Crossfire or Gentleman's Agreement

[ken123]

Both films deal with anti - semitism, thought the novel upon which "Crossfire " derives from " The Brick Foxhole ", written by Richard Brooks dealt with homosexuality. The films differ in that Crossfire is done in a noir murder mystery mode, while Agreement is done more as a straight drama, but for me in a too much of a soap opera style. I prefer RKO's approach with nice performances by Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum, Sam Levine,Paul Kelly ( in a very odd role ), and Gloria Grahame. Robert Young does less well, but is still OK, as an Irish cop. John Garfield, by far gives the best performance in Kazen's Agreement.

[Dewey1960]

Ken wrote: "John Garfield, by far gives the best performance in Kazen's Agreement."

Garfield gave the ONLY good performance in Gentleman's Agreement. It's a turgid misfire of a movie, one of the least deserving films to ever garner a Best Picutre Oscar. All the more annoying given that CROSSFIRE was also nominated that year for Best Pic. But all that meaningless Oscar chit-chat aside, CROSSFIRE simply buries Gentleman's Agreement in terms of delivering an important message about a disturbing issue. For anyone who's interested, CROSSFIRE airs on TCM next Thursday, May 17 at 10:00 pm (Pacific Time). Even now, sixty years later, it's still a pretty shocking picture.

[dfordoom]

I have to agree about GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. An astonishingly dreary film.

[mongoII]

I have to come to the defense of Anne Revere who plays Gregory Peck's mother. As usual her acting was impeccible, to say the least.
Dean Sockwell, June Havoc, and Roy Roberts also did nicely in their roles.

[Dewey1960]

Mongo, I would have to agree that virtually all of the performances in GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT were outstanding. (I would also add Albert Dekker and Celeste Holm to the list you mentioned.) The film itself, however...

[SSO Admins]

I should probably watch Gentleman's Agreement since I've had the DVD for a couple of years. I bought the Fox Studio Classics Collection since that's the only way I could get Murnau's Sunrise.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I am not a fan of this film, but Garfield is exceptional and definitely deserved a supporting actor Oscar. Other than the one confontation scene he is quietly supporting and really makes the other actor performances look better than they actually are. His scene with Peck's girlfriend (what did you say?) is subtle and understated. He really pulls a good performance out of her much the way Claude Rains did with him in the late 30's.

I vote for Crossfire, but GA is worth watching for Garfield's performance.

[ken123]

The Bobs make Crossfire sizzle !

[phil noir]

Both films deal with anti - semitism, thought the novel upon which "Crossfire " derives from " The Brick Foxhole ", written by Richard Brooks dealt with homosexuality.

I think Crossfire is a tremendous film, and one of the (many) aspects which makes it interesting is the changing of the source material to make it a film about anti-semitism. If you know, before seeing the film, that the murder victim was originally gay rather than Jewish, then it is possible to spot a couple of elements which allow the film to be read in both ways, i.e.:

- the soldier who is a suspect for the murder, whose friends rally round to hide him, strikes me as something of a contemporary cultural stereotype of a gay man - he is 'sensitive' and 'artistic' and so on.
- he meets the murder victim in a bar and goes up to his apartment with him - in other words, a pick up.

The film-makers have provided the soldier with a wife and the murder victim with a girlfriend, but in both cases the relationships are somewhat ambiguous.

Another aspect, probably related to censorship, which makes the film fascinating to me, is the character of 'the Man' (as memorably played by Paul Kelly). Who is 'the Man'? I assumed that Gloria Grahame's character was originally a prostitute (she works in a dance hall in the film, one of Hollywood's methods of alluding to a profession forbidden on the screen ), and so 'the Man' may possibly be either her pimp or a client with whom she has an odd, peculiarly charged relationship.

If so, what the film-makers have not been allowed to spell out, makes the situation so much more compelling. Indeed, Paul Kelly's character and his relationship with Gloria Grahame is what I think about most often when I think about this film.

[mrsl]

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Both films have a lot going for them. Both have splendid casts, and the dialog is shocking in both cases. I thought all three Bob's did excellent jobs with the roles assigned to them in Crossfire. B. Young conveyed just enough harshness of character to convince the audience that he was quite good and capable of his job. B. Mitchum as he often did, displayed deep friendship for his fellow soldier, and scorn for the man who would attempt to force people to his private will. B. Ryan was utterly unlikable from the very beginning, playing the man like a smooth con man, but not knowing his companions could see right through him. Paul Kelly and Gloria Graham have been well defined by others.

The cast of Gentleman's Agreement had more personal family oriented issues to deal with. Greg Peck for the pains his choices caused his little boy, and his relationship with his fiancee (who really did not realize she was prejudiced). I would have liked to see more scenes between Dean Stockwell and Anne Revere, I believe they would have added immensely to the film. This was a choice part for Garfield and I'm betting he loved getting his teeth wrapped around it. Whether or not you like the overall movie, or the subject matter, when dissecting each actors role and how they played their parts, you kind of have to add a star or two to your final review.
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