The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Boy Erased
Ant-Man and the Wasp
American Vandal
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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Tomatometer Not Available...
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (10) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (3)
Nicholas Ray's direction stresses the realism of the script taken from Willard Motley's novel of the same title, and gives the film a hard, taut pace that compels complete attention.
A pretentiously 'social' melodrama which came to the Astor yesterday.
I's hard hitting in its own right, tautly crafted, and repeatedly stabbed through with Ray's impulsive generosity and anguish towards his characters.
Nicholas Ray wrestles with his social consciousness and loses in this drab 1949 drama.
The courtroom perorations are drab, but Nicholas Ray takes off in the fervid slums
This hard-hitting crime melodrama offers excellent direction from the always interesting Nicholas Ray and a fine performance from Bogart.
Though Ray's film has a strong sense of social and moral outrage, the narrative doesn't bear out the simplistic conclusions arrived at.
The excitement and tension is built up nicely, and although it touches on the melodramatic at times, remains crisp and sharp throughout.
A strange, silly, sloppy, boring movie that shouldn't have starred Bogart, he's worthy of a much better script.
Super Reviewer
Adele Morton: If I were as cynical as you, I'd hang myself.
Andrew Morton: If you were as cynical as me? I wouldn't even trust the rope.
Another Bogart movie I've never seen. God bless Ted Turner and TCM. I swear, TCM must be the greatest TV station of all time. As I've said before, I've never met a Bogart movie I didn't like. This one is no exception. He plays a "good guy" in this one, and he's brilliant either way. Nobody can deliver a line like Bogart, and no one can deliver a moralizing speech like the one at the end of this film like Bogart. In a lesser actor's hands, you might be tempted to laugh, but Bogart makes the lessoning stick like crazy glue and stand like the Rock of Gibraltar. Perhaps the best male actor of all time.
Nick Ray's direction shines when Knock on Any Door isn't wallowing in its own mediocrity, heavy-handed social commentary and dull performances. Bogart and Macready aside, of course. Bogart plays an attorney who tries to save John Derek (playing an Italian) from a murder rap. The story follows Derek's character more than it showcases Bogart's. If you watch this movie you'll quickly understand why it's not a must-see Bogart movie. If you're looking for a much better pairing of Bogart and Ray you'll do well to watch In a Lonely Place.
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