AKA Bogart vs. Edward G Robinson!
I've been on a slight John Huston kick these past few weeks. Rented and was bowled over by African Queen and now this film.
Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a WW II vet who decides to visit the father and ex-wife of a fellow soldier who didn't make it out of Italy. He finds Father (Lionel Barrymore) and ex-Wife (Lauren Bacall jesus instant hard on) running a small inn on the title island. The inn is closed for the season, but in fact there are some people in residence as McCloud arrives...the worst kind of people!
Edward G Robinson is "Johnny Rocko", a Capone type who'd been hounded out of the US but is now making a surreptitious return. The film's plot is the steady rise in tension as Robinson and Bogart square off....
Although the overt theme of this film would seem to be "US vs Commie" I think there's a more fundamental way to view this film. Post WW II America wasn't a utopian Suburban fantasy by any means. Demobilization caused a pretty significant recession in America, and a lot of the returning GI's experienced many of the same issues our contemporary soldiers face upons returning to civilian life.
I think the subject of this film is what kind of country America wants to be post WWII. Rocko represents a type of American that (ironically) Ayn Rand and today's Conservatives would love. Endlessly ambitious, never satisfied, and "willing to do what it takes" to get ahead, he is strongly contrasted with McCloud's "Quiet American". McCloud has worked humble jobs since the war, can't find his roots (but he finds one root when he meets Lauren McCall amiright?), and is shy about talking about his own war heroism.
This question of what the "American Character" is and should be seems to me to be just as interesting and important today as it did in 1948.
During his first confrontation with Rocko McCloud caves in, saying he's not willing to risk his life to eliminate an asshole like Rocko, since Rocko's are a dime a dozen. In the end Rocko forces the issue, and though I suspect you can guess who comes out on top, I'll let you discover that for yourself.
If you have seen this film, I'd welcome your perspectives...
I've been on a slight John Huston kick these past few weeks. Rented and was bowled over by African Queen and now this film.
Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a WW II vet who decides to visit the father and ex-wife of a fellow soldier who didn't make it out of Italy. He finds Father (Lionel Barrymore) and ex-Wife (Lauren Bacall jesus instant hard on) running a small inn on the title island. The inn is closed for the season, but in fact there are some people in residence as McCloud arrives...the worst kind of people!
Edward G Robinson is "Johnny Rocko", a Capone type who'd been hounded out of the US but is now making a surreptitious return. The film's plot is the steady rise in tension as Robinson and Bogart square off....
Although the overt theme of this film would seem to be "US vs Commie" I think there's a more fundamental way to view this film. Post WW II America wasn't a utopian Suburban fantasy by any means. Demobilization caused a pretty significant recession in America, and a lot of the returning GI's experienced many of the same issues our contemporary soldiers face upons returning to civilian life.
I think the subject of this film is what kind of country America wants to be post WWII. Rocko represents a type of American that (ironically) Ayn Rand and today's Conservatives would love. Endlessly ambitious, never satisfied, and "willing to do what it takes" to get ahead, he is strongly contrasted with McCloud's "Quiet American". McCloud has worked humble jobs since the war, can't find his roots (but he finds one root when he meets Lauren McCall amiright?), and is shy about talking about his own war heroism.
This question of what the "American Character" is and should be seems to me to be just as interesting and important today as it did in 1948.
During his first confrontation with Rocko McCloud caves in, saying he's not willing to risk his life to eliminate an asshole like Rocko, since Rocko's are a dime a dozen. In the end Rocko forces the issue, and though I suspect you can guess who comes out on top, I'll let you discover that for yourself.
If you have seen this film, I'd welcome your perspectives...
