Memorable, crazy movie

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film is not a masterpiece and has many weak points, I will not call them, so I will not spoil the quest to watch it. Because even with some details strewn around which are unbelievable, the movie is pleasant and that's due thanks to the actors, they all do a really good job. The best thing in the whole movie is Anne Bancroft's character, which is the most credible. The very young and beautiful Anne Bancroft, the great actress with massive personality.

As a longtime fan of Out of the Past I was disappointed when I finally saw Tourneur's "other" noir film. Despite excellent cinematography and several good scenes, the movie is sunk by a poor leading man and a hopelessly flawed story. For the latter you can't blame Stirling Silliphant. His script is unusually faithful to the source novel, and therein lies the problem.Noir novelist David Goodis wrote a handful of bleak, pulpy novels published mostly during the 1950s. "Dark Passage" and "Shoot the Piano Player" are two other Goodis movie adaptations. Goodis' novels are tough, fatalistic, and violent with interesting premises and oddball characters, especially the bad guys. His problems, which worsened over time, were a reliance on outrageous coincidence and a tendency to have characters suddenly act in bizarre ways to make the story work out. These flaws lay at the heart of Nightfall's problems.Ordinary guy Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) and his doctor friend (Frank Albertson) are out hunting when they witness an auto crash. They run to help only to discover two robbers fleeing a bank job. The crooks let the doctor patch them up, then kill him. But instead of shooting Vanning too, they concoct the preposterous notion of handing him a loaded rifle and ordering him to kill himself to set up an apparent murder-suicide. Naturally this gives Vanning a fighting chance. Unfortunately it doesn't pan out. Vanning is shot anyway. As the robbers escape in his car they pull the hoariest stunt in the book: they pick up the doctor's bag instead of the bag containing the loot. Vanning recovers (not dead, just stunned) and flees with the money. But somewhere in his flight he loses the bag. The crooks return to find Vanning and the money gone. The chase is on.The premise is appealing: the crooks hound Vanning to tell them where the money is but he really doesn't know. However the episodic narrative is strung together by coincidences and lapses of logic, beginning with the woman Vanning picks up in a bar (Anne Bancroft), who throws in with him for no discernible reason other than to provide someone for the crooks to menace. The crooks themselves (Brian Keith and Rudy Bond) have interesting conflicting personalities, but their disagreements always seem to arise just in time to save Vanning's neck. An interesting subplot involves an insurance investigator (James Gregory) who has been secretly shadowing Vanning. We learn more about his character than that of anyone else in the cast, but he ends up having little to do with the story's outcome.The final strike against Nightfall is delivered by Aldo Ray. As written Jim Vanning is basically an ordinary guy in way over his head, so scared that he jumps when a newsie suddenly turns on the lights of his newsstand. Vanning tells us he's frightened and weary. Unfortunately Aldo Ray is beefy and tough-looking. His raspy voice, which seems to get even more gravelly in flashbacks, combines with his features to give the impression he could tie the robbers into pretzels without breaking a sweat. Alas, appearance is all in movies, and Ray lacks the acting chops to make us believe this bruiser is an underdog.In conclusion I would recommend Nightfall as a technical exercise--it sure looks good--but there isn't enough substance to make a satisfying movie.

The wonderful Jacques Tourneur directed this 1957 noir, "Nightfall," starring Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory, and Frank Albertson.James Vanning (Aldo Ray) is on the run from some vicious criminals who have stolen a fortune from a bank. He and his doctor friend (Frank Albertson) had the misfortune to meet these men, who took the doctor bag instead of the $350 grand they stole! They believe that Ray, an innocent party, knows where in the Wyoming mountains the money is.Back in the city, Vanning meets a model (Bancroft) and this is picked up by two of the crooks. He manages to get away and goes to Bancroft's place; since the thugs know who she is, the two of them have to go on the run.Tourneur's themes here are similar to his other films, such as "Cat People," "Out of the Past," "Experiment Perilous" as three examples: Chance meetings and coincidence dominate a story where Tourneur uses flashbacks expertly. Here, two innocent people are drawn into a situation and being pursued.Very absorbing story -- in her early films, beautiful Anne Bancroft, a powerful actress, was cast in these young leading lady or ingenue roles, like Bette Davis when she first came to Warners. Bancroft brings an interesting, smoky quality to the role of a woman who has an unhappy past with men. Aldo Ray has never been a favorite of mine, but he is effective here. He looks like a character actor, though he played leads, and though he has a husky voice and appearance, there's a gentle quality in his manner. James Gregory has always been good, and he's good here as a detective who wants to get down to the truth.The black and white photography is very striking and really adds to the film. Jacques Tourneur made some excellent films; though he obviously didn't have a huge budget for this one and his star had descended somewhat, he still had what it took to make a strong film.

What makes a good film? Credible characters in incredible circumstances.That's what we get from Tourneur in this year. This is undeniably Tourneur's best year.Two of the most suspenseful films ever, this one and CURSE OF THE DEMON.This one has a lot of flashbacks. It is the sort of film that begins very ordinary, with a "status quo" effect, but the "status quo" is an illusion. There is nothing "status quo" about this, as we learn later.What works so well is the very thing that makes this a film that would be screwed up today. Indeed, it has been screwed up today. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is the same story, only not told as well.Why is that? Both are stories of an "Everyman" who chances upon mob money. Both have an aloof family man investigating the incident, caught up in a case seemingly over his head. Both have a psychotic killer.This one differs in the three dimensional characters. Today, the killers would have to be depicted as "gods" who couldn't be killed except by super humans. By today's standards, this film is the epitome of iconoclastic "blasphemy". It would horrify the beavis and buttheads of today by showing the outlaws to be mere mortals.And that's what makes this special. The two killers are real characters, not some made up one dimensional cutout. Real gangsters are mortals. They have their insecurities. That doesn't go over well today, probably because rich mobsters need to keep the "myth" alive that they are invulnerable.We wind up with five characters in search of....just in search. The five come to a climax, and it's quite credible. It wouldn't go over today, because too many people today have never been outside away from their safe cubicles. In 1957, there were more mature people, people who may not have been better, but certainly had a grasp of reality. Today, movie makers don't have to appeal to this crowd. They only have to appease the brats who have no idea what real danger is like.And that's why this film is a great film. The characters all make mistakes. It's easy to second guess with a rewind button, but real life has no rewind buttons. Real life is insecure.