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Bad Day at Black Rock
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Actor Spencer Tracy in a black suit faces Robert Ryan in work clothes during a scene from Bad Day at Black Rock, with director John Sturges seated in a white baseball cap and crew nearby. John Sturges stands beside a film camera on the set of Bad Day at Black Rock, wearing sunglasses, a cap, and casual clothing.
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Actor Spencer Tracy in a black suit faces Robert Ryan in work clothes during a scene from Bad Day at Black Rock, with director John Sturges seated in a white baseball cap and crew nearby.
filming of Bad Day at Black Rock Actor Spencer Tracy (right, in black) and director John Sturges (seated, in white baseball cap and glasses) during the filming of Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).

Bad Day at Black Rock

film by Sturges [1955]
Written by
Lee Pfeiffer
Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. His book The Essential Bond: An Authorized Guide to the World of 007 (written with...
Lee Pfeiffer
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Bad Day at Black Rock, American mystery film, released in 1955, that fused elements of the western with those of film noir. It was based on Howard Breslin’s short story “Bad Time at Honda” (1947). (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Spencer Tracy starred as John Macreedy, a one-armed World War II veteran whose life was saved during the war by a Japanese American soldier. He becomes a de facto detective when in...

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