A fatalistic essay on greed and steamy atmospherics.
--Phil Hardy, The Western (Morrow, 1983)
Ulmer's film, made for peanuts (like most of his films), raises the question of what a Western actually is. Does if have to take place during the frontier (however that is defined), as some say? I was somewhat shocked to find the intrusion of a contemporary motorcar in The Naked Dawn, until I found out the film was written, under a pseudonym, by blacklisted writer Julian Zimet, who had written Westerns for Republic Studios for Roy Rogers and others, films that often involved cars. Ulmer's film emphasizes that class concerns and the power of landowners is a contemporary problem and not exclusive to the past.
Ulmer (who only made one other film in color) and cinematographer Frederick Gately (who worked mostly in television, which then was strictly black-and-white) emphasized the blues of the sky and the browns of the earth. At death "the gates of heaven open and there is land for everyone," but in life some save money to buy their own land and others steal money to enjoy the sensual pleasures of life, even if not for long. In The Naked Dawn a woman is sold along with the land and she is attracted to the bandit who comes to her husband's land, hoping he will rescue her from dreary domesticity. Everyone is confronted by choices they don't understand, ending with death for some and temporary escape for others.
No comments:
Post a Comment