LGM Film Club, Part 175: Crossfire

One of the first films in Hollywood to deal with anti-Semitism, Edward Dmytryk’s 1947 film Crossfire deals with soldiers returning from World War II who are killing time in Washington. And then a Jewish man dies. Who killed him? The film isn’t particularly subtle. Spoiler alert: It’s Robert Ryan, which is obvious from the first bit of the film. Ryan is such a fascinating character. He got started in acting relatively late and so while a chiseled man with a classic look, was also not a heartthrob. Instead, he got cast playing the worst possible human beings. He was so good at it! No one, and I mean no one, in Hollywood history has been better at pure malevolence and hatred for his fellow human beings than Ryan in the right role. The irony of this is that Ryan was a leftist and family man. Perhaps only Edward G. Robinson had a greater disconnect between his private life and his screen persona than Ryan. This film is pretty good but not great–it completely wastes Robert Mitchum in a minor role that could have gone to any actor without the overwhelming charisma of indifference that he provided. Robert Young and Gloria Grahame also star. But this is really the Ryan show, a great actor of hate. Here’s an excerpt: