Bad Day at Black Rock

Bad Day at Black Rock
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Sturges
Screenplay byMillard Kaufman
Don McGuire (adaptation)
Based on"Bad Time at Honda"
1947 short story in The American Magazine
by Howard Breslin
Produced byDore Schary
StarringSpencer Tracy
Robert Ryan
Anne Francis
Dean Jagger
Walter Brennan
John Ericson
Ernest Borgnine
Lee Marvin
CinematographyWilliam C. Mellor
Edited byNewell P. Kimlin
Music byAndré Previn
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • January 7, 1955 (1955-01-07) (United States)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,288,000[1][2]
Box office$3,788,000[1]

Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 American neo-Western film directed by John Sturges with screenplay by Millard Kaufman. It stars Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan with support from Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. The film is a crime drama set in 1945 that contains elements of the revisionist Western genre. In the plot, a one-armed stranger (Tracy) comes to a small desert town and uncovers an evil secret that has corrupted the entire community.

The film was based on a short story called "Bad Time at Honda" by Howard Breslin, published by The American Magazine in January 1947. Filming began in July 1954 and the movie went on national release in January 1955. It was a box office success and was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1956. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4]

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Glenn Lovell, Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges, University of Wisconsin Press, 2008 p. 97
  3. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. ^ "National Film Registry Turns 30". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 16, 2020.

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