Desert Fury

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Desert Fury
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Lewis Allen
Produced by	Hal B. Wallis
Written by	Screenplay: A. I. Bezzerides Robert Rossen Story: Ramona Stewart
Starring	Lizabeth Scott John Hodiak Burt Lancaster Mary Astor Wendell Corey
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Edward Cronjager Charles Lang
Editing by	Warren Low
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 15, 1947 (U.S.A.)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Desert Fury is a 1947 Paramount Pictures color film noir drama film starring Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak and Burt Lancaster, with Mary Astor and Wendell Corey.^[1]

Directed by Lewis Allen, the story was adapted for the screen by A.I. Bezzerides and Robert Rossen, based on the racy novel Desert Town by Ramona Stewart. It was produced by Hal Wallis. Music was by Miklós Rózsa, and cinematography in Technicolor by Charles Lang.

Desert Fury has fast and furious dialogue, dark secrets and outraged face slappings.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cast
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Fritzi Haller (Mary Astor) is the tough owner of a saloon and casino in the small fictional mining town of Chuckawalla, Nevada. Her daughter, Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott), has just quit school and returned home at the same time that gangster Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak) has returned. He was once involved with Fritzi, but left town under suspicion of murdering his wife.

Paula falls for Bendix and they become involved. Paula's old boyfriend, and local lawman, Tom Hanson (Burt Lancaster), along with Bendix's sidekick, Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey), try to break up the relationship. When Fritzi finds out, she angrily tries to protect Paula and put a stop to her seeing Bendix.

Bendix's past catches up with him in an unexpected way when the car he is in, running from Hanson (who wants to rid the town of the likes of Bendix and Ryan), crashes through the railing as it is going onto the bridge and plunges down the embankment, killing him.

[edit] Production

Scenes were shot on location in the small Ventura County, California, town of Piru, with the northwest side of Center Street, at Main, used as the exterior of Fritzi's saloon and casino; the Piru Mansion was used as the Haller home and the historic Piru bridge was used as the locale of the car crash.