Let’s Look At Five Random Movies: Number TWO!

Alright, nothing better on a cold winter night than firing up the video machine, grabbing some blanket wear and settling in to a good movie. In that spirit, we put before you the second installment of Five Movies I Pulled Off The Shelf With My Eyes Closed. Yesterday we brought the pain with one of the Matrix movies. Ugh. Today, we're going with a Best Picture nominee.

I do love a good western, the grittier the better. Think I got it from dad. There was a copy of some Louis Lamour something laying around. Then I discovered Sergio Leone and spaghetti westerns  and oh mama, everything's covered with flies, there's sweat and dirt and the hero has no morals and shoots first? Yes, please. The gritty didn't start with the Italians, though. For instance, back in 1943, Henry Fonda played a hot head caught up in a thick, gritty moral morass in today's movie.

There are some flaws here. A love interest that's literally a drive by. Some big face forties style acting, some characters that are virtually cartoons, but none of that really matters. The central core of the movie, a lynch mob spinning out of control toward an inevitable conclusion, is one hundred percent well done. And my goodness, all Henry Fonda has to do is stare and you can see everything stewing around in his soul. Did you know, before a take on a close-up, he would stare into a bright light to make his eyes extra moist?

Another thing I noticed, besides a ridiculously young Henry Morgan as Fonda's sidekick, and that fact that Anthony Quinn was one sauve mother in his day, is that director William Wellman and his cinematographer know exactly where to put the camera. I'm not kidding here. Practically the last half an hour to 45 minutes of the film takes place on one set, but the film never resorts to shortcuts or cheap over the shoulder close up/two shot gimmicks. And look how the following scene is composed. Obscure Fonda's face at his single most meaningful moment? Sneaky and devastating.

And don't think because this film was made in the forties they play nice nice on where the story is going. The punch is not pulled. It's almost kinda Twilight Zone-ish. Listen, you really should spend some time in a dark room with "The Ox-Bow Incident."

Even though I'm still not sure what the "Ox-Bow" in the title was in fact referring to. I really should Google that.

Tomorrow we'll move right along to movie number three:

If you are just coming in and missed the first installment of this thing, find it right HERE!