''Desert Fury'' is a 1947 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...
directed by
Lewis Allen and starring
John Hodiak,
Lizabeth Scott and
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
.
The story was adapted for the screen by
Robert Rossen and
A. I. Bezzerides (uncredited), based on the racy novel ''Desert Town'' by
Ramona Stewart
Ramona Stewart (February 19, 1922 – April 30, 2006) was an American author. She is best known for her 1946 novel ''Desert Town'' and the 1970 supernatural thriller ''The Possession of Joel Delaney'', both of which were adapted into films.
...
. The picture was produced by
Hal Wallis, with music by
Miklós Rózsa and cinematography in
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
by Edward Cronjager and
Charles Lang.
Plot
Fritzi Haller (
Mary Astor) is the powerful owner of Purple Sage, a saloon and casino in the small fictional mining town of Chuckawalla, Nevada. Her daughter, Paula Haller (
Lizabeth Scott), has just quit school and returned home at the same time that gangster Eddie Bendix (
John Hodiak) has returned. He was once involved with Fritzi, but left town under suspicion of murdering his wife.
Paula does not have a good relationship with her mother Fritzi and when she sees how unpleasant Eddie is for her, she begins a relationship with the crook. Paula's old boyfriend, and local lawman, Tom Hanson (
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
), along with Bendix's sidekick, Johnny Ryan (
Wendell Corey), try to break up the relationship. When Fritzi finds out, she angrily tries to protect Paula and put a stop to her seeing Bendix. But the resolute Paula does not give up easily until she knows the past of her beloved Eddie.
Bendix's past catches up with him in an unexpected way when the car he is in, running from Hanson (who wants to rid the town of the likes of Bendix and Ryan), crashes through the railing as it is going onto the bridge and plunges down the embankment, killing him.
Cast
*
John Hodiak as Eddie Bendix
*
Lizabeth Scott as Paula Haller
*
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
as Tom Hanson
*
Wendell Corey as Johnny Ryan
*
Mary Astor as Fritzi Haller
*
Kristine Miller as Claire Lindquist
*
William Harrigan
William Harrigan (March 27, 1894 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor who performed in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s and on stage.
Early years
Harrigan was born in New York City and attended New York Military Academy. Harrigan was ...
as Judge Berle Lindquist
*
James Flavin as Sheriff Pat Johnson
*
Jane Novak
Jane Novak (born Johana Barbara Novak; January 12, 1896 – February 3, 1990) was an American actress of the silent film era.
Background
Jane Novak was born Johana Barbara Novak in St. Louis, Missouri to Bohemian immigrant Joseph Jerome Novak a ...
as Mrs. Lindquist
* Anna Camargo as Rosa
Production
Scenes were shot on location in the small
Ventura County, California
Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.
Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...
, town of
Piru, with the northwest side of Center Street, at Main, used as the exterior of Fritzi's saloon and casino; the
Piru Mansion was used as the Haller home and the historic Piru bridge was used as the locale of the car crash. Some scenes were also shot in
Clarkdale, Arizona.
Some outside shots were filmed in the Old Town section of
Cottonwood, Arizona.
Release
The film had its world premiere in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 23, 1947 with principal stars
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
and
Lizabeth Scott in attendance.
The movie was released by
Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...
on Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S. on Feb. 26, 2019.
Reception
Critical response
When the film was released, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' roundly despised it. They wrote, "''Desert Fury'' is a beaut - a beaut of a Technicolored mistake from beginning to end. If this costly Western in modern dress had been made by a lesser producer than Hal Wallis it could be dismissed in a sentence. But Mr. Wallis is a man with a considerable reputation, being a two-time winner of the Irving Thalberg Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and ''Desert Fury'' is such an incredibly bad picture in all respects save one, and that is photographically."
In later years the film has been praised as a seminal and unique
Hollywood melodrama due to its bold overtones of homosexuality:
Film scholar
Foster Hirsch wrote, "In a truly subversive move the film jettisons the characters' criminal activities to concentrate on two homosexual couples: the mannish mother who treats her daughter like a lover, and the gangster and his devoted possessive sidekick. (...) ''Desert Fury'' is shot in the lurid, over-saturated colors that would come to define the 1950s melodramas of
Douglas Sirk."
Film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
expert
Eddie Muller wrote, "''Desert Fury'' is the gayest movie ever produced in Hollywood's golden era. The film is saturated - with incredibly lush color, fast and furious dialogue dripping with innuendo, double entendres, dark secrets, outraged face-slappings, overwrought Miklos Rosza violins. How has this film escaped revival or cult status? It's Hollywood at its most gloriously berserk."
In one notable piece of dialogue for the period, Paula asks Eddie how he and Johnny met. He replies: "It was in the automat off Times Square, about two o'clock in the morning on a Saturday. I was broke, he had a couple of dollars, we got to talking. He ended up paying for my ham and eggs.""And then?", Paula asks. To which the reply is: "I went home with him that night. We were together from then on."
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 7 critics, with an
average rating of 5.5/10.
Re-release
Paramount reissued the film in February 1959.
Preservation
The
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
preserved a screen test for ''Desert Fury'', with Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott, in 2012.
See also
*
List of American films of 1947
The following is a list of American films released in 1947.
''Gentleman's Agreement'' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
A-B
C-D
E-F
G-H
I-J
K-L
M-N
O-Q
R-S
T-U
V-Z
Documentary
Serials
Shorts
See also
* 1947 in ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
''Desert Fury''information site and DVD review clip at DVD Beaver (includes images)
*
{{Robert Rossen
1947 films
1947 romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Color film noir
1940s English-language films
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Lewis Allen
Films set in mining communities
Films set in Nevada
Paramount Pictures films
Films scored by Miklós Rózsa
Films produced by Hal B. Wallis
Films with screenplays by Robert Rossen
1940s American films