BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

daleholmgren I think far too much has been made of the alleged homosexual undertones supposedly in the film. Others have suggested that Eddie the hood was really Paula's father, but that can't be true, because Fritzie says Eddie used to work for Paula's father. What doesn't make sense is how Fritzie can moralize about Eddie walking out on her years ago, when obviously Fritzie herself walked out on Paula's father to be with Eddie to begin with.The movie, while stretched out, does come to a stirring climax. However, the casting of the film leaves something to be desired. At the time of the filming, Astor was 41, Lancaster 33, Hodiak 32, and Scott 25. In real age terms, we're asked to believe Astor had baby Scott at 16, then (perhaps at 18, before Scott as a baby knew who Hodiak was), ran off with Hodiak, who would have been 9 years old at the time. It makes no sense unless we suspend disbelief to think that Hodiak is as old as Astor, let alone that Astor and Hodiak would ever have had romantic sparks. It would have made more sense to cast someone older than Hodiak, but that wouldn't seem plausible that a mid-40's man would be as weasely and self centered as Hodiak behaves. Also, we're asked to believe that Scott, playing a nineteen year old despite her worldwise 25 year old real age, would swoon over the oily Hodiak while blithely ignoring the tall, chiseled visage of Lancaster. Hodiak was named "box office poison" in 1948.But I digress. The truth is, we're always asked to believe all sorts of improbable things when a story is being told, and we go along. And once you go along with this premise, the movie is a tremendous amount of fun. Could it have been made better? Of course, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the film noir parts of it that are excellent.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 15 May 1947 by Hall Wallis Productions, Inc. Released through Paramount Pictures Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 24 September 1947. U.S. release: 15 August 1947. U.K. release: November 1947. Australian release: 27 November 1947. 8,656 feet. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Girl falls for out-of-town gambler with murky past.NOTES: Film debut of Wendell Corey. Also Lizabeth Scott's first color film. Shooting time: 72 days. Locations: Sedona (northern Arizona); Navajo Reservation (north of Flagstaff); and the small mining settlements of Cottonwood and Clarkdale.COMMENT: An odd film - but not without interest. The basic plot is typical soapie fare which allows an ultra-glamorous heroine to emote against richly glossy interiors and spectacular mountain locations. Unashamedly, it's a Lizabeth Scott vehicle. Stunningly made up and costumed, she receives more close-ups than anyone else in the cast, and if she fails to give more than a superficial earnestness to her characterization, who will notice?Enveloped in all the trappings of Hollywood expertise at its most pointedly glamorous, Desert Fury pre-dates Ross Hunter's Universal veneers - and easily outclasses them in sophistication and style. Lang's atmospheric photography, Rozsa's haunting music, Perry Ferguson's sets, Edith Head's costumes skittle the Universal talent. Admittedly Lewis Allen's direction is no more than ordinarily competent (which places him only marginally ahead of Douglas Sirk), but this one has a script by Robert Rossen no less and a strong support cast including Wendell Corey making a memorable debut as the vicious man-behind ("Eddie Bendix? I'm Eddie Bendix. I've been Eddie Bendix all these years. Why don't women fall in love with me?")John Hodiak is effective as the hollow Bendix, while Mary Astor displays an appropriately dominating manner as a strong-willed "operator".Burt Lancaster has a rather thankless role as the "other man". He has stated that his part was built up at Wallis' insistence - which we can well believe - and it's certainly true that he handles himself with his usual assurance. (The rest of the players, including Kristine Miller who is rather prominently billed, and silent star Jane Novak, have strictly minor roles.)All in all, Desert Fury is so attractive to look at - and the music so spellbinding to listen to - it doesn't much matter that the script has a great deal of furious talk but (aside from the climactic chase in which everything is magically put right) little furious action.

Kirpianuscus a film about passion. in different aspects and nuances and forms. few great performances - Mary Astor and Burt Lancaster first-. the atmosphere of small town from desert. the geography of bad guy life, weakness and use of people. and the quiet Charming Prince. this is all. at the first sigh. because the most fascinating ingredient is the not so ambiguous relationship between the characters of Wendell Corey and John Hodiak.something missing. the censorship, the scandal, the stones of conservative public. and, maybe, the cause could be the chemistry between Eddie and Johnny, too realistic for our time in same measure, who saves the film. because all is well known. except the extravagant triangle who , to the end, becomes so clear, after few clues. but this is only the op of the mixture of liaisons of love, passion and desires.the love for her daughter of Fritzie, the affection for Paula of the Tom Hanson, the classic fascination of freedom and fake love story are, in same measure important. sure, Desert Fury is far to be the best film of genre. but it remains special. for the strange form of courage/unconscious of its director.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS****It's when both not still out of her teens 19 year old Paula Haller played by 25 year old and looking much older actress Lizabeth Scott meets by the rickety old bridge gambler Eddie Bendix, John Hodiak,sparks start to fly in all the wrong directions. It seems that young Paula is a dead ringer for Eddie's late wife Angela who was killed in an accident two years ago at that very same bridge when her car was forced off the road! And the person responsible for that tragedy was Eddie Bendix himself! We get to see Paula's mom Fritzi, Mary Astor, who runs the town of Chuckwalla Nevada's casino furious at the sight of her daughter being in town instead of collage which she had dropped out of.This leads to tension between mother & daughter that in the end erupts to a fever pitch.With the now in love with Paula Eddie eloping with Paula to Las Vages that in fact ends , to everyone in the cast, in disaster.To round things out there's former rodeo rider now deputy sheriff "Handsom Tom" Hanson, Burt Lancaster, who's got his eye on Paula as well as his suspicions about Eddie whom he feels drove his wife Angela off the road two years ago killing her. It's in fact Eddie's friend Johnny who pulling the strings in all this which by manipulating the confused, about his sexuality, Eddie to stay with him at all costs and not get involved with anyone, man or woman, else. It was Johnny who had Eddie kill his wife by forcing her off the road and now plans to have him do the same thing with Paula! That in order for him-very possibly a closet gay-to have Eddie all to himself!***SPOILERS*** Strange for a movie in 1947 to have all these hidden subplots that at the time confused many of those in the audience watching it. It was Eddie break with Johnny that lead to the eruption of violence that happened at the end of the movie. Johnny got gunned down by Eddie and he later shared the very same fate that his wife did which opened the door for "Handsom Tom" Hanson to walk off into the sunset with Paula who realized that he , not Eddie, was the man for her!