This review may contain spoilers.
Came to see some great early-Hollywood eastern Sierra goodness and got a tremendous chase scene up the Whitney Portal, culminating in a hasty scramble up the rocks.
I’m in on Bogart (have I said that already?). He’s a great lead—he exudes cool and calm. He’s outstanding in handling situations, and taking charge even when he may not be the man meant to do so. He also plays a decent role as a guy who gets his heart broken a bit. So far, and forgive me if I am totally ignorant here, he comes across as a decently progressive leading guy for the era. I hope that’s true.
Anyway, he was great in this. Sadly, the vast majority of the movie takes place NOT in the High Sierra, which is what I came to see. It doesn’t matter. The movie was a great time and I got to continue get more Bogart experience.
Notes:
- That slap in the early minutes—damn
- Velma’s age was, um, dubious. It was finally mentioned, as “around 20”
- “That’s right, blame the dame!” He has lines
- The end, getting shot as he was harmless and probably about to surrender—just seems so American
Update 10/2/2024
It just occurred to me that I should follow up on movie stuff when I can. I visited the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, California earlier this year. It was my first time in the museum and it’s very worth the stop. Anyway, I saw that they had the car, and for some reason this movie has stuck with me since I watched. I took a picture with the car.
