Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

A Brilliant Conflict

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I wanted to watch this film because the idea of a film noir in color that works always intrigues me….especially one with Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott & Mary Astor…..unfortunately, it doesn't work here….which, for me, leaves "Chinatown" as the only color noir that's true to the genre….Desert Fury is not really film noir- more like a melodramatic soap opera with a very soap opera score by Miklós Rózsa…..and terrible 'soap opera' over-acting with the exception of Lancaster….add in a thin storyline and poor editing, leaving only the above average cinematography (great desert landscapes) to appreciate…..Plus it always cracks me up when characters in any movie of any era meet each other, kiss a couple of times and all of a sudden they're 'in love' with each other…and the storybook ending where the bad guys die and the couple walks off into the sunrise together is not remotely film noir…..for the real stuff, watch "Out of the Past", "The Killers", "Double Indemnity" or the "Asphalt Jungle"…..

Oh god, what a petrie dish fry up! DESERT FURY is literally hysterical, like a shrill daytime soapie with cinema values. Made in 1947 in perfect glossy Technicolor to distract you from the beserkness and tawdry storyline, this is one terrific exercise in censorship busting antics that managed to fulfill it's reputation. Lizabeth Scott, like a naughty green fairy loose from a bottle of Absinthe, Wendell Corey as the housewife to creepy-teeth gangster mate John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster pretending he doesn't know and Mary Astor the battle cruiser mother each out vie each other in every scene with a regular exchange of niceties followed by face slapping or tantrum and threat. Every scene, like a roundelay of temperament. DESERT FURY is genuine queer cinema. With incest hinted, guns and car tyre screeching, sinister sunglass wearing and cactus pricks everywhere, this wacky hussy of a film makes for a terrific couch night with friends who have never seen it.

After quitting school, the nineteen year-old quicksilver Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott) returns to Chuckwalla, Nevada, where her mother Fritzi Haller (Mary Astor) is a powerful owner of the casino Purple Sage. Paula meets the racketeer Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak), who is suspect of murdering his wife and is also returning to the town with his friend Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey), parked on the bridge nearby Chuckwalla and she greets him.Paula does not have a good relationship with her mother Fritzi and when she sees how unpleasant Eddie is for her, she begins a relationship with the crook. Sheriff Tom Hanson (Burt Lancaster), who is an old friend of Fritzi and has a crush on Paula, advises her about the character of Eddie Bendix. Johnny, who is very close to Eddie, also tries to break up their relationship. But the resolute Paula does not give up easily until she knows the past of her beloved Eddie."Desert Fury" is a disappointing film where the most interesting element is the ambiguous relationship of Johnny Ryan and Eddie Bendix. In the present days, it is very clear that they are more than friends and Johnny is jealous and in love with Eddie. But the subterfuge adopted by Lewis Allen to disclose their bond in 1947 is witty. The colors of this film are also very bright, but in the DVD it is very clear the scenario in studio. Lizabeth Scott, performing a rebel character ahead of time, is impressively beautiful but does not convince as a nineteen year-old girl. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "A Filha da Pecadora" ("The Daughter of the Sinner")

You Tube is a great place to watch all these old movies. But as I wrote as my "Summary" (1947--2010) too many years have gone by and no matter how much we like the interpreters..., something has to give. Now we see too many downfalls that at the time (maybe) people weren't aware of.For example: Lizabeth Scott, as lovely and personal as she was (her voice was as attractive in its whispering as Ava Gardner's) was a wrong choice to play the daughter of Mary Astor (excelent, beautiful, very talented actress) since the age difference was minimal, most of the time unnoticeable. But..., since at the time Scott was the producer's... friend, there was no other choice!! John Hodiak was in no way presentable on his bare chest, at least now that we have become accustomed to gym exercised torsos. Burt Lancaster set of hair was so gorgeous that every time he appeared I, at least, lost track of what they were saying. Lizabeth Scott hair was also a miracle, product of Hollywood hairstylists: Fabulous. Something that drove me mad was that oval window in Scott's bedroom... Have you ever seen anything so outrageously artificial outside of an amateurish theatrical production?? Censure at the time was so frightful that most of the dialog is highly hilarious, trying to say without saying what was going on between Mr. Hodiak and Mr. Corey's characters (they were lovers).The final resolution of the story is so abrupt that one could think Scott's character was an alien without human sentiments. All of a sudden she falls in love with the remaining man, because obviously she was "a good girl" after all. Silly movie. The most enjoyable thing: That extraordinary "Town and Country" convertible she was driving all the time. Magnificent car.