why don't people like this movie?

I just found an article that talks about Nicholas Ray's films, and the author stays that "In a Lonely Place" is far from Nicholas Ray's best film. Here's the link: http://members.aol.com/MG4273/nicholas.htm

Here's the whole part:

In a Lonely Place is far from my favorite Ray film. I can't stand the lead character, played by Humphrey Bogart. He is a compulsively violent man who is always physically attacking everyone around him. In my judgement, this man is a menace and needs serious help. I also dislike the film's 1950's conformist ideas: anyone who is "different" from other people is probably a dangerous freak. The film really piles this on. No wonder so many people were eager to escape from 1950's conformity. The film has attitudes that are exactly bad. It is always justifying Bogart's violence, suggesting it is manly, and having it criticized by unpleasant people, such as the nasty cops. But his non-conformism is treated as horrible, and is the target of nice people, such as the cop's wife. This is the exact reverse of my own take: his violence is very harmful, but his non-conformism should be accepted.

The violent protagonist here recalls Ray's other leading men. But most of these men are handling their problems much better than the Bogart character here. The cop in On Dangerous Ground is a "normal" man being driven to violence and desperation by his horrible job. He realizes he needs a drastic change of pace to break this cycle; he finds it with Ida Lupino and the countryside. Similarly, Johnny Guitar is a formerly violent man who has succeeded in burying his past gunslinger personality under a whole new persona and character. Both men represent a hope for change here. The relentless persecution the hero gets from the cops here recalls the similar persecution Joan Crawford suffers in Johnny Guitar.

In a Lonely Place shows many of the same staging ideas as Born to Be Bad. Both films mainly take place in the characters' homes, or in locations such as restaurants or galleries in which people carry on their personal lives. These homes are full of staircases, and complex rectilinear paths leading through several levels and around corners. The characters are always moving up and down these paths and staircases, and seeing each from a distance along these routes. In both films, the creative artists work at home. This contributes to the nearly pure focus on people's personal lives - we rarely get to an office or business environment; everything is purely domestic.

Once again, the people in this Ray film are mainly creative artists, working in this time in film. This art form is largely verbal and visual, like the painters and writers of Born to Be Bad; there are no musicians or dancers in the movie, as there will be later in Johnny Guitar. Everyone is fairly affluent and successful with their work - these are not people starving in a garret. Even the police here are obsessed with photography. The police chief's wall is full of crime pictures, arranged in a regular rectilinear grid in true Ray style. The taking and displaying of photographs seems to be the police's main detective activity. Both the photography and Bogart's screenwriting are woven into the plot in complex ways. Events in the screen play can mimic events in the real lives of the characters, and vice versa. Also, the progress of the script is an important element in the plot. Pirandellian moments involve the characters talking about film technique, while the scene on screen illustrates it and acts it out. I do not recall seeing much of anything like this in other films. Jean-Luc Godard would sometimes introduce something analogous using his avant-garde approaches. Similarly, Mel Ferrer's portrait of Joan Fontaine plays a similarly complex role in Born to Be Bad.

In a Lonely Place notched up a fair amount of critical praise at the time it was released, but it was something of a commercial under-performer. This was probably because audiences weren't prepared for such a bleak ending and seeing Bogart in such a dark, unsympathetic role. It's worth remembering that The Treasure of the Sierra Madre had opened to a similarly chilly box-office reception a few years beforehand. Over the years critics have continued to champion In a Lonely Place as one of the best films that either Nicholas Ray or Humphrey Bogart or Gloria Grahame have been associated with, but it remains widely unseen by the public at large. It really needs to be rediscovered on a wider scale.

> Frankly, male users usually give higher ratings to good movies than female users do.

LOL, well, that was 16 years ago, but it hasn't aged well.

A lot of women do only like chick flicks, which is unfortunate. But this 20-year-old woman really enjoyed In A Lonely Place, so you have to give some of us credit.

Also I'm just curious... but why do you think women are harsher critics than men?

Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character. ~ Notorious

John Sigl

I disagree about what type of movies men like vs what type of movies women like. It's hard to find any movies women are ever CAST in. The women's parts suck. I can't love the way the Oceans Thousandth movie is being made-- nostalgic for all that male bonding and sexist crap. It is not very cool for those male actors to 'flaunt the brotherhood' without any awareness of the politics of it. The 'Rat Pack'! Thanks, Hollywood, for reviving a male bonding film- the kind we were getting away from(?) and making it into a #$%ing Series of movies. Great! More 'hipster white guys' parts! Thanks. Exagerate the differences of the genders with nostalgic clothing! Cool.

Anyway, I am a female and I love dark films- not so called 'chick flicks'. In A Lonely Place is a great film.

I'm 18 and saw this when i was about 11. I've seen it several times since and it's one of my favorites...I really wish people would stop generalizing about women and especially teens... It's tiresome and generally not at all true.

We can't comment on every single movie in the world, but it doesn't mean we don't like them. It would be just as easy to generalize about older people and men, but to what purpose?

Uh, maybe it is reminiscent of relationships they would rather forget. The whole women and men differences have been played up in several comments here, and I think while they are differences in men and women, the comments here are pretty absurd and senseless.

I love this film...always have. Just how many 18 and under girls do you think are out there watching old b&w films 50's, 40's or anything pre-1960? There are a few...like the last poster. Hey young men...find a young girl like that who has filmbrain and film passion....treat her like a queen and adore HER whilst you adore the film together.

"Soul-destroying"? Please.

Now you're 33 .... you still like it? ;-)

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