Fury (film)
| Fury | |
|---|---|
 French theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Written by | Bartlett Cormack Fritz Lang |
| Starring | Spencer Tracy Bruce Cabot Sylvia Sidney |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Editing by | Frank Sullivan |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | May 29, 1936 |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Fury is a 1936 American drama film which tells the story of an innocent man who narrowly escapes being lynched and the revenge he seeks. Directed by Fritz Lang, the film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and stars Spencer Tracy, Sylvia Sidney and Bruce Cabot and features Walter Abel, Edward Ellis and Walter Brennan. Loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart murder, the movie was adapted by Bartlett Cormack and Lang from the story Mob Rule by Norman Krasna.
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[edit] Plot
En route to meet his fiancée, Katherine Grant (Sylvia Sidney), Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence for the kidnapping of a child. Gossip soon travels around the small town, growing more distorted through each retelling, until a mob gathers at the jail. When the resolute sheriff (Edward Ellis) refuses to give up his prisoner, the enraged townspeople burn down the building.
The district attorney (Walter Abel) brings the main perpetrators to trial for murder, but nobody is willing to identify the guilty, and several provide alibis. The case seems hopeless, but then the prosecutor produces hard evidence: newsreel footage of twenty-two people caught in the act.
However, Katherine is troubled by one piece of evidence. The defense attorney had tried to get his clients off by claiming that there was no proof Joe was killed, but an anonymous letter writer had returned a partially melted ring belonging to Joe. Katherine notices that a word is misspelled just as Joe used to spell it.
She discovers that Joe escaped the fire and that Joe's brothers are helping him get his revenge. She goes to see Joe and pleads with him to stop the charade, but he is determined to make his would-be killers pay. However, his conscience starts preying on him and, in the end, just as the verdicts are being read, he walks into the courtroom and sets things straight.
[edit] Cast
- Spencer Tracy as Joe Wilson
- Bruce Cabot as Kirby Dawson
- Sylvia Sidney as Katherine Grant
- Walter Abel as District Attorney
- Edward Ellis as Sheriff
- Walter Brennan as "Bugs" Meyers
- Frank Albertson as Charlie
- George Walcott as Tom
- Arthur Stone as Durkin
- Morgan Wallace as Fred Garrett
- George Chandler as Milton Jackson
- Roger Gray as Stranger
- Edwin Maxwell as Vickery
- Howard C. Hickman as Governor
- Jonathan Hale as Defense Attorney
- Leila Bennett as Edna Hooper
- Esther Dale as Mrs. Whipple
- Helen Flint as Franchette
[edit] Production
Fury was Lang's first American film, and is considered by critics to have been compromised by the studio, which forced Lang to make the protagonist innocent of the crime he's nearly lynched for, and to tack on a reconciliation between him and his girlfriend. The film was a major departure for MGM, which at the time was known for lavish musicals and glitzy dramas – the expensive production features expansive and stylised sets to create its gritty world and its style is more in keeping with the social issue films associated with Warner Brothers, such as I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.[1]
[edit] Reception
The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Original Story. In 1995, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
[edit] Notes
- ^ Peter Bogdanovich, audio commentary for Fury, Warners Home Video, 2005.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fury (film) |
- Fury at the Internet Movie Database
- Fury at the TCM Movie Database
- Fury at AllRovi
