BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, 1955, Warner Bros., 81 min. Set in a mythical backwater desert town post-WWII, the film follows one-armed tough guy Spencer Tracy as he tries to find out what happened to his Japanese-American friend. He stumbles onto a secret some would kill to keep. De facto town leader and full-time racist bully Robert Ryan and his thuggish pals, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine, are out to stop Tracy.
THE LAW AND JAKE WADE, 1958, Warner Bros., 86 min. Dir. John Sturges. Ex-outlaw-turned-lawman Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) secretly breaks his old partner in crime, Clint (Richard Widmark) out of jail to even the score from a past obligation. But Clint is less than grateful, kidnapping Jake’s girl (Patricia Owens) to get Jake to lead him and his gang to hidden loot from the pair’s last larcenous collaboration. The showdown finale in a very realistic ghost town is atmospheric and suspenseful.