Crossfire

Edward Dymytrk's film is an unusual hybrid of noir thriller and a social conscience film, set almost entirely at night with deep shadows and raking angles, tough talkin' guys and cheap blondes (Gloria Grahame obliging) wedded to a long homily by Robert Young, a police officer investigating the unprovoked murder of a Jewish citizen, on anti-Semitism and hate of The Other.

Although somewhat of a style and content mis-match, Robert Mitchum is, as always, good value as the coolest of dudes, whilst Robert Ryan does a very effective turn as a nasty piece of work as a de-mobbed soldier with unresolved issues. The script is by John Paton from a novel, 'The Brick Foxhole', by Richard Brooks in which the victim was a homosexual, a concept Hollywood was not ready to take on in 1947.

FYI: Elia Kazan's Gentleman's Agreement which starred Gregory Peck and won Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year, also tackled the issue of anti-Semitism but in a more up-market way.

 

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