The Rack is a nearly flawless movie, but up until recently, I'd never even heard of it! I'd always remembered 1956 fondly as the year Paul Newman made Somebody Up There Likes Me, and I had no idea he'd made another movie, a far heavier drama. In this one, he plays a soldier returned from a POW camp in Korea. Shortly after his physical rehabilitation, he's placed under arrest for the treasonous charge of collaborating with the enemy. Unlike the following year's Time Limit, this movie contains no flashbacks. You're exposed to little truths as the movie unfolds linearly, and you have to make up your own mind along the way.
There is one fly in the ointment, in the form of Lee Marvin. He plays a soldier in the same camp who witnessed Paul's collaboration. During his testimony, he describes the extensive physical torture he endured, proving the point that he knew far worse pain than Paul and didn't crack. When you hear what he went through, it's clear he could not possibly have swaggered up to the witness box, crossed his legs, and smiled as he recounted how "good" they worked him over. If it wasn't included in the script to give him a limp or other physical deformities, he should have insisted on silent additions to his character, like nervous tics or winces in pain. It would have made his testimony against Paul so much more effective, and it would have been more realistic to his own character.
Besides Lee Marvin, everyone does a fantastic job. Anne Francis effectively shows her confused emotions, and she knows that it would be selfish to steal the spotlight away from the returning soldier, so she tries her best to hide her feelings. Walter Pidgeon (Paul's dad) is strong and proud until the charges are brought against his son. Shame, fear, and coldness take their place, and he's hardly loyal to Paul. Even Edmond O'Brien and Wendell Corey, whom I normally don't like very much, are very good as opposing judge advocates.
Paul Newman is wonderful, showing range and depth he wasn't allowed to show again once Hollywood typecast him as "sexy bad boy". In his first scene, his distrust and pain are evident when American soldiers question him. He doesn't want them to light his cigarette because he'll feel he owes them something, and he asks for the door to be left open lest it feel like an interrogation. When he's on the witness stand, he tries not to cry, and his attempt at strength is truly heartbreaking. If you've never heard of The Rack, rent it. Pop in a comedy for a palate cleanser, then rent the similarly themed Time Limit with Richard Basehart.
There is one fly in the ointment, in the form of Lee Marvin. He plays a soldier in the same camp who witnessed Paul's collaboration. During his testimony, he describes the extensive physical torture he endured, proving the point that he knew far worse pain than Paul and didn't crack. When you hear what he went through, it's clear he could not possibly have swaggered up to the witness box, crossed his legs, and smiled as he recounted how "good" they worked him over. If it wasn't included in the script to give him a limp or other physical deformities, he should have insisted on silent additions to his character, like nervous tics or winces in pain. It would have made his testimony against Paul so much more effective, and it would have been more realistic to his own character.
Besides Lee Marvin, everyone does a fantastic job. Anne Francis effectively shows her confused emotions, and she knows that it would be selfish to steal the spotlight away from the returning soldier, so she tries her best to hide her feelings. Walter Pidgeon (Paul's dad) is strong and proud until the charges are brought against his son. Shame, fear, and coldness take their place, and he's hardly loyal to Paul. Even Edmond O'Brien and Wendell Corey, whom I normally don't like very much, are very good as opposing judge advocates.
Paul Newman is wonderful, showing range and depth he wasn't allowed to show again once Hollywood typecast him as "sexy bad boy". In his first scene, his distrust and pain are evident when American soldiers question him. He doesn't want them to light his cigarette because he'll feel he owes them something, and he asks for the door to be left open lest it feel like an interrogation. When he's on the witness stand, he tries not to cry, and his attempt at strength is truly heartbreaking. If you've never heard of The Rack, rent it. Pop in a comedy for a palate cleanser, then rent the similarly themed Time Limit with Richard Basehart.