Brute Force (1947 film)
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Brute Force is a 1947 brooding, brutal drama movie considered film noir. This prison movie directed by Jules Dassin was shot in black and white. Dialogue by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks (who directed In Cold Blood). Photographed by William H. Daniels.
Plot
A group of Westgate Prison inmates, lead by Lancaster, plan on escaping. While the plan is taking shape, the cons in cell R17 each tell a story, via flashback, about how being in love somehow got them all in trouble with the law. Standing in the way of the prison break is a sadistic prison guard (a surprisingly vicious Cronyn). When the break goes bad the normally subdued prison yard turns into a violent and bloody riot.Director Dassin later called the movie "stupid" because the film made the inmates seem honorable.
The film has a number of memorable brutal scenes including the crushing of a stool pigeon under a stamping machine and the beating of a prisoner bound to a chair by straps. Film writer Eddie Muller writes that "the climax of Brute Force displayed the most harrowing violence ever seen in movie theaters."
Main cast
- Burt Lancaster as Joe Collins
- Hume Cronyn as Capt. Munsey
- Charles Bickford as Gallagher
- Yvonne De Carlo as Gina Ferrara
- Ann Blyth as Ruth
- Ella Raines as Cora Lister
- Anita Colby as Flossie
- Sam Levene as Louie Miller #7033
Quotes
- Gallagher: Those gates only open three times. When you come in, when you've served your time, or when you're dead!
- Dr. Walters: Force does make leaders. But you forget one thing: it also destroys them.
- Dr. Walters: [to Captain Munsey] That's why you'd never resign from this prison. Where else whould you find so many helpless flies to stick pins into?
Taglines
- Raw! Rough! Ruthless!
Trivia
- Jules Dassin was one of the most innovative film noir directors in the 1950's. Between 1947-1950 he directed many harsh and visually innovative noirs including Thieves' Highway, Night and the City, and Naked City-- movies that captured the cynicism and malaise of an America whose foundations had been rocked by World War II.
- Director Jules Dassin fled the United States because he was to be named a Communist in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He fled to Europe and made Night in the City in London.
- Director Jules Dassin was diappointed in the flashback sequences in Brute Force. He strongly believed the flashback sequences watered down the film and he objected to their use. It was a battle he lost to the MGM studio bosses. He was not happy at MGM, he said, "I want to forget all films I made for MGM."
- Oliver Stone cites the film as an influence for his prison break climax in Natural Born Killers (1994).
References
- The Art of Noir, by Eddie Muller
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