That was the verdict of Harry Cohn, by all accounts one of Hollywood's most charming, sensitive and civilized human beings. He kept a picture of Mussolini on his office wall. This is a truly beautiful film. I play it every now and then, when I'm feeling low and the going gets tough. It has some of the tautest, leanest, most economical dialogue ever written. Young punk Harvey: "I'm going, and I won't be back". Magnificent Katy Jurado: "Good". The Mayor: "You should leave, Kane. It'll be better for you --- and better for us". Cooper: "Thanks". Every second tells, every minute counts, every shot tells a story, every expression conveys a world in this matchless, unforgettable, piece of junk.
I'll soon be 85 years old, and I must have first seen this film when it first came out. Every time I watch it, I see something new. The gun and holster that Herb --- "Go home to your kids, Herb" --- hangs on the sheriff's coat-peg when he folds his cards: put to exemplary use an hour later. The secondary characters, written and played to perfection, creating a complete cross-section of the citizenry of anywhere. The timing, the pacing, the heat, the Tiomkin music off the steppe, the monochrome: need I continue? If this was a piece of junk, what was the rest of the Tinseltown output? A pile of horse manure?
I'll soon be 85 years old, and I must have first seen this film when it first came out. Every time I watch it, I see something new. The gun and holster that Herb --- "Go home to your kids, Herb" --- hangs on the sheriff's coat-peg when he folds his cards: put to exemplary use an hour later. The secondary characters, written and played to perfection, creating a complete cross-section of the citizenry of anywhere. The timing, the pacing, the heat, the Tiomkin music off the steppe, the monochrome: need I continue? If this was a piece of junk, what was the rest of the Tinseltown output? A pile of horse manure?
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