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Watching IaLP from a modern perspective (spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by Jessica-656
3 replies | jump to latest

I was certainly engrossed by this film, and I've enjoyed Nicholas Ray's films in general. However, even assuming that Dixon Steele did *not* kill the hatcheck girl (which turns out to be the case), to my modern eyes he gave off enough warning signs of being an abusive and potentially violent man to make me seriously worry about Laurel Grey. Even the way he kept rushing her in the relationship is now considered to be a warning sign. I cringed when he insisted on listening in on Laurel's telephone call, with the obligatory apology and "It'll never happen again" afterwards. Also, $300 is not much of an apology for beating someone up and then leaving them unconscious at the side of the road without making sure they're all right. (I wasn't impressed with Laurel for doing that, either.)

Even though I appreciated the film's balanced approach and the way it made me sympathize with both main characters, the fact is that even though her love was real, Laurel Grey was well out of it, unless she wanted to end up dead or badly injured (with a sincerely broken-hearted Dix at her side, of course)-: I wasn't too impressed with Laurel's line near the end about "Yesterday, (the news of Dix's innocence in the murder) would have made all the difference." If they had gotten together yesterday, all their original problems would have remained!

[–] MissBender24 14 years ago

...but there you go, some girls fall in love and are blind to the danger right there in their man's behaviour....and that "yesterday" line, well that's a great excuse isn't it?

[–] ABetterDay 14 years ago

Your post suggests an ignorance of the role women played in 1950 America. In a better day in this nation's history, a relationship between a man and a woman was defined by what made the man happy. Until the relationship turned violent, it was her role to be submissive to his command. Modern women have trouble with this concept. In 1950, however, a movie audience would have expected nothing else.

Remember When Movies Didn't Have To Be Politically Correct?

[–] liscarkat (16469) 5 years ago

"$300 is not much of an apology for beating someone up and then leaving them unconscious at the side of the road"

It's the equivalent of more than $3,000.00 today (2018), at a time (1950) when a visit to a doctor cost $5.00 and even an overnight stay at a hospital would probably be less than $100.00.