Sunday, March 1, 2009

clash by day and night


two factory workers leave the cannery, a man and his girlfriend who is chomping on a candy bar. he tells her to stop eating so much candy or she'll spread. without batting an eye she says, 'so i'll spread.' they tussle and laugh. the young woman, looking timeless in jeans and a sports shirt, her bottle blonde hair short and uncombed, is marilyn monroe. in 'clash by night' she plays a down to earth character written by socialist playwright clifford odets.
marilyn is not the star but she shines in all her scenes. the main attraction is barbara stanwyck, who as 'mae' is married to a good guy but enticed away from her dreary existence by a real jerk played by robert ryan, who was the perfect choice to spit out lines like, 'beat it, dust.'
the movie is drama personified. refreshingly, everyone looks like they could use a bath.

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