Border Incident

An underrated gem from the cannon of Anthony Mann. Two agents - one American, one Mexican - cooperate on an investigation into illegal immigrant farm labour. The bad guys are the people smugglers, and boy are they bad - evil, ruthless and sadistic. Contains scenes of extreme violence which Hollywood tolerated in certain westerns and noirs of the late 40's post-war era, and this is kind of a western noir crime movie with lots of vegetables. Its a movie that could give you nightmares, especially if you approach it unaware due to its age, that its actually quite disturbingly brutal and relentless.

Easily ranks as Ricardo Montoblan's finest performance, and only makes one baffled as to how he became such a shameless ham later in life with the likes of Fantasy Island. George Murphy, who plays the American agent, had a fascinating career. Dropping out of Yale to become a coal stoker, he switched to a tap dancing hoofer in 30's pictures, then a solid supporting actor in war pictures. Following the lead of his pal Ronnie Reagan he entered Republican politics, rising to become a member of the US Senate for California.

John Alton lensed this picture, and his monochrome work is a remarkably beautiful achievement. Only a year after this movie Alton would photograph An American In Paris - easily one the best Technicolor movies ever shot.

With the death of Ricardo Montalban still fresh from a few weeks ago, I thought I'd check from my local library a DVD of one of his more dramatically compelling movies he made for his contracted studio, M-G-M. Directed by Anthony Mann just before his legendary streak of James Stewart westerns in the following decade, Border Incident has a sort of western feel as it tells the story of a couple of agents, one U.S. and one Mexican, trying to protect Mexican immigrants from being exploited and beaten to death in this country. Both Montalban and George Murphy-who's usually a song-and-dance man-are very compelling in their straight roles. As the villains, Howard Da Silva and Charles McGraw also bring their subtle creepiness to somewhat charismatic effect (well, Da Silva anyway). And James Mitchell brings his own charm as one of the migrant workers Montalban tries to help. There's also a naturalistic documentary feel in the beginning and end that make this somewhat realistic for the era which is also achieved by rare uses of the music score throughout. If you've only known Mr. Montalban as Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island" or as Khan on the "Star Trek" episode "Space Seed" not to mention Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, you'll probably be wonderfully surprised by his heroic role here. With that, I highly recommend Border Incident.

Anthony Mann directed this still-timely drama that stars Ricardo Montalban as Mexican agent Pablo Rodriguez, who teams up with American agent Jack Bearnes(played by George Murphy) to tackle the problem of illegal Mexican Immigrant smuggling into California, which has seen many of them mysteriously murdered. Rancher Owen Parkson(played by Howard Da Silva) is chief suspect as the ringleader. Pablo goes undercover from the inside as an immigrant, while Jack investigates from the outside. The case will prove quite dangerous, more than either man realized... Fine drama with solid acting and direction, and an incisive script that wouldn't need much changing to work today, sadly.

Here is some spectacular film noir photography by the same team (Director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton) that brought you He Walked By Night, Ray Deal and T-Man. The photography is as good as anything in those movies, if not better. This is good stuff; great direction, with interesting closeups, wide-angle lenses, low-angle shots, tons of shadows and light. Instead of a big city, we had the desert as the main area. The DVD transfer is terrific, too.

All of this, to me, was more fun to watch than the actual story, although the second half of this movie is extremely tense and well done. It makes up for the first half which is a bit on the sordid side at times and a bit slow at times, but definitely film noir material meaning a feeling of dread just around each corner. The suspense gets really thick in the last 20 minutes when George Murphy is discovered by th sadistic criminals to be an undercover lawman. What happens to Murphy is memorable.

Howard da Silva and Charles MacGraw are effective as the main villains. MacGraw's distinctive voice alone makes him a film noir Hall of Famer. Murphy - known more for his light-hearted hoofer films - does a credible in here and it was interesting to see Ricardo Montalban (of TV's "Love Boat" fame) as such a young man. Those two play the good guys.

This is a tough, all-male cast with no romances or soft stuff. In a way, the atmosphere reminded me a bit of another tough noir, "The Big Combo," although the subject matter here is entirely different than any other noir I know about: immigrants crossing the border. However, unlike the real-life situation that is a major story today, this involves Mexicans crossing the border to do migrant farm work, and then getting robbed and killed by bandits on the way home. Still, the subject of "illegals" is a big part of this story and ironic to watch today in light of what's happening now.

Anyway, if you enjoy literally-dark stories, and am a fan of film noir, check this movie out.

At the outset here, I have to ask, Who cares if this is a film noir or not? If not, does it detract from it? If it is, does that enhance it as a work of art? Of course it doesn't, the debate is arbitrary and nonsensical. It makes no difference. Film noir was not a concept until the 1960's anyway, so the discussion is not only irrelevant, it is decidedly un-academic.

First and foremost, 'Border Incident' is a miraculously involving, dynamic piece of cinema. The voice-overs in the beginning and the one at the end have dated really badly with their flag-waving patriotism and faux-documentary style, but the 75 minutes in the middle are riveting.

Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy are detectives, respectively Mexican and American, with a mission to protect the Mexican braceros, farm workers, who are smuggled over the border and robbed, murdered and dropped in the quicksand, when they come back with money in their pockets. They infiltrate themselves into the the band of cutthroats to stop the trafficking.

The theme is contemporary to us, to say the least. And the way the story is told is relentless, stylish and urgent. It is brilliantly shot, wonderfully lit and edited like no-one's business. And it is tough as nails, there is a gruesome scene involving some farm machinery ... I will not go into details, but you might want to put your kids to bed in time.

A truly great movie, pure cinema. And call it what you want, for all I care. Noir, western-noir, whatever.