(aka "Chuck-a-Luck" )
USA 1952
"Rancho Notorious" (1952) centers on the rape and murder of its
heroine, and the attempt by her fiancée to bring her attackers to justice. The
film is deeply feminist, in taking with great seriousness the horrible crime
of rape. The film opens with a powerful evocation of the tragedy of the crime,
then chronicles the hero's relentless search for justice.
Feminists have struggled for years to get society to prevent rape, destroy the
conditions that create it, help its victims, and ensure that its perpetrators
are punished. Rancho Notorious was made long before feminist thinkers
offered their critique in the 1970's of how the justice system handled rape,
often blaming the victim rather than the perpetrators. Such insights are not
mirrored in the film, which does not show a police investigation of the crime
or a courtroom trial. Also, since the victim in the film is dead, we do not
see how society often mistreated victims of rape after the crime. The film
does make clear, however, that the authorities are doing little of value to
investigate the crime, and that only the hero's personal commitment to
tracking down the criminals is offering any hope of their identification and
punishment. The film is thus consistent with later ideas about the lack of
government action in rape cases, without offering any sort of sustained social
critique in this area. Also, the victim in the film is absolutely not blamed
in any way. The film makes it entirely clear that she is a completely innocent
victim of a terrible crime. Rancho Notorious shows how deeply tragic rape is.
It does not sweep this tragedy under the rug; instead it holds it front and
center, for everyone to see, in one of Lang's most emotionally involving
stories.
"Rancho Notorious" still has a powerful intellectual, moral and
emotional message to the world, about the importance and tragedy of rape. In
societies around the world that still have a long way to go, in taking this
crime as seriously as they should, this film has much to contribute.
Excerpt from a review by Mike Grost located HERE
Poster
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Theatrical Release: March 1, 1952
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Optimum - Region 2 - PAL
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Review!
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Optimum Region 2 - PAL |
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| Runtime | 1:25:12 (4% PAL speedup) | |
| Video |
1.37:1
Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | 2.0 Dolby Digital English | |
| Subtitles | No subtitles | |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 16 |
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| Comments | A
rather disappointing transfer. While no ghosting, there are constant
minute elements of combing (see image #7). Colours seem faded and it lacks
sharpness in details. I looks very much like a laserdisc, rather than a
DVD. But as this is one of the rare Fritz Lang films and high quality source material is hard to come by, one must appreciate its release on DVD. |
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Recommended Reading for Western Genre Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in
the Hollywood Western (Cinema and Society) by Michael Coyne |
The Invention of the Western Film : A Cultural
History of the Genre's First Half Century (Genres in American Cinema S.) by Scott Simmon |
The Searchers (Bfi Film Classics) by Edward Buscombe |
The Western Genre by John Saunders |
Westerns: Films through History (AFI
Film Readers) by Janet Walker |
The Encyclopedia of Westerns (The Facts on File
Film Reference Library) by Herb Fagen, Tom Selleck |
Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in
Twentieth-Century America by Richard Slotkin |
The Western (Inside Film) by David Lusted |
Check out more in "The Library"
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Thank You!
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