Brute Force 10/10/20

If you have to name ONE movie that’s not likely to be screened in a prison, this one’s a good bet. In his sophomore starring outing Burt Lancaster leads a group of rebel convicts on a do-or-die bust-out against Hume Cronyn’s utter Nazi of a warden Captain. Richard Brooks’ script and Jules Dassin’s direction doesn’t sugarcoat the sadistic goings-on and producer Mark Hellinger pushed the result through the Production Code office. Sure, sure, plenty of noirs are violent … but this one must have been quite a head-spinner in ’47. With an incredible cast: Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Sam Levene, Ann Blyth, Jeff Corey, Ella Raines, John Hoyt, Sir Lancelot, Howard Duff, Art Smith, Whit Bissell. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
10/10/20