Runtime: 86 minutes
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon, William Gargan
From: Walter Wanger Productions
YOLO! That had to be mentioned right away; the elephant in the room needed to be addressed so I could get past that. It is true that ever since I first heard of this movie, I laughed at its title because that was after YOLO became popular... which was almost 10 years ago! As it is on the Criterion Channel for the moment, there was no excuse for me not to see Fritz Lang's second-ever Hollywood film.
Talk about “victims of circumstance”, that's what Henry Fonda's character Eddie Taylor was. Taylor's a low-level criminal who is just released from prison. In California there must have been a four strikes and you're out rule at the time... if he goes to jail again he's in there for life. Despite him having Sylvia Sidney (playing Joan, ironically a secretary to a public defender) as a girlfriend, they experience discrimination due to Eddie being a felon. A lot could be said concerning how even today felons experience discrimination no matter if they are reformed or not. As his new boss found a flimsy reason to fire Eddie's ass, what else is he supposed to do? This leads to an amazing streak of bad luck where he end up on death row and his crimes suddenly turn serious.
While I did laugh at how Bad Luck Brian the life of Eddie Taylor turned out, the film was pretty good overall as it was still a compelling tale where I never lost interest in the fate of Eddie and Joan, which not coincidentally was similar to that of Bonnie & Clyde. According to some people on Letterboxd, they could understand why anyone would fall for a young Henry Fonda. Highlights besides the performances of the two included Margaret Hamilton showing up for a few minutes, some haunting moments done in silence, and the occasions where Lang could show off his German Expressionistic style; no surprise that there are some moments involving fog and an important bit involving tear gas. This is not legendary like M or Metropolis; that said, I was glad this was better than a random movie I only saw so I could crack wise about its title.
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