Bad Day at Black Rock
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
Director: John Sturges
Writer: Millard Kaufman, Don McGuire
Producer: Dore Schary
Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 American neo-Western film directed by John Sturges with screenplay by Millard Kaufman. It stars Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan with support from Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin. The film is a crime drama set in 1945 that contains elements of the revisionist Western genre.
Trivia
- Selected for the National Board of Review: Top Ten Films.
- Also nominated for: Academy Award for Best Actor; Academy Award for Best Director; Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.
- Bad Day at Black Rock originated as a short story by Howard Breslin with full-color illustrations by Robert Fawcett.
- Titled "Bad Time at Honda", it was published by The American Magazine in January 1947.
- Schary had previously produced Go for Broke! (1951), based on the exploits of the segregated Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Filming Locations
- Temperatures on location were over 100 °F (38 °C). On August 9, the cast and crew relocated to the MGM studio lot in Culver City.
Previous Showings
2 Runs • 2 Festivals
All runs on record (2):
- April 18 - 20, 2007Film Noir, Val Lewton, 1930s musicals and more!w/ The Blue Dahlia
- December 6 - 7, 2025Classic Westernsw/ 3:10 to Yuma