“UNWELCOMING COMMITTEE”

By Raymond Benson

Although the picture takes place a couple of months after the end of World War II in the year 1945, Bad Day at Black Rock is really a western. The setting is a desert town that’s barely a whistle stop for a train that hasn’t halted there in four years; the main street looks as if it’s right out of Dodge City, and the opening credits are designed in big, colorful, bold words that spread across the wide CinemaScope screen. Even director John Sturges is primarily known for his many westerns.

Good Guy Spencer Tracy rides into town—on that train—and is met with inexplicable hostility from everyone he meets. All he wants is to find a guy named Komoko—a Japanese farmer who supposedly lives just out of town. Most of the residents seem afraid to help Tracy. The ones who aren’t scared are bullies who attempt to intimidate Tracy into leaving town. It doesn’t take long for Tracy to figure out that Black Rock is run by Bad Guy Robert Ryan. Even the alcoholic sheriff (Dean Jagger) is in Ryan’s pocket, as well as the young female mechanic (Anne Francis), the telegraph operator (Russell Collins), and the hotel clerk (John Ericson). Ryan has a couple of bruisers (Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin) who do most of the threatening. The only civilian seemingly willing to extend an ounce of courtesy to the stranger is the undertaker (Walter Brennan).

So why is Tracy so unwelcome? Why is Black Rock so paranoid? What secret in its past are the citizens obviously protecting? Tracy—not one to back down easily—decides to try and get the answers before the gang puts him in the ground.

These are classic western trappings. It’s High Noon, only Tracy has come to town to find everyone against him, rather than the other way around. Ryan is the archetypal greedy, mean cattle baron, and Marvin is his six-shooter-slinging henchman. The only difference is that everyone in Black Rock gets around in a car instead of on a horse.

As film historian Dana Polan states in the accompanying audio commentary, Bad Day is a B-movie disguised as a prestige picture. The studio is MGM. The CinemaScope/color photography is impressive. The star is Spencer Tracy, adding “respectability” to the film. And, in the end, it’s a “problem picture,” in that the movie is about racism. All that spells “importance.”

None of that really matters, for Bad Day at Black Rock is simply solid entertainment. It is suspenseful, full of tension, has action—a car chase, hand-to-hand combat, a shootout—and admirable performances. Tracy was nominated for an Oscar Best Actor. Sturges was nominated for Director, and the adapted screenplay by Don McGuire and Millard Kaufman received a nod.

The Warner Archive Collection release presents a 1080p High Definition transfer with DTS-HD Master Audio. 

Supplements include the aforementioned commentary and the theatrical trailer.

It’s a few-frills package, but Bad Day at Black Rock is a no-frills thriller that packs a raw and gritty punch. Recommended.

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