Good movie but grossly overrated

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Not a movie to see if you're feeling depressed. Arguably, this is the darkest entry in the doomed lovers genre, and also one of the most affecting. Three-time loser Eddie (Fonda) and his pregnant wife (Sidney) are on the run after killing a priest, and after Eddie has tried his best to go straight in the face of a hostile, uncaring society. As the fog closes in, the tender couple tries to make their way to the border and freedom. What they get instead is freedom of a different kind.Anyone doubting that cinema is basically a medium of manipulation needs to examine this grim masterpiece of early noir. From an irresistibly tearful Sidney to an unyielding fate to a relentlessly bleak photography, we're caught up in Lang's carefully crafted artistic vision. The parts fit together inexorably, driving the lovers and us toward an inevitable conclusion. The only visual missing is an onrushing train. In my book, the movie's one of the purest examples of how visual artistry can overcome plot contrivance, for there are an unfortunate number of the latter.Too bad the sad-faced Sidney is largely forgotten. It's really her marvelously expressive range that registers the tragedy and moves the audience. Far from glamorous, her talent remains nonetheless unusually poignant. All in all, the movie's in the same league as the transcendent They Live By Night (1947), and stands as possibly the polar opposite of the giddy Bonnie And Clyde (1967). In my little book, it's Lang's most compelling American film, despite the relative obscurity.

Fritz Lang is a director with an immensely big reputation, which has everything to do with his movies "Metropolis" and "M" but in all truth and honesty, most of his other movies were were merely average ones. This one included. It's a good movie but nothing about this movie makes it a special one or a must-see really.It has a decent enough story but definitely not a solid or credible one. The movie is being a bit melodramatic and forced with all of its events and emotions but then again, this really wasn't that uncommon for an 1930's movie. I liked some of the places the movie was taken its story but then the movie would do something stupid and silly again, which took me out of the movie and prevented me from connecting to its characters and everything that is going on with them.The movie ultimately tries to present itself as a love story, with only one big crime and dramatic twist to it. The combination of all these elements does work out well enough and also original. It still makes "You Only Live Once" definitely a good watch and for its time it also really isn't a bad attempt. The story works sort of renewing and original and also the twists and turns in it make this far from the typical genre attempt, from about that same time period this movie got made in.It takes some good approach with its directing and cinematography, which at times make you forget you are watching an '30's movie here. The movie can feel quite modern and raw at times, also because it's not a movie that is constantly busy with trying to wrap things up needly and create an happy ending for all of its main characters.The movie features a young Henry Fonda, with still lots of hair. It's one of his earliest movie roles and funny thing about him is that he never really played secondary characters but always had been the main lead, ever since the start of his acting career. And why not. He definitely had the right required skills and also looks for it and he also was quite good in this movie. Even though the story gets melodramatic at times, the actors still aren't overacting and keep things as real as possible. It's the reason why "You Only Live Once" still works out good and effectively, for most part.A good movie to watch but at the same time also one you could easily do without ever seeing.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Consider; the lead is a male criminal, or ex con. His fiancé/wife is naive enough to believe he "can change"/"has changed", honest religious figure, a jail break plot, misunderstandings and misperceptions of the human condition, presumption of guilt/innocence weighed on pre-cinematic thinking scale.All those factors add up to a film that would not be a winner at today's box office. Even though it has every element of today's social stupidity, only reinforced with alleged scientific understanding of the human mind, the film would get shelved as an unhealthy downer for the domestic market. If someone tried to make it, they would have to get rid of or rework the scenes with the clergy. Rework the prison scenes, and just about everything else to make it more appealing and couple friendly to garner the date film market.A married couple on the outs with John Law? A normal married couple that tried to do all the right things, but still found themselves on the receiving end of stupidity? Say it ain't so! And yet I can see that response being tossed in the face of numerous would be directors who pitched this script. Reason; no one wants to see a downer of a film. That's what we have documentaries for.I think of this film, and think of my own life and how other people's stupidity has come to effect my own, and how I tried to address it through proper channels, and how nothing but unmitigated disaster followed. One gives serious consideration if the gates will open. But then one reminds oneself that this is what high priced mercenaries (i.e. lawyers) are for. So a kind of settled brow comes and eases onto a man's demeanor.But it doesn't detract from the fact that today we have miscarriages of justice based on the most moronic of thought processes conceived by the human mind. And Fonda's character suffers for it.It's not a film for the feint of heart, and it will lead you down one road, only to take you on another. It's that kind of a film. Hope abounds. And that's perhaps the one thing the couple has left, for mankind and all their concepts of justice and medicine cannot help them.See it once.

Joan Graham (Sylvia Sidney) is the efficient secretary of a public defender Stephen Whitney (Barton MacLane) and is in love of the smalltime criminal Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda). Her boss and friend Stephen helps Eddie to leave the prison on probation, Eddie promises to have a straight life and immediately get married with Joan. He finds a job as truck driver, but is unfairly fired on his first day. While trying to find another job, there is a heist in a bank with six victims and Eddie is accused. Joan convinces him to go to the court and prove his innocence, but based on circumstantial evidence and prejudice of the jury, Eddie is sentenced to the electric chair. On the night of his execution, the FBI finds the real criminal and Eddie grants an indulgence. However, Eddie is trying to escape from prison in a hostage situation, and kills his friend Father Dolan (William Gargan), who was trying to help him. Eddie meets Joan and together they try to reach the border and escape from justice."You Only Live Once" is the second American movie of Fritz Lang and a tragic melodrama. The depressive story of love and prejudice discloses a tough criticism to a very unfair, corrupt and hostile society, where losers do not have the chance to recover their dignity and common people are corrupt. The screenplay is visibly influenced by Bonnie and Clyde, who died on 23 May 1934, ambushed in their getaway car - therefore less than three years before the release date of this film. Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney show a great chemistry in good performances in this minor movie of this great director. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Vive-se Uma Só Vez" ("You Only Live Once")