Film Noir from the Psycho Ward. • BLOODY WEDNESDAY(1988)

Harry is a mild-mannered auto mechanic going through an acrimonious divorce. His behaviour grows increasingly erratic...he loses his job when he suddenly forgets the inner-workings of automobiles, and attends Sunday service in the nude. He's committed to a ward, but only briefly, due to his impecunious financial situation. His realtor brother allows him to live rent-free in a vacant former hotel, where his mental state worsens...in his mind, he associates with the hotel's former staff. Various characters come and go, and situations arise, but the dividing line between reality and hallucinations is a blur, even to the viewer. He befriends a street-thug who supplies him with a small firearms arsenal, and then...this happens---
[strong violence, nsfw]
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 BLOODY WEDNESDAY is a zot-budget indie written by Oscar-winner PHILIP YORDAN, a casualty of the Hollywood Blacklist whose once-glorious career was reduced to such dross as NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR, DEAD GIRLS DON'T TANGO, and the Z Bigfoot schlocker CRY WILDERNESS. This one's better than most of his later-period output, but the grubbiness of underfunding is glaring thoughout. Somewhat redolent of THE SHINING in its intimacy with a mentally unwell man at his breaking point, the film labors to present a relatable and pitiable antagonist, but his coup de maître act of violence is so vile that any and all commiseration flies the coop. Minor character actor RAYMOND ELMENDORF vitalizes the role passably,  doing his best with a patchy script. It's loosely based on the 1984 San Ysidro, California McDonald's massacre*, one of the most heartbreaking random acts of violence ever committed in the US. That the film came just four short years after the in-fact events occurred was criticized as crassly exploitative at the time of release, and it's  still oft-regarded with a certain disesteem. It's not a great, or even particularly GOOD film, but the grievous potency of the final curtain cannot be denied.

*21 innocent people lost their lives before the gunman was taken down, bless their souls. It remains the deadliest mass-murder in California history.

statistics: Posted by trashcotillion — 10:47 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 0 — Views 115

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