Bogart in In a Lonely Place

In a Lonely Place has been coming up quite a bit lately – here’s one of the posts – and now Kim Morgan has written a typically insightful review of the film (and my favorite Bogart performance). It’s Peter Bogdonavich’s favorite as well (one of the best portrayals of Hollywood screenwriters and the challenges they face that I can think of – it’s up there with Sunset Boulevard. It feels realler than Sunset Boulevard, which takes on a Gothic melodramatic aspect – quite appropriate to the film). But In a Lonely Place is raw, with a couple of scenes that border on intensely uncomfortable for the viewer. Realistic in its portrayal of the isolation and bitterness of the writer – and it’s equally astonishing because it’s Bogart playing the guy. He’s never been so intense.

Here’s an excerpt from Morgan’s review:

Ray, whose pictures like Rebel Without a Cause, Bigger Than Life, and On Dangerous Ground all contemplate a man’s lonely, often horrifying position in his world, is in archetypal mode with In a Lonely Place. Much like the protagonists in Ray’s other films, Dixon is not a loser (like so many characters in noir), but rather a talent who would be productive if not for the obstacles in his way, including his own neurotic, repressed, enraged self.

I can be kind of evangelical about the movie. Here’s what I wrote about it. I just have such high regard for it, and Bogart’s work in particular.

Anyway, go read Kim Morgan’s review.

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