Conference bookie::movies

630.0. "Pursued" by DSSDEV::RUST () Tue Sep 06 1994 13:11

    "Pursued" is a sort of film-noir Western, a psychological study rather
    than a typical shoot-em-up (though there are gun- and fist-fights
    a-plenty), with an air of inexorable tragedy about it. Robert Mitchum
    plays a man who lost his parents in some mysterious manner when he was
    a very young boy, and who has been haunted by his earliest memories
    ever since. Is he really a bad seed, doomed to spread disaster wherever
    he goes? Are the sorrows in his life triggered by real people or by
    ghosts?
    
    Lots of brooding, ominous scenes, played off against quiet periods of
    loving domesticity - which never last, of course. One of the nastier
    elements in the movie is the way in which Mitchum's lover finds her
    feelings turned to hate; she chooses to seek revenge in a singularly
    chilling fashion, and he seems unable to do anything but play along.
    
    There were a few weaknesses in the movie, and it just misses being a
    classic - but it was sufficiently eerie and disturbing as it was, and
    if it had been any better I suspect it would have cost me some sleep!
    
    -b

This is easily the best film noir western that I know of, an excellent film.
The lover's revenge and Mitchum's passivity in accepting it are pure noir (it
reminds me of Mitchum's fate in _Out of the Past_, my favorite film noir). But
the outcome goes against pure noir tradition, too upbeat.

Republic released a terrific laser disc of this film a couple of years ago
complete with commentary on the second analog track.


Randy