Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

A Southern Pacific train stops at Black Rock station for the first time in four years. Surrounded by little more than desert terrain and mountains in the distance, it’s a desolate place. The barren Southwestern town, hardened by postwar paranoia, consists of a few ramshackle buildings (saloon, general store, hotel, tobacco shop, auto shop, etc.), and its population is sparse. A solitary passenger disembarks the train. The scene recalls many Westerns, in which a lone hero arrives in a backwater town on the downswing, only to find a corrupt element in charge. Except, Spencer Tracy does not look like a gunslinger. A weathered 55-year-old with white hair, Tracy appears in a dark suit, his walnut fedora matching his tie. This is John J. Macreedy, a World War II veteran who arrives in Black Rock in 1945, searching for Komoko, the father of a fallen, decorated soldier who saved Macreedy’s life in Italy. Over the next 24 hours, Macreedy will face intolerance, intimidation, fear, and violence in his search for Komoko. He will also uncover xenophobia masquerading as patriotism. 

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