across the screen talking about them... but it's the actual movie, then it lunges into a helicopter shot of a fleeing car.
The plot is about three criminals on the run - the youngest, Granger, falls for O'Donnell, who's the niece of one of his mates. Their relationship is treated sensitively with great warmth and empathy, and the two leads are superb. Granger never became a top rank star (too passive, too sensitive) but in the right part he was gold and he is here - tormented, handsome, doomed, longing, dumb, easily led. O'Donnell is loving, caring, adoring; like Granger she was possibly too passive and weak seeming to be a star but she's magical here.
The supporting cast is also very fine - Howard da Silva and Jay C Lippen are outstanding as Granger's fellow crooks; Ian Wolfe is marvellous as the justice of the peace. All the support characters feel three dimensional and alive - except for that bald prosecutor guy who goes "tsk tsk" in his scenes about the seriousness of it all. Those moments pulled me out of the drama - that and the stuff about robbers becoming famous ("media fame" moments always clunk a little for me).
The movie dipped around the two thirds mark - I think when I doubted Granger's love for O'Donnell. But it rallied for the very moving ending.
I've been giving Dore Schary a hard time lately on this blog for his lack of ability when it came to producing commercial movies. But he deserves full marks for supporting Nick Ray's first effort - he and John Houseman. It's a moving, marvellous, emotional gut wrenching film.
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