Nicholas Ray's Heyday

Programmed by: Addison Wood

No one could make ‘em like Nicholas Ray. Constantly embattled with the studios, crafting melodramas infused with a captivating blend of the psychological and the poetic, Ray’s output in the 1950s proves definitively that no other American director could hold a candle to the Hollywood legend. This collection marks a director at his apex: a six year period which produced five of the finest films of their era.

We begin with Johnny Guitar, the encapsulation of Ray’s stylized melodramas — bold and theatrical, yet simmering with a subtlety that would enrapture the emerging generations of European auteurs. In a Lonely Place and Bigger Than Life shift towards Ray’s mastery of internalization. These films probe the social codes of their day and reflect a keen awareness of the death drive buried within the violent masculinity celebrated in a post-war culture.

And really, what is there to say about Rebel Without a Cause that hasn’t been said a thousand times before? A quintessential exploration of generational conflict, Rebel deftly navigated the pitfalls of the Motion Picture Code to weave a narrative teeming with unspoken desire.

And to close out this series, On Dangerous Ground, a symphony of emotion fluttering between genres yet never eschewing the theme of love’s torment. Like all the films in this short series, the burden of its psychological subtext could easily get out of hand, but with Nicholas Ray's touch, a whirlwind of feeling is rendered so powerfully and succinctly that it can become hard to imagine the story told any other way.

We hope that you will join us this summer to celebrate the golden years of this Hollywood auteur.