ridiculous rating

Good concept, poorly executed.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

A unique film of most unexpected development, an ambiguous morality causing a confusion of afterthought, and naturally few know how to really assess this masterpiece of a mysterious noir at its best. Of course, it depends very much on what kind of character you are yourself, you will not understand it if you are not a romantic, and you will find the first part objectionable if you are. But for a psychologist, this film is a gold mine.Robert Ryan was never more convincing in this sleeping volcano of a role, a policeman embittered by the constant humdrum nightmare of his job, getting more and more difficult for his colleagues to work with and having a problem with controlling his own violent outbursts. You almost expect him to go mad any moment, and his difficulty in checking this is evident and masterfully displayed. This is the kind of policeman with hidden psychopath tendencies that you have to fear the worst of.Enter Ida Lupino in one of her most sensitive and gripping roles as a blind woman, which she enacts with heartrending subtlety and convincing passion. She lifts the film from the abyss of the constant city nightmare into a level of poetry. The story that follows increases all the time in human interest and suspense. I have no objection against the ending.The amazing qualities of the film are additionally stressed and heightened by an overwhelmingly eloquent score by Bernard Herrmann, which secures a full ten point vote - this is almost like a prelude to "Vertigo".In brief, I agree with most reviewers here, that this is a hidden masterpiece that deserves some positive attention and definitely should be recommended for all times.

Police detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) is tired of the city. He is deteriorating and starts beating up suspects. Capt. Brawley sends him upstate to investigate the murder of a young girl. He joins the father of the girl Walter Brent who only wants revenge in a manhunt. They pursue him to an isolated home and visually impaired Mary Malden (Ida Lupino). While Walter goes looking for the killer, Mary tells Jim that she lives with her brother Danny and he's been away for the last 2 days. She suspects Danny and begs Jim to take him in alive.I love the mix of noir and hard-boiled crime drama in this movie. It starts off with a urban city police drama. Then it transitions into an austere isolated thriller. I like the car drive where the landscape literally transitions. The cross current of motivations in that lonely home is intense. The wrap-up after the climax does run on too long. Director Nicholas Ray wanted a shorter darker ending but studio interference does add a clunky happy ending.

I have read some reviews about this film and how Nicholas Ray did not care for "The Happy Ending" that RKO forced upon him. This was one case where the studio was right. Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) was a tough loner cop along the lines of "Dirty Harry" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), or Jack Murphy (Charles Bronson) in "Murphy's Law", who was very destructive towards others and even himself, who simply did not care about the "Constitutional Rights" of criminal suspects, and would not hesitate to beat them up (Although Miranda v Arizona did not become the Law for over a decade later). Spoilers: Wilson is sent upstate to investigate the murder of Julie Brent(Patricia Prest) It was really to to get him away from the complaints about his tactics by his boss Capt. Brawley (Ed Begley). There he meets Mary Malden (Ida Lupino) a very sweet woman who is legally blind (Although an operation can restore her sight, but she keeps putting it off because of her brother Danny (Sumner Williams), a developmentally challenged adult). Danny, who is Mary's lifeline to the world, is the killer of Julie, and he is hunted down by Wilson and Julie's father Walter (An extremely angry and obsessed Ward Bond). Danny is eventually killed in an accident, Wilson leaves and Mary will have to fend for herself. However, Wilson realizes that he needs Mary every bit as she needs him and goes back and gets her, and she will be able to get the operation she needs. The themes to this film were loneliness and blindness: Wilson is blind to things such as love and compassion, just as much as Mary is blind to things around her, and both were on the path to destruction (Wilson by harming others and (or) himself, and Mary by having no one get basic things like food and fuel (It was a snowbound area she was in)), and both were lonely in their lives, and both depended on an unsavory element to survive: Wilson with the criminals and Mary with her psychotic brother. But by bringing Mary back with him (The scene of him driving and thinking about Mary was particularly effective), they both had the opportunity to find the things they were missing in their lives. This last part is where RKO got it right: By giving Wilson the chance for redemption, Mary is able to win as well. Will it be a happily ever after ending like a fairy tale? Not at all (Mary still has to deal with the death of her brother, and Wilson still has to deal with the criminals he encounters everyday). But it is an ending where you feel good that there is hope for Jim and Mary, while not thinking it is totally unrealistic. It is a noir classic. 10/10 stars.

"On Dangerous Ground" is a powerful psychological drama about the loneliness and despair experienced by a police detective. The causes of his emotional state, the damaging effect it has on how he does his job and also the means by which his feelings of isolation and anguish are gradually eased, are all depicted with great skill and intensity and produce a very human story which illustrates the immense value of achieving a successful work/life balance.Whilst involved in a hunt for the killers of another police officer, detective Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) beats up a contact of the suspects and successfully elicits information which leads to the arrests of the culprits. Later, however, he's told by Captain Brawley (Ed Begley) that the lawyer who represents the man who he beat up is considering legal action over the level of brutality which his client suffered. Brawley advises Jim about the need to use a more proportionate amount of force in future but very soon after this warning another incident occurs where Jim again uses excessive violence. He is then told by Brawley that he's becoming a liability to the Department and as a consequence he gets assigned to assist in a murder case being investigated in an upstate rural community.When Jim arrives at his snow covered destination, the local Sheriff briefs him on the details of the case (which involve the murder of a young girl) and very soon they receive information which leads to both of them and the victim's father Walter Brent (Ward Bond) chasing the main suspect on foot. Later, when the fugitive steals a car, Jim and Walter continue their pursuit in another vehicle but their journey ends suddenly when they veer off the road and run into a ditch close to the suspect's car which had just crashed into a tree. They then follow his footprints which lead to a remote cabin where they meet Mary Malden (Ida Lupino). Mary is the blind sister of the mentally retarded murderer. She has a generous and gentle disposition and quickly recognises Jim's loneliness. Her main concern is the care of her brother and she conscripts Jim's assistance in trying to ensure that he's caught unharmed so that he can be given the kind of professional help that he so obviously needs. Meeting Mary eventually leads to the murderer being caught but also, more unexpectedly to Jim's life and temperament being profoundly affected in a way that he could never have imagined was possible.A striking feature of the film is the sharp contrast which is made between the two environments in which the action takes place. The city is presented as dark and threatening whereas the snowy countryside is depicted as more open, calm and almost pristine in appearance. These impressions are consistent with Jim's experiences, as working in the city had brought him into contact with every type of criminal imaginable and brutalised him in the process. The result was that this tough, honest and efficient cop had actually transformed into someone who was sadistic, bitter and on the verge of a breakdown. In the rural environment he became more even tempered so that when the volatile Walter Brent expressed his determination to personally kill the murderer, Jim found himself acting as a restraining force and an advocate of balance and reason.Jim's loneliness and the negative effects that his work had on him were exacerbated by his lack of personal relationships, an inability to socialise successfully and a failure to separate work from his personal life. His colleagues were family men with hobbies who could leave the strains of the job behind them whilst Jim, by contrast, found that the anguish of dealing with human garbage was something which he carried around with him all the time. When he met Mary, he responded to her warmth and kindness and achieved a level of contentment which he previously would've considered to be impossible.The work of Nicholas Ray (a director known for his sensitivity and compassion for his characters) and strong performances from Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino ultimately produced a movie which was unpretentious, memorable and sometimes also rather disturbing.