
BROKEN LANCE is one of those westerns that I saw many times in the Laserdisc rental section of my old video store. I have no idea why I never watched it. I am a big fan of director Edward Dmytryk's work so I must not have noticed this was one of his flicks. Check out MURDER, MY SWEET or MIRAGE to see how great Dmytry can be. Another reason I might have passed on BROKEN LANCE is that I may not have been fully on board with Spencer Tracy at the time I guess, but I feel pretty dumb for not giving it a look. I've come to appreciate Tracy a whole lot in the past fifteen years and I've seen lots of movies that he stars in that I consider favorites (CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS and TEST PILOT being a couple of them). He's basically one of those actors now that if I come across something of his I haven't seen, I'll likely give it a shot based on him alone. He's truly one of the great actors of Hollywood's golden era. One of my very favorite podcasts is called You Must Remember This and it is written and hosted by the delightful Karina Longworth. She just recently did an episode all about the great Spencer Tracy and it is quite fascinating. I recommend it:
http://www.vidiocy.com/youmustrememberthispodcastblog/2015/11/9/mgm-stories-part-nine-spencer-tracy
I remember hearing director John Sturges talk about Tracy and his method during his excellent commentary for his film BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (another great Tracy movie). He said something about the way Tracy would memorize only his lines from the script and he would make a point of not retaining the lines of the other characters he would play scenes with. Apparently, this would allow him to really hear the actors in those scenes and it really made his performance more genuine. That story could be apocryphal or my memory of it could be completely faulty, but I always thought that was a pretty neat way to approach movie acting.
BROKEN LANCE is one of those movies that combines high drama that veers towards Film Noir almost, but that takes place in a western setting. It's a neat little tale told in that wonderful format we call Cinemascope. It was shot by Joseph MacDonald who worked with Sam Fuller (HOUSE OF BAMBOO, HELL AND HIGH WATER, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET), John Ford (MY DARLING CLEMENTINE) and Elia Kazan (PANIC IN THE STREETS) among others. He shot a bunch in Cinemascope and demonstrates his excellent ability to fill a frame in BROKEN LANCE. For fans of dark westerns, Spencer Tracy or any of the other cool folks involved in this movie, it is likely worth a blind buy.
Special Features
-Audio Commentary with Actor Earl Holliman and Film Historian Nick Redman.
-Isolated Score Track
-Fox Movietone Newsreel
-Original Theatrical Trailers
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/broken-lance/
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