By David in TN
friday, january 13, 2023 at 7:18:00 p.m. est
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Arthur Ripley’s Thunder Road (1958) with Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Keely Smith, and James Mitchum.
Thunder Road isn’t in the Film Noir Guide. The story takes place in Tennessee (filmed in North Carolina). The film was loosely based on an incident in which a moonshine driver crashed to his death on Kingston Pike on the west side of Knoxville, Tennessee. The story was passed on to Mitchum, who saw a perfect “vehicle” for himself playing the driver.
James Mitchum, Robert’s son, plays his younger brother, whom Mitchum doesn’t want to become a driver. Mitchum wanted Elvis Presley, who was eager to play the part, but Elvis’ manager asked for too much money.
Red Eddie Muller shows a good one, for a change. One error. A character refers to “North Tennessee.” In the Volunteer State, it’s East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. Mitchum’s family and friends are supposed to be in East Tennessee, with Mitchum running liquor to Memphis.
2 comments:
Outside of the exciting car-chase scenes, scored exuberantly by Jack Marshall (THE MUNSTERS), this is static, talky and deadly dull. Not only is Mitchum stoned throughout, I suspect the director was as well along with most of the cast (Gene Barry excepted). And it's about as "film noir" as MA AND PA KETTLE. It became a "cult" film because of Mitchum's "outlaw" role (the only thing he was really suited for) and the association with his dope habit. The director also made a genuine noir, near-incomprehensible, called THE CHASE (1946), and, of all things, the W.C. Fields classic THE DENTIST! -RM
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Peter Godfrey's The Two Mrs. Carroll's (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith, Nigel Bruce, Patrick O'Moore, Ann Carter, Barry Bernard.
Film Noir Guide: "Bogart is a psychopathic artist who paints his wife as the angel of death and, when she no longer inspires him, poisons her so he'll be free to marry his new inspiration (Stanwyck). After less than two years of marriage, Bogart finds his creativity once again heading South."
"Then he meets the beautiful and wealthy Smith and starts making plans to get rid of the second Mrs. Carroll. But complicating his scheme are Stanwyck's former fiance (O'Moore), who's still in love with her, and a greedy, blackmailing chemist (Bernard). Bruce plays Stanwyck's bungling doctor, and Carter as the killer's precocious daughter from his first marriage."
"Overly melodramatic and lacking suspense, this disappointing Bogart vehicle, at best, prepared him for his future role as the paranoid Captain Queeg in 1954's The Caine Mutiny, and Stanwyck for her portrayal as another wife in distress in 1948's Sorry, Wrong Number."
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