Crossfire (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crossfire

Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Produced by	Adrian Scott
Written by	Richard Brooks (novel), John Paxton
Starring	Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene Jacqueline White
Music by	Roy Webb
Editing by	Harry Gerstad
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	July 22, 1947
Running time	86 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Crossfire is a 1947 film which dealt with the theme of anti-semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement.

The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk; the screenplay was written by John Paxton. The film starred Robert Mitchum, Robert Young and Robert Ryan, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this film, as did co-star Gloria Grahame, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film received other nominations as well.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Awards
4 External links
- 4.1 DVD Reviews

[edit] Plot

A Jew (played by Sam Levene) is killed by a recently demobilized drunken U.S. soldier (played by Robert Ryan) simply because he is Jewish. The film also addresses the post-World War II issue of soldiers being released from the military with no training other than as soldiers.

The movie was based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks, in which the victim was homosexual. As told in the "The Celluloid Closet" novel and in the documentary included on the DVD edition of the Crossfire film, The Hollywood Hays Code prohibited any mention of homosexuality because it was seen as a sexual perversion. Hence, the book's theme of homophobia was changed to one about racism & anti-Semitism.

[edit] Trivia

Although the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, it did not win any. It has been suggested that this may have been partly due to the refusal by Dmytryk and Scott as members of the Hollywood ten, to testify before the House Unamerican Activities Committee.

Despite receiving an Oscar nomination, Robert Ryan did not like talking about his film role because of the negative aspects of his character.