# I enjoyed "In a Lonely Place", No Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 12, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068 "2023-01-12T02:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/1 "2023-01-12T02:28:34Z")
_In a Lonely Place_ is a 1950 film noir that stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. Grahame, who was ending her marriage to the film’s director Nicholas Ray during filming, is amazing. It’s an interesting story with a plot twist at the end that is loosely based on the novel by the same title. Those who knew Bogart said the character he plays, Dix (Dixon) Steel, is close to the real Bogart himself, which is a little scary. It’s one of my favorite Bogart films so far and was produced by Santana Pictures Corp. which was Bogart’s company. If you haven’t see it, it’s worth a watch on AMC or wherever they play old black and white movies. If you have seen it, what did you think? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/2 "2023-01-12T03:03:28Z")
It’s a “complicated” film. Steele is an abusive jerk and a borderline sociopath, and Grey is, if not manipulative, at least using Steele for his influence for her career, and accepts a lot of neglect and abuse on that bargain. Frankly, it presages the entire #MeToo movement in all of its complexities and it is a far more nuanced performance by Bogart than the overcelebrated _Casablanca_ or _The African Queen_, although I still favor _The Maltese Falcon_ as his best performance. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/3 "2023-01-12T03:42:23Z")
I agree with you. I think _Casablanca_ is overrated and _The African Queen_ is underrated. _The Maltese Falcon_ is one of my all-time favorite movies. I must have seen it 20 times. It never gets old. I just started watching _The Big Shot_ tonight. My goal is to see all 75 of Bogart’s feature-length films before I die, or at least the ones that are currently available to watch. I still have a bunch left… ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/4 "2023-01-12T22:47:45Z")
“Dix Steele” is a porn name. The film suffers from Bogart’s character being a major dick (in fact, he is serial killer and rapist in the novel) and no movie with Frank Lovejoy can ever be considered all good. Though interesting, well-acted and made, it’s not much fun to sit through. That said, I think the film embodies a tradition of male creators (in this case, director Nicholas Ray) expressing their ambivalent emotions towards the women in their lives (in this case Ray’s soon-to-be ex-wife Gloria Grahame), e.g.: Von Sternberg/Dietrich in _The Devil is a Woman_; Welles/Hayworth in _The Lady from Shanghai_; Ian Fleming/his wife in his novel _Casino Royale_, etc. > [@dolphinboy](#): > > My goal is to see all 75 of Bogart’s feature-length films before I die, or at least the ones that are currently available to watch. I still have a bunch left… This was once my goal. I saw most of his films before realizing completism is overrated, especially when it comes to sitting through shitty movies. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/5 "2023-01-12T22:57:57Z")
I’ve seen it a couple of times, and while it’s not an especially “enjoyable” movie, I think it’s very good. I’ve always been a Gloria Grahame fan and will watch almost anything if she’s in it. I’ve heard the ending was changed from Bogey’s character almost choking her to death to actually choking her to death. On a superficial note, I love that particular style of apartment building. There are a few left in the Hollywood area, where they were most abundant. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/6 "2023-01-12T23:10:17Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I saw most of his films before realizing completism is overrated, especially when it comes to sitting through shitty movies. I don’t expect all or even most of his films to be great, or even good, but I feel to have a valid opinion about him I need to see essentially everything he’s done. Many people have seen Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, To Have or Have Not, and Key Largo, but that’s only a fraction of the films he’s been in. I want to experience the good mixed with the bad, not just the films everyone knows lines from. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/7 "2023-01-13T01:56:56Z")
Without necessarily disagreeing with anything you wrote, I will simply note that among Mr. Bogart’s lesser known/regarded efforts, I quite enjoyed much of _Isle of Fury_ (1936), _All Through the Night_ (1942) and _Beat the Devil_ (1953), notwithstanding certain deficiencies of quality among them. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/8 "2023-01-13T03:09:17Z")
Thanks, Dropo. I have all three of those film ready to go and will be watching them over the next few weeks. I decided to watch _Brother Orchid_ with Edward G. Robinson because I’m also a fan of Robinson, and I’m about halfway through it. It’s the same gangster role he’s played in some of his earlier films, so it’s a bit of type casting, but a guy’s gotta to eat. I’m not terribly impressed with the story. It’s supposed to be a comedy I think… ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/9 "2023-01-13T03:41:40Z")
It’s available free on the Internet Archive: [https://archive.org/search.php?query=in+a+lonely+place&sin=&and[]=year%3A"1950"&and[]=collection%3A"community"](https://archive.org/search.php?query=in+a+lonely+place&sin=&and%5B%5D=year%3A%221950%22&and%5B%5D=collection%3A%22community%22) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/10 "2023-01-13T17:53:14Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _All Through the Night_ (1942) Someone here mentioned recently that they thought _All Through the Night_ was a terrible movie. I agree it has its faults, but it’s tremendously entertaining. And it has it all: laughs, suspense, danger, musical interludes with Peter Lorre playing the piano. And cheesecake! What’s not to like? Just remembered last night that I recently watched _Crossfire_ which was made the same year as _Gentleman’s Agreement_ and also dealt with antisemitism. Gloria Grahame had a role made for her in it. It seemed a little like a B movie, but I found it was not quite as slow and self-satisified as _Gentleman’s Agreement_…or maybe it’s just Gregory Peck. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoyed-in-a-lonely-place-no-spoilers/978068/11 "2023-01-13T18:17:44Z")
Thanks, carrps. I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve seen it.