Commercial artist James Vanning (Aldo Ray) and his friend, Dr. Edward Gurston (Frank Albertson), are on a hunting and fishing trip in Wyoming when they stop to help two men whose car has crashed. The pair, John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond), turn out to be escaped bank robbers, on the run with 350,000 dollars in stolen cash after a clean getaway, and they don't plan on leaving any witnesses -- Gurston is shot dead by Red, using Vanning's hunting rifle, but Vanning survives by accident, knocked cold but alive. He awakens ...
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Commercial artist James Vanning (Aldo Ray) and his friend, Dr. Edward Gurston (Frank Albertson), are on a hunting and fishing trip in Wyoming when they stop to help two men whose car has crashed. The pair, John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond), turn out to be escaped bank robbers, on the run with 350,000 dollars in stolen cash after a clean getaway, and they don't plan on leaving any witnesses -- Gurston is shot dead by Red, using Vanning's hunting rifle, but Vanning survives by accident, knocked cold but alive. He awakens to discover the stolen money, accidentally left behind, and runs with it from the returning killers -- he gets away but loses the bag in the blizzard that hits. He manages to make it to the nearest town, but not before the doctor's body is found, with a bullet in it from Vanning's rifle. Now the prime suspect in the murder, Vanning takes it on the lam, hiding out for months -- unbeknowst to him, however, he's been under observation for most of that time by Ben Fraser (James Gregory), an investigator from the insurance company whose policy covered the bank that was robbed; and has been found by John and Red -- and all of them think that Vanning can lead them to the missing money. But John and Red are perfectly prepared to torture and even maim Vanning to get the money, and they get their chance when he lets his guard down one night to talk to Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft), a young model he meets in a bar. He manages to get away from his captors after a fierce struggle and makes his way to her place; after convincing her that it's not the police he's running from (which is not entirely true), they take off together, with Fraser and the two hoods only a half-step behind, headed to Wyoming and the spring thaw so he can hunt for the bag and the missing money and prove his innocence. Bruce Eder, Rovi
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Add this copy of Nightfall to cart. $40.67, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Arrow.
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Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, Jocelyn Brando, James Gregory, Frank Albertson, Rudy Bond. New. 2019 Run time: 79. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Delivery Confirmation included for all orders in the US.
David Goodis was a writer of noir whose novels have been receiving increased attention. The Library of America has published a volume of Goodis' novels which includes his 1948 work "Nightfall". I have become an admirer of Goodis and of the many novels based upon his work.
The 1956 film version of "NIghtfall" was directed by Jacquest Tourneur who is better known as the director of the classic noir "Out of the Past". Stirling Silliphant's screenplay makes changes to Goodis' novel while retaining its spirit and themes.
As often in Goodis, the film tells the story of a tormented, ordinary person pursued relentlessly for actions in his past. Aldo Ray stars as Jim Vanning a loner and an artist pursued both by a pair of vicious thugs and by an insurance company investigator over a murder in the Wyoming wilderness and the disappearance of $350,000 stolen from a bank. Anne Bancroft plays Marie, a beautiful woman who initially tries to entrap Vanning before becoming his lover and companion.
Tension builds in the film as Vanning tries to avoid both the thugs and the investigator. The action shifts from the streets of Los Angeles to the remote parts of Wyoming and is related in part through Vanning's flashbacks. The film includes outstanding visual effects, adapted to the age of television, in scenes of downtown Los Angeles, in its crowds, bus stations, and restaurants and in its portrayal of lonely people in the years following WW II. The city scenes are contrasted with snowy scenes in sparsely populated Wyoming connected by Vanning's activities and by a long bus ride. he two gangsters, portrayed by Brian Keith and Rudy Bond receive sharply differentiated characterizations. highlighted by violence and by banter and crudity. The film builds in tension and in noir feeling as it proceeds.
I learned from the "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller's insightful commentary on "Nightfall" on his "Noir Alley" series.This low budget, obscure film is valuable in its own right, and it enhanced my appreciation for David Goodis.
