Pressure Point

I don't know why this film is virtually unknown. For its time it must have been very controversial and even today it still packs a wallop of a punch. But I am as equally impressed by the style of this film as I am with the performances and the screenplay. Fans of THE TWILIGHT ZONE will feel right at home with the stark B&W stylization of the dream sequences and the childhood flashbacks. Yet like any great film, it doesn't let its style overwhelm the viewer. It simply acts as a springboard from which it can stun the viewer with the emotional impact of the story. It takes a lot to shock me, yet the flashbacks of the patient's childhood (especially one terrifying scene in a meat hanger that reminded me of the father-son relationship in PEEPING TOM) chilled me with its honest portrayal of childhood terror and helplessness. The other aspect of this film that intrigued me was the whole analytical forum of intellectual cat-and-mouse between patient and doctor. Realistically, an adult black man in the 1940s would have built up a shield to fend off the kinds of brutal statements made by his patient. But the patient's high intelligence throws Poitier off guard. He makes Poitier confront the injustices and indignities present in the country that he is so vigorously defending, thus he makes him confront his own anger and contempt. He makes Poitier an ally in anger, and that would throw anyone off balance. I also want to congratulate the film for its honest portrayals of terror and humiliation. An abusive game of tic-tac-toe in the hands of another director and actor would have come off as silly, but here it is startling and chilling. I don't know why Bobby Darin didn't continue his career with more dramatic performances like this but I'm grateful that this one is out there on video. It's one of the best performances that I've seen by an actor in anything!

... in this case a conversation between two men, extended over time.

This film is actually flashbacks in a flashback, but it works and is not confusing. It starts with a young psychiatrist (Peter Falk) charging into his boss' office (Sidney Poitier) and saying he cannot successfully treat the patient he has because the patient is black and hates him because he is white. Poitier responds by telling him that he really knows how he feels and tells the tale of how, in 1942, as a young psychiatrist, he treated an American Nazi (Bobby Darin) in a prison hospital who looked down on him because he was black.

Bobby Darin's character has been unable to sleep and has been passing out. The doctor probes into his past and finds the usual tropes of the abusive drunken dad and enabling mother who deals with the situation by becoming a hypochondriac. Darin's character grows up to be an abusive violent person himself, ultimately finding himself in the American Nazi party. Poitier's character correctly mentions that millions of people must have come from situations as bad as his patient, but have managed to conduct themselves without violent actions or delusions. I would mention the actual names of the characters, but the film simply calls the characters - Doctor, Patient, Jewish Girl, etc.

I won't say much more because I don't want to give away anything. This works because of the great dialogue and performances. Bobby Darin didn't make very many movies because of his short life, but this is a great chilling performance. Sidney Poitier gave many great performances in his long career, so I think this one is probably under appreciated because of that. Let me also mention the person who plays Darin's character as a child - Barry Gordon. He let's the viewer feel the loneliness and powerlessness of the character as a child, leading him to have a total lack of empathy as an adult.

I wish that Hubert Cornfield, this film's director, had directed more films. I have seen this one and three others ("Plunder Road", "Lure of the Swamp" and "Night of the Following Day") and they all bear the stamp of a unique and very idiosyncratic vision. The flashback scenes of Bobby Darin's character in this film are truly unique and often quite disturbing, recalling Bunuel and Cocteau in their oneiric intensity. Definitely worth checking out if you are into offbeat and skewed cinema.

When a young psychiatrist (Peter Falk) comes to his Afro-American chief (Sidney Poitier) to tell that he can not bear a thirteen year-old patient, the doctor discloses a similar experience he had with a patient when he was a rookie and worked as prison psychiatrist.

In 1942, the doctor is assigned to give psychiatric treatment and evaluate a dangerous American Nazi patient (Bobby Darin) accused of sedition. The racist patient has nightmares and insomnia and the doctor analyzes him along eighteen months, finding the reason of his disturbance. The patient convinces the board of direction that he deserves to be on probation but the doctor is reluctant and diagnoses that the patient has only resolved his sleeping problem but is still a despicable bigoted person.

"Pressure Point" is a theatrical film of intolerance and stress, dated in 2012, but nevertheless a great movie. I do not know how accurate is the psychiatric treatment, but the duel between Bobby Darin and Sidney Poitier is outstanding, both performing victims with strong characters – the patient, son of an abusive father that made him a bigot sadist and the doctor, a winner in a racist society. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Tormentos da Alma" ("Torments of the Soul")

Watch this film and not only will you realize how good singer Bobby Darin could be in a dramatic role, but you may come to regard its co-writer / director Hubert Cornfield ("The Night of the Following Day") as an under-rated talent. It's mostly a two character piece in which an eminent psychiatrist (Sidney Poitier) attempts to help one of his employees (Peter Falk) by telling a story of the major case of his life, when he was a prison doctor during WWII. Poitier was assigned a young man (Darin), jailed for sedition, who's very upfront about his bigotry and hatred. Not surprisingly, the patient had a traumatic childhood and now suffers from nightmares and blackouts. Poitier tries to maintain his professionalism, but the young man sets off something inside of him.

Poitier as always has a very authoritative presence and he and Darin work extremely well together. They have a lot of dialogue to deliver and completely immerse themselves in these troubled characters. Darin reveals enough depth here that people may wonder why he didn't pursue more serious roles. Cornfield creates some wonderfully stark atmosphere and stylish visuals, but never goes overboard, having the proper respect in the source material, a true case detailed in Dr. Robert M. Lindners' "The Fifty-Minute Hour". Some moments are quite memorable, such as the scenes with the patients' unloving father (James Anderson), a butcher. There's also an incredible scene of an epic session of tic-tac-toe that could have come off as silly but which has a powerful creepiness about it.

Overall, this is an effectively done little drama that isn't as well known as it ought to be. It's well worth seeing for the interplay between Poitier and Darin alone.

Eight out of 10.