8/12/2019 2711897 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2711897 1/12 The Dark Night of the Screen: Messages and Melodrama in the American Movie Billy Jack by T. C. Frank; The Celluloid Weapon: Social Comment in the American Film by David Manning White; Richard Averson; Running Away from Myself: A Dream Portrait of America Drawn from the Films of the Forties by Barbara Deming; Violent America: The Movies, 1946-1964 by Lawrence Alloway Review by: Sidney Rosenzweig American Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), pp. 88-98 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711897 . Accessed: 13/07/2013 00:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 123.49.60.210 on Sat, 13 Jul 2013 00:56:12 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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The Dark Night of the Screen: Messages and Melodrama in the American Movie
Billy Jack by T. C. Frank; The Celluloid Weapon: Social Comment in the American Film byDavid Manning White; Richard Averson; Running Away from Myself: A Dream Portrait ofAmerica Drawn from the Films of the Forties by Barbara Deming; Violent America: TheMovies, 1946-1964 by Lawrence AllowayReview by: Sidney RosenzweigAmerican Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), pp. 88-98Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711897 .
Accessed: 13/07/2013 00:56
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
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The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
American Quarterly.
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ViolentAmerica: The Movies 1946-1964. By.Lawrence Alloway. NewYork:Museum ofModernArt,1971.95 pages.$7.95.
Billy Jack IS NOT AS BAD A FILM AS I HOPED IT WOULD BE, NOR ASgood as it oughtto be to deserve ll themoney t has earned. But,as thepublicists creamed t us, it s a "phenomenon." Phenomenon""s Holly-wood jargon for any filmthatbreaks commercialrecords,but in BillyJack's case thewordhas specialconnotations. riginally eleased nNewYork inJuly1971, t receivedmixedreviews ndwas notvery uccessful.ButBillyJackdeveloped following utside hebigcities nd abouta yearlater its producer-director-star,om Laughlin, rereleased it using ashrewdly edesigneddvertisingampaign nd the "four-wall" istributionsystem.Insteadofrentinghe film o theaters or percentage fthe n-come, thedistributor ents number f theatersnselected ocationsforflatrate and thenretains ll revenue.)BillyJack became a "cult film,"enjoyed normouslyongrunsthroughouthecountryndfinally,ike theoncedespisedhero who comes back triumphantlyo thetown hathad run
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The ensuing ightetween illy nd Bernard's ang eems obethefatherofthe urrentlyopular rood fkung u ilms.ncircledy nemies, illywhirlsroundnslowmotion,lingingn armhere, leg here,mashingllopponentsith alleticase.
ButBilly ack lsodisplaysnothermotif, ithnotherttitudeowardviolencend contrastingmage f tshero. he role-playingames, treettheater hows, nd psychodramasre all improvisedsingnonactors.Reminiscentf thetechniquef John assavetes Faces,Husbands) rPeterWatkinsPunishmentark), these cenes ttempt morehonestpresentationftheir hemes, eeking o avoiddramaticliches y ettingrealkids ct from heirwn ears ndfrustrations.hey xpress he ilm'spacifistdeal,tshope hat y earningounderstandnd ccept hemselvesthekidswill earn oencountertherswithoutiolence. ean reaches hispacifismhroughouthefilmndBilly eginsoaccept twhen e surren-ders tthe nd. nthis other"movie illysnot he owerful,emi-mysticherobut flawedhild-man,ormentedy "ragewithin efromhedayI wasborn,"who lowlyearns o change is ife.
The mprovisedown ouncilmeetingttended yJean ndher tudentsepitomizesheclash between illyJack'stwostyles. he kidsand thecouncilmembersrgue uthentically,oicingheiruspicionsnd mutualmisunderstanding.ut Posner itsonthe ouncil, figureromhe therside f he ilm, melodramaticillain ho xistsnly oconfronthe ero.Heis not manbut metaphor,dramaticonvention.illy ackwants oberealisticn ts pproacho social ssues, ut indshat or ramaticffec-tivenesstmust sethe tock iguresfmelodrama.
This reliance nmelodramas true f mostAmericanmovies hat aveattemptedomeform f socialcriticism.he recent ook,TheCelluloidWeapon: ocial Comment n theAmericanFilm, byDavidManningWhiteand Richard verson,rovides solidhistoricalverviewfthe traditionof theAmericanmessagemovie."Oversizedndcrammed ith ictures,TheCelluloidWeaponurveys ollywood'sociallyonsciousinema rom1906 to 1972. t mentionsmostof themajor and many f the minormessagemoviesof each era, stressinghe kindsof social questionsexamineds well s thessues hatwere vaded ecause fpoliticalressureor thendustry'strictelf-censorship.toccasionallyffersconventionalcritical omment utbasically voidsartistic valuations.t keeps tspromise f political bjectivity,iving qual time o WarnerBrothers'"liberal" ilms fthe30sandthe nti-communistpics fthe ate40sand50s.
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Unfortunately,he CelluloidWeapon s moresuggestive han atisfying,pointing o numerous ssuesworth iscussion ut refusingo discussthem.For example, t observesthatHollywoodhas always ocated "Satansville
U.S.A.," the homeof bigotry, ypocrisyndviolence,below theMason-Dixon line in a small, repressive outherntown. But it rests content omake thisobservationwithout onsidering ither he causes or the conse-quencesof suchmoviemythmaking.
The fundamentalssue n anystudy f the"problempicture" ught o betherelationship etweenmessages nd melodrama.White ndAversonre-mindus that fromtheir nfancyAmericanfilmshave gift-wrappedheirmessages in the conventions f melodrama. Duringthis century'sfirstdecade filmswere aimed at a large,barely iteratemmigrantudience.Toattractthis audience they old tales of thehelplesspoor strugglingn theclutches f "unscrupulous ankers .. politicians, lumlords nd ... em-ployers."Films ikeThe Eviction1907),TheMoneylender1908) andTheStrike t theMines 1911) are amongthefirstmessagemovies nd thefirstfilmmelodramas.They "underscoredmanyof the social ills which themuckrakers.. were attacking"but did so usingmelodramaticplots ...familiar oworkinglass audiences .. characters. . they ouldempathizewith nd . . . 'happyendings' hatsustained heirmmigrantreams." Be-
forethe end of the decade Americanfilmmakers had established heirarchetypes:hepowerful,orrupt usinessman,hecrusading, ocially on-scioushero, nd thenotion hat ocial lls are causedbywickedmen nd canbecuredwhen heheroreaches hevillain'sheart ither ochange rstop t.
But The Celluloid Weaponfailsto indicatehow strongly hismythologyhas shaped everymessage moviefromThe Eviction o BillyJack. Most ofthoseWarners ocial problem ictures, s well as many ther 0s' dramas,implied hat the cause of thecountry's isasterwas not the collapse of ts
economic systembut the hordeof crooks, swindlers nd shysters hatpreyedupon it. In the prisonpictures such as Each Dawn I Die, TheBigHouse) the real problem turned ut to be sadisticguardsand apatheticofficials;nthe aborfilmsBlack Fury,Cabin n theCotton) twas arrogantindustrialistsnd racketeeringnion eaders. FrankCapra's "populist ril-ogy" (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,MeetJohnDoe) is completely ased on thegood guyvs. bad guy blueprint.Capra's naivesimplificationfcomplexpolitical nd economicforces, ari-catures of crooked politicians nd power-madfinanciers,nd strained
happyendingsmay annoyhistorians.ButCapra intended o createmelo-dramaticfictions, ot political tudies.He wanted o arouse emotions, otanalyze social issues, and his filmsbrilliantlyransform raditionalmelo-dramatic haracters nd situationsnto mages of enormous motionalm-pact.
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Capra's filmshave beencalled "populistpropaganda,"and melodramadoes make effective ropaganda. But propaganda and serious socialcriticismrerarely he same. In fact,melodrama annot eriously xamine
complex social issues because its emotional appeal comes from itssimplificationsf reality.Moreover, t not only simplifiesssues, it alsosimplifiesumanpsychology.
One ofthemore mportant utrarelynotedqualities fmovievillains sthatthey lwaysknow hey revillains. his s mostobvious n a period d-venture ilm, uch as the 1938version f TheAdventures fRobin Hood.PrinceJohnhappily surpshis brother's hrone,henweepscrocodile earsovertheSaxons' fate. Isn't it a shametheymustbe left omytendermer-cies,"he cackles, spilling gobletofbloodred wine o emphasizehispoint.The messagemovies' fat-cat apitalistsmaynot be so blunt,but there susually one momentwhentheybecome conscious of their wn evil. Cer-tainly hose thatprovide hehappy endingby "reforming"annot do sowithout dmitting heir rrors.Even when hevillain eemsunawareof hisevil,the audience feels t so stronglyhat t cannothelpbelieving e mustfeel t too. But outsidethe theater he audience s never so surewho thevillains are. And the villains themselves,whoeverthey may be, seethemselves s heroes, indingnly hehighestdealsbehind heir ctions.
Many mportant roblem ictures avenotfollowedheformulas. hesetendto be "antipopulist," iewing the littlepeople" as a frightened assofeasily ed,violence-proneoobs.The villain snotan individual utthe g-norant, rrational ide of human nature.Today thesefilms eem the eastdated and most honest. Among them are the antilynchingilms, uch asFuryandThey Won'tForget nthe 30s and The Ox-Bow ncident, ry ndGet Me and TheLawless inthe40s and 50s. More sentimental,utclearlyimplyinghat"the people" are ignorantphilistines,re the biographical
dramas suchas Dr. Erlich'sMagic Bullet,TheStoryofEmile Zola and TheStoryofLouis Pasteur, n which cientists, riters nd otherfreethinkerschallenge hemasses' most cherisheduperstitions.venCapra cries "thepeople,no" inhis terrifyingally-turned-mobcene near the end of MeetJohn Doe. Yet potent s theseantipopulist ilmsmaybe, their motionalappeal remains hatofmelodrama; he audience dentifies ith heembat-tledheroandcan never ee tself s anhystericalmob.
MostAmericanmovies ntendeds social criticism ave becomeuninten-tional melodramas.But the reverse s also true:significantocial criticism
has oftenemerged,perhaps unintentionally,romdeliberatelymelodra-maticmovies.MuchrecentwritingbouttheAmericanmoviehas centeredon the"filmnoir" of the 40s and 50s. Frenchcritics oinedtheterm,butBritish and American writershave adopted it (in works like CharlesHigham and Joel Greenberg'sHollywood in the Forties and Lawrence
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Alloway'sViolentAmerica:TheMovies 1946-1964). It refers o the floodoftoughprivate-eyehrillersTheMalteseFalcon, TheBigSleep,Murder,MySweet) andurbanmelodramaswhosedescendantssuchas Chinatown,
TheFrenchConnection) till arken creens oday.These films ransformheantipopulist ictures'pessimistic iewof so-cietyntoa pervasivetmosphere funcertainty,vil nddespair.Theirun-forgettablemages,their"mise-en-sctne," till shape our visionof "thecity"as a bleak nightworld, landscapefilledwith onefiguresn trenchcoats, menin hats and women n spike-heeledhoes, silhouettedgainststreet amps, ookingnervouslyver their houlders,walking lowly owndark,rain-splatteredtreets ntosleazy, ll-nightars ordim,smoke-filledrestaurants, isiting he detective'scold, sparselyfurnished ffice, heshadowsof Venetian linds tripingtsbarewalls,a naked ight ulb andalarge,four-bladed anhanging rom tsceiling, urninglowly.Theirplotsare often omplicated, ullofframe-ups,allguysanddouble-crosses,n-tense,physicallynd psychically attered haracters, angled,hiddenmo-tives, wisted elationshipsndviolent ctions. Evennon-thrillers,uch asMildredPierce, nvolve iolence nddeath.Like theproblempictures, hefilmnoir shows littleunderstandingf complex political or economicforces; tsappeal is emotional.Unliketheproblempictures, hesefilms o
not pretend o deal withspecific ocial issues; they ntendonly to tell"entertainingtories."Buttheir tories re morecomplex, heir haractersmorallymoreambiguousthanthe straightforwardventsand black andwhitefigures f theproblempictures.From their ruel and desperate t-mosphere,wherevillainsmay be attractive, eroesunpleasantly ious orhypocriticalnd everyone aintedbythecorruptingriveformoney ndpower, merges n image ofAmericafarmorescathing hanthatof anymessagemovie.
LawrenceAlloway'sViolentAmerica: TheMovies1946-64grew ut of afilmseries he directedfor New York's Museum of ModernArt, "TheAmericanActionMovie, 1946-64 April24-June , 1969)," and incorpo-ratesmanyof theprogramnoteshewrotefor hatseries.Like TheCellu-loid Weapon t is a large, llustrated olume.But it is a moretheoreticalessay thatdevelops number f deas about the"popularfilm" ngeneral,and the"actionfilm,"westerns,warmovies ndfilmnoirmelodramas nparticular.Allowaydecides thedistinctionetween opular rt and"high"art is not one ofqualitybut of duration.The high rtsare meantto last,
popularart to be consumed.Like the Roman emperors'funeral yresorElizabethan ourtmasques,movies re a form f"expendable rt." Infact,borrowingWagner's termfor the"total workof art" that unitesmusic,dramaandthevisualartsof costume ndscenicdesign,Alloway alls filmthe "expendableGestamtkunstwerk." e challenges the auteurtheory,
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claiming hatwhile omefilmsmaybeidentifiedythe tampof their irec-tors'personality,most ofthosehe mentionsre examplesof"group art,"theproduct fwriters,ctors, producers nd technicianss well as direc-
tors.They can bestbeunderstoodwithinhecontext f their enres, nd hedescribes heconventional orms fplotandcharacter hatmark he ctiongenres, nd thechangesthey xperiencednthepostwar ra. He finds hatthey ssimilated opularized ersions fpsychoanalysisndexistentialism,making heir haractersmorecomplex, lotsmoreconfusing,ndthefilmsmore expressiveof a melancholyviewof life.Despite his book's title,Allowaywrites ess about filmviolence tself hanabout its questionablerelationshipoviolence nsociety.
Some of these deas are excitingnd original, omeare not;all ofthemsufferromAlloway'saristocraticnabilityo say anythingimply.He at-tacks those who condescend o thepopulararts,but his ownpretentiousproseseemsto use argonto "legitimize" issubject.For example,he tellsus thatafterWorld War II "various iconographic hemesof Americanmovieswere enacted n non-studioettings" esultingn a combination f"schematicnarrativewith patial llusionism." his simplymeansthatfor-mula westerns nd "cityfilms"were shot on location;old plots put nnewplaces.
A moreprovocative tudy f thefilmnoir, hought never nceuses theterm,s BarbaraDeming'sRunningAwayFromMyself:A DreamPortraitofAmericaDrawn From theFilmsoftheForties.Completed n 1950,be-fore hecriticaldea offilm oirhad beenpopularized, efore ilm riticismitselfhad become academicallyreputable,Deming's book was literallytwenty earsahead of tstime; t didn'tfind publisherntil1969. Muchofit consistsoflong,detailed ynopses f over twodozenpopular40s' films;reading hem s likerememberingldfriends otseen for while.Deming's
argumentundermines he notionthatHollywoodwas all escapism andhappy endings.The 40s' melodramaswithcontemporary ettings o notcreate farawayworlds of fantasy nd adventure; heypresent nsteadaseries ofunhappyheroestrapped ngrimsituations ya malevolent ate.Theirdespairprovides romanticizedmageofthe audience'sownfears;within he filmdreamsone "can discern uiteclearly heconditions romwhich man wantstoescape." The escapism ies nthehero'sability odowhat the audience cannot,use some cinematicsleightof hand to freehimself ndfind ishappy nding.
The filmnoirmelodramas howthe east of this moviemagic.Demingdeals with hemmostlynherchapter n the"toughboy,"theprivate ye,which ncludesdiscussions fThe Maltese Falcon, TheBig Sleep, thenon-BogartPhilipMarlowe movies uchas Lady in theLake and TheBrasherDoubloon, and several others. Anticipating he Bogart cult's birth n
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Cambridgebyovera dozenyears,Demingdescribes hecharacteristics fwhat the cultistscall the "Americanexistentialist ero." The detective,working n a worldwhereno one can be trusted, elieves nly nhis "own
self-definition. . his own powerto endure." He values his instincts, iscourage,his brains ndhis honor, nd he is alwaystesting hesevalues. Hemust reject everytemptation, ccept every risk,enter everytrap andemerge ntact. He suffers eatings nd betrayals,harassmentby officialsandthedeathof his fewfriends. is survivals his onlyvictory.He expectsnothing lse,not money, otpower,noteven ove.
The detective ilmsvividly xpress"that image of disorderthat mostfilms truggleogloss over."ButDeminggoesbeyond hefilm oir nd dis-
covers hatotherforms f40s' melodrama lso covertly uestion he truc-tures ndvalues ofAmerican ife. n the war adventure ilmsChina, TheImposter, Passage to Marseilles) the heroes desperatelyor cynicallywonderwhatthey refightingor. n the ovestoriesAdventure, hose En-dearingYoung Charms,State Fair) thehard-to-get eroes,fleeing rommarriage, oubtthatthey an find appinesswithinmiddle-classociety. nthesuccessstories,whetherictionalizediographiesRhapsody nBlue, n-cendiaryBlonde) or pure fiction Humoresque,Random Harvest) theheroesstruggle orartistic nd material uccessonly to findt
emptynd
meaningless. n the "escape" films Nora Prentiss, carlet Street, TheChase) the heroesescape from heir rdinary, ull livesbut find heirnewonesstrange, angerous ndfrightening.
The happyending,howeverstrained, eems to "save" most of theseheroes, eading hem uietly ack tomiddle-classife, rawnbytheone un-conquerable orce nHollywoodmythology,ove. Love is the ecret f thatcinematic leight fhand; all ofthe hero's discomfortinguestions boutAmerican ociety nd his ifewithintare subtly ransformedntohisdesire
for heheroine.Deming's nitial xample s Casablanca, inwhichRick's airofmystery, is seeminglyniversal ynicism, is claim ofpolitical pathy,are all merely hieldsprotecting is brokenheart. Whenhe reaffirmsisfaithnIlse,hecan reaffirmisfaith n theanti-Nazi truggle. ut,Deminginsists, ll thesefilms ncludemoments fdoubt, angerand painthat thehappy endingscannot contain.If we listenclosely,we can hear all theunanswereduestions, ll theunquieted ries.
Deming'sargumentsre persuasive;withinnynumber f40s' films he
doesnotmention, e can find hepatternshe dentifies.nfortunately,erdisparagingttitude oward hefilms lindshertotheirmotional trength.Hermain ntent, owever,sneither opraisenordamnthem, utto writepsychologicaltudy fa groupoffilm eroeswhosemalaisehas its roots nAmerican ociety. he calls her book a "dreamportrait fAmerica"andthedreams hown nthe creen renightmares.
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96 AmericanQuarterly
RichardChase, in The AmericanNovel and its Tradition, istinguishesbetween the traditions f the English "novel" and the American "ro-mance." The novel,Chase says, strives or realistic epresentationf or-
dinary xperience, ealingwith haracterswho possess "a real complexityof temperamentnd motive,"who exist in explicable elation o nature, oeachother, o their ocial class, to their wn past," and who are ultimately"more important han action and plot." The plot tselfmustbe plausible,with oincidence ept o a minimum nd violence arefullyustified. he ro-mance expresses experience freed from the demands of realism. Itscharacters reflatter, ith ewer houghmore ntense motions. hey maybe "less complexly elated o each other, r to society r to thepast" andare less important han theplot. Events maybe implausible, oincidentalandviolentndare "likely o havea symbolic" mport.2
Romance may contain elements of pastoral idylor melodrama,butAmericanromance favors helatter and Chase oftenuses "melodrama""and "romance" interchangeably. e defines he worldofmelodrama s aradicallydualistic one in which ife s "a hazardous action between ..marked, even irreconcilable xtremes." Characters can transcendthecontradictions f their xperience nly through iolence, ourage, ove ordeath. Unlike dyllic omance,which mphasizes econciliationnd rebirth,
The American ilm ends obe a form fromance ndshares ts nabilityto deal with omplexpolitical ssues, tstransformationf social criticisminto melodrama,withAmerican iterature. he Englishnoveloften reatesa complexfictionalociety ndexaminestsrelationshipo characters romdifferentocial classes. ButtheAmerican omancehas been ess concernedwithdetails of society nd social class than withsymbolic magesof the
world as a wrestlingrena forangelsand demons. ts heroesandvillainseasilybecomemetaphors orgood and evil. Chase tracesthistendencyfAmerican iterature oits colonialbackgroundndthe Manicheanqualityof New EnglandPuritanism .. with tsgrand metaphors f election nddamnation, ts oppositionof the kingdomof lightand the kingdomofdarkness." The American magination as traditionallyeen attracted othe "melodrama of the eternalstruggle f good and evil." From thistradition ame the earliestAmericanmovies, hosemessagemelodramasmentionednThe Celluloid Weapon. n fact, ne of thefirst nes, Griffith's
A Corner n Wheat, s based on Norris' TheOctopus, nwhich he "social
2RichardChase, TheAmerican Novel and its Tradition Garden City,N.Y.: Doubleday,Anchor, 957),pp. 12, 13.
3Ibid., p. 172.
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question is conceivedas a clear-cut,black and white war betweenthegrasping apitalist nd theplainAmerican."4
Chase also discussesthe literary tyleof Americanromance,claiming
that t is too often ullof inflatedanguage and elevatedrhetoric.Withoutoverstatingheanalogy, suggest hecinematic quivalent f thisprosenotin moviemelodrama's rtificial,verripe ialogue,but n ts richvisualvo-cabulary hatcreatesthefilm oir'sstylized mise-en-scene."ts elaboratecamera techniques ften nclude ong, sinuous rackinghots nwhich hecamera slides up and downstairs and snakesthrough arkhallways, ndcomplicatedmages of characters rowded nto smoky, hadowedrooms,glimpsed ehind illars, ables and chairs as iftrappedby the furnitureftheirworld.
Oftenmore effectivelyhanthestory, his tyle xpresses hepessimismunderlyinghe filmnoir, nd there s more pessimism nd thereforemoreimplied ocialcriticismn the Hollywoodmelodrama han s popularly up-posed.The darknight fthescreenhas been a longone.Depressiondespairfills he films f the 30s; Demingdescribes henightmares f the40s; filmhistorianGordonGow, amongothers,writesof the "darkermood thatdominated hebestofAmerican inema nthefifties"nd extended nto he60s;5 and anyonewho has gone to the moviesrecently as noticedthe
fashionable ihilismffilmsnthe 70s. Furthermore,he western nd thegangster film,two genresAmerica invented, an be seen as formsoftragedy.6he gangster ilms butanother fDeming'ssuccessstories, hetale ofa herowho struggleso "get to thetopof theworld, nlytohave tblow upin hisface."7The western, hileperhaps essobviously essimistic,deals with characterwhose ob is to make himself nnecessary.As thecowboyspreadscivilization estward, eplacing ustlersnd redskinswithlaw and order,he inevitablyeaches the momentwhenhe must rideaway
intohis ast sunset.We return t last to our original phenomenon," illyJack. One expla-nation of its unusual popularitymaybe that t so successfully laysthegreatAmericangame of having-it-both-ways.illyJack s a superhero oran age thatneeds superheroes, ut he is also a man who needs ecturingabout nonviolencen an era too "realistic" to believe n them. He finallyconverts o nonviolence, ut onlyafterhe has violently isposedof thevillains. n short,BillyJack uses the old melodramatic ormulas o arouse
4Chase,pp. 11,38,202.5GordonGow,HollywoodntheFiftiesNewYork:A.S. Barnes,1971),p. 175.6See RobertWarshow's ssayson "The Gangster s TragicHero" and "The Westerner"n
The mmediate xperience NewYork:Atheneum, 971).7This s a close paraphrase fthe ast lineof one ofthe bestgangster ilms,Raoul Walsh's
White eat; it describes hedeathofCodyJarret, layedbyJamesCagney.
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our angerat social injustice, utalso uses itsmodern, mprovisedtyle osuggestthatwith a littlepatienceand understanding e can all get ittogether. here s a momentn thefilm, imilar o thoseDemingdescribes,
inwhichBillydenounces ociety o sweepinglyhatnohappy nding eemsable to contain t: "Tell me, . . in what corner f the country, o,oftheentiregoddamplanet, s there ucha place wheremenreallycare abouteach other, eally oveeach other.You tell me where ucha place is and IpromiseyouI'll neverhurt notherhumanbeing s longas I live.Justoneplace " Despitethe fury fthese ines, hefilmmplies hatJean'sschool sthatplace.AndperhapsBillyJack's greatest ppeal is itssentimental opefor happy nding utside heworld fmelodrama.
But we cannotforesee future ullofhappyendings.Far from t.Thefilmnoirofthe70s, those city-as-hell,ops and killers ilmslikeTheDonIs Dead, DirtyHarry,TheSeven-Ups) bleedevermoreprofuselycrossthescreen.The onlyone assuredof a happy ndings Tom Laughlin.His BillyJackmadeover $30 million.He thereforeookthe onlyacceptable ction;hemadea sequel.NowtheworldwatchesThe Trialof BillyJack.
