Directly following the conclusion of World War II, a dead armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) gets off at Black Rock on the first train to stop there in three years. He is searching for the home of a Japanese farmer but is met with great resistance from the hostile locales who have a terrible secret to hide. Bad Day at Black Rock is a clunky John Sturges Western which has garnered high praise, possibly due to its social message hidden in a plot secret which the film goes to too great of lengths to protect. The most powerful asset of the film are its villains and this one does have three great ones in Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and an exceptional Robert Ryan.
