SCOTT EYMAN RECOMMENDS!
The disc: "Boomerang"
 LOREY SEBASTIAN/Sony Pictures Classics David Mamet's samurai/noir puzzle 'Redbelt' features Cyril Takayama as Jimmy Sakata. For a larger, high resolution image, click HERE |
The details: In the early years of his career, Elia Kazan tried several different kinds of movies until he hit upon the poetic realism that would constitute his primary tone. The 1947 "Boomerang" derives from an unromantic vein of neo-realism that was popular at the time, predominantly in pictures produced by Louis de Rochemont for 20th Century Fox.
The first scene is a grabber: A priest in a Connecticut town is walking down the street saying hello to his parishioners. He stops to light his pipe. A .32-caliber gun enters the frame and points to the back of his head. There's a cut simultaneously with the explosion.
Soon, there's a suspect (Arthur Kennedy), there's a newspaper inciting the town to see him fry in the electric chair, the quicker the better, and there's a district attorney (Dana Andrews) who thinks things are moving entirely too fast and slowly comes to believe that the accused is innocent, in spite of his confession.
Kazan spent the better part of his career delineating the way the flaws in people impact and sometimes destroy their lives, so the fairly one-dimensional characterizations in "Boomerang" don't play to his strengths. Actually, the picture isn't quite as good as Henry Hathaway's "Call Northside 777," made for the same studio a year later, which has a similar central idea but stronger characters.
But "Boomerang" is dramatically shot; the locations are unusual; and it's fun to see half of the cast of Kazan's Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman" (Lee J. Cobb, Arthur Kennedy, Ed Begley) appearing together in a movie several years before their stage triumph. Now if Fox would only release Kazan's "Wild River."
The extras: Fox has released "Boomerang" in its invaluable Noir series, which I count among the finest continuing achievements of the DVD industry, and the image is nearly spotless. Also included is a commentary track from Alain Silver and James Ursini, and a trailer.
David Mamet: "Redbelt"
Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz: "What Happens in Vegas"
David Duchovny: "The Secret"
TV on DVD: "Heroes: Season 2"; "Entourage: The Complete Fourth Season"; "NCIS: Season Five"; "The Shield: The Complete Sixth Season."
Errol Flynn: "The Westerns Collection: Montana, Rocky Mountain, San Antonio, Virginia City."
Edward Burns: "Purple Violets"
Scott Eyman writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: seyman AT pbpost.com
