[Quick Summary: When a man is unjustly arrested and is attacked by a lynch mob in jail, he fakes his death, and succeeds in framing the mob for his murder.]
Oooof! This is a biting noir film (maybe satire?) that made me wince!
Spenser Tracy stars as Joe, a mechanic who is traveling to go pick up his fiancee Katherine, and is mistaken for a criminal. He is jailed and nearly mobbed to death.
It's rare to see a character this remorseless, this focused in his quest for vengeance. What possibly could make Joe change his mind? *
It turns out Joe does have a conscience, which surfaces in the most inconvenient times as he tries to drink his problems away.
In the scene below:
- Katherine, Joe's fiancee, thinks he died in the jail fire.
- The mob has been caught and tried in court.
- This scene happens while the jury is deliberating.
- 22 people's lives hang in the balance, hence the importance of 22 number.
- I really liked how the individual hauntings were SPECIFIC only to Joe and how they flowed from one to the other (night club girl --> taxi meter).
...the scene dissolves to a CHEAP NIGHT CLUB, and Joe is dancing with a girl in a crowd of dancing men and women, youths, older men, and girls in cheap evening dresses. He is laughing, as if forcing himself to. The music is cheap jazz from a mechanical piano. It finishes, and the crowd returns to the cheap boxes against the wall. Joe takes his girl to a box. There are two half-finished highballs on the table, and Joe drinks.
GIRL (looking at him curiously): Your face is kin o'familiar. Were you ever here before?
JOE: Not me. First time here. But you're okay, baby. What's your name?
GIRL (sliding her chair closer to him): It's "Joyce," here, but -- (intriguingly) -- It's "Katherine," to you.
JOE (jumping up): What d' y' mean, "to me"? Why'd you say that?
GIRL (staring at him): Because Katherine's my real name. Say, what's the matter with you?
JOE (confused and hurriedly explaining): Nothing -- except that liquor y' serve here maybe. It's so hot I think I'll -- go out for awhile.
As the girl gapes at him, he turns and hurries away.
Next Joe comes out of the ALLEY DOOR of the night club. A high wind has risen with the stopping of the rain, and Joe, in his raincoat, bucks against it with lowered head. Joe turns irresolutely, and seeing a taxi, calls.
JOE: Hey -- taxi! (He turns toward it.)
The driver of the TAXI is at the curb now getting out and opening the door as Joe approaches, bucking the wind.
JOE: Say, where can a guy have some fun?
DRIVER: Leave it t' me, Sport! Hop in!
Joe gets into the taxi, and the Driver slams shut the door. A close-up then shows Joe staring straight ahead. As the taxi starts, there is the sound of the Driver clicking the meter on, and the cab moves off. The tick-tick-tick of the meter comes in, until it is the only sound to be heard. Joe suddenly straightens, noticing something ahead of him: A close-up of the TAXI METER comes into view. The figures are 20. The 0 moves up, everything but these numbers growing dizzy as this last number becomes a 2 -- in his head. The 22 looms bigger and bigger as the tick-tick of the meter goes relentlessly on.
A close-up of Joe shows him blinking stupidly. He strikes his forehead with the heels of his palms as if to drive the number out of his feverish brain. He leans forward, calling to the driver:
JOE: Let me out!
The cab grates to a sudden stop. Then Joe piles out of the taxi at a STREET CURB, fumbling for change.
JOE (to the driver): I changed my mind. Rather t-take a walk. It smells good in your face after the rain. (He gives the driver some change and goes.)
DRIVER (looking after him, shaking his head): Screwball.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was impressed that I saw a remorseless man, but felt his interior emotions. I was able to experience his conscience through the hauntings.
The setup: Joe cares about Katherine and principles.
The payoff: When his conscience is pricked by external clues (night club girl, taxi meter), we understand what is happening inside Joe.
Fury (1936)
by Bartlett Cormack and Fritz Lang
Based on a story by Norman Krasna**
*As a result of this focused quest, I was rather disappointed by the uplifting, happy ending. I suspect this was a studio demand, as it doesn't seem to match the rest of the script.
**FYI: This script was produced under the studio system. At that time, Oscar categories were split into two categories: "story by" and "screenplay by." Norman Krasna was nominated only for Best Writing, Original Story (and not "screenplay by").
No comments:
Post a Comment