- published: 23 Apr 2016
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Brute Force (1947) is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn and Charles Bickford. It was directed by Jules Dassin, with a screenplay by Richard Brooks and the cinematography by William H. Daniels.
The film was among several film noirs made by Dassin during the postwar period. The others were Thieves' Highway, Night and the City and The Naked City.
The film opens on a dark, rainy morning at Westgate Prison. Prisoners crammed into a small cell watch through the window as Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) leaves his term in solitary confinement. Joe is angry and talks about escape. The beleaguered warden is under pressure to improve discipline. His chief of security, Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn), is a sadist who manipulates prisoners to inform on one another and create trouble so he can inflict punishment. The often drunk prison doctor (Art Smith) warns that the prison is a powder keg and will explode if they are not careful. He denounces Munsey's approach and complains that the public and government officials fail to understand the need for rehabilitation.
Actors: Harley Race (actor), Don Weiner (producer), Bruce Nash (writer), Dave Boone (writer), Danny Lux (composer), Don Weiner (director), Peter Margolis (miscellaneous crew), Bruce Nash (producer), Gary Wolfe (actor), Jerri Churchill (miscellaneous crew), Nick Bakay (actor), Anthony Durante (actor), Ingrid Ferrin (costume designer), Derrick Speight (miscellaneous crew), Michael Miller (writer),
Genres: Action,Actors: D.W. Griffith (director), Lionel Barrymore (actor), William J. Butler (actor), Harry Carey (actor), Edwin August (actor), John T. Dillon (actor), Frank Evans (actor), Robert Harron (actor), Harry Hyde (actor), J. Jiquel Lanoe (actor), Elmo Lincoln (actor), Wilfred Lucas (actor), Charles Hill Mailes (actor), Joseph McDermott (actor), Alfred Paget (actor),
Plot: A gent in formal wear, amid a club or party, dozes off reading a book about primitive man; we see the dream enacted. Weakhands loses his girlfriend to Bruteforce, but chances upon a design for a weapon to vanquish his rival and win her back. His tribe sees this and sets him up as their leader. With the club, he fends off various creatures (a winged lizard, a snake, a dinosaur) and a rival tribe led by Monkeywalk. The women even manage to repel an attack. But the rivals discover the secret of the club themselves, and capture the women. Weakhands, sitting in despair, chances upon a new weapon: the bow and arrow. With this tool, he slays the rival tribe and restores domestic tranquility.
Keywords: bow-and-arrow, brains-over-brawn, caveman, dinosaur, fictional-war, melodrama, prehistoric-times, rivalry, sequel, two-word-titleWhen the talking's over
New language speaks
With a voice of authority
Drowning out the weak
You can feel like a fist
You can talk like a gun
You get some third degree, education
You better get at it ..
Brute force
Brute force
When the talking's over
A new language speaks
With a crock of jackboots
Stepping on the weak
Something in their orders
Which strikes up when you want some back
If you wanna get you're own way
There's one thing you can't lack
A small question of ..
Brute force
Brute force
Brute force!
Brute force!
Brute force!
Brute force!