The screenplay by Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts (“White Heat”) and Larry Marcus crackles with good dialogue and strong characterization. The first act of “Backfire” is near perfect. Turns out Steve was involved in a murder, and now Bob and Julie set out to learn the truth behind the man Bob thought he knew. Everyone assumes Bob was dreaming, but the moment he’s released from the hospital, the cops pick him up. Tells him Steve has been in a terrible, crippling accident. One night after Bob has been giving his nightly dose of super strong meds, a mysterious woman named Lysa (Viveca Lindfors) visits him. But ten days before Bob’s release, Steve stops showing up. Visiting him nearly every day he was in the hospital is his best friend and army buddy Steve (Edmond O’Brien) – the two of them have plans to buy a ranch together. He’s about to be released from the hospital, and his souvenir is his nurse Julie (Virginia Mayo), who he has fallen head over heels in love with. Gordon MacRae stars as Bob, a veteran just finishing up his thirteenth painful spinal surgery stemming from a war injury. Thematically, this film is interested in asking about this man you would give your life for… and what would happen if the man you thought you knew was an entirely different person separated from the battlefield. “Backfire” is the most interesting version of this I’ve seen so far… it looks at men who bonded over the most tense, excruciating experiences possible, now separated from that world. “The Blue Dahlia” handled it, as did “Dead Reckoning,” though neither of those were all that great. Much rarer does the genre focus on a group of friends bonded over what they experienced together in the war. Most noir films with veterans as main characters are narrow in focus – they’re about one man trying to become acclimated to his old life. Writer: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts and Larry MarcusĬast: Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien
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