Fire Down Below

Notice I didn't say "Ahead of it's (it is) time." Sorry, I just have to be different and use the English language correctly. That out of the way, this movie was a very pleasant surprise. Sure it has its cliché moments, such as the obligatory fight between Mitchum and Lemmon over the lady. But even that scene ends semi-realistically, with Mitchum kicking poor Lemmon's ass (as you would expect), not the good, decent guy (Lemmon) triumphing over the larger and meaner bully. I respect that choice by the director/writers. Similarly, the ending also is not a pat happy ending -- nice guys DO finish last, just as in real life! I was already rolling my eyes as soon as the rescue against all hope occurred, but then the realistic twist at the end brought me home again. I simply cannot resist thinking that the title has something to do with whether or not Hayworth is a natural redhead! Sorry, but the double (or triple) entendre is there, and you can't ignore it! You've got the fire simmering between the three lead characters, the fire on the Ulysses, and...well, you know. I was delighted to recognize Anthony Newley in a minor role as the bartender who introduces Mitchum and Lemmon to Rita Hayworth and her current protector. I kept waiting for him to belt out "What Kind of Fool Am I?" He was quite amusing as the unabashedly greedy go-between. Almost 50 years down the road, this movie still retains its "fire."

This is the first time I've seen this in many years. The first time, the people I lived with loved it so fiercely they bought a long-playing record of the calliopean musical score and they played it a thousand times in a row. And, boy, is the film scored. Hardly a moment passes without bongo drums pounding and violins throbbing. Rita Hayworth gets to do what I hope was her last dance number on film. On hearing the melody behind the opening credits I was whisked back to San Bruno, California, with the instruments inside my head. Once over that initial spasm, though, I was able to get into the film and saw it a little differently than I had the first time. Mitchum is a creep, true, but not the unmitigated son of bitch that I'd first thought. Now -- with so much more experience -- I can even consider the proposition that by betraying Jack Lemmon to the authorities and stealing Hayworth away from Lemmon -- he was actually doing the younger, more innocent man, a favor. Briefly, the story is that Mitchum and Lemmon are partners in an old boat in the Caribbean and engage in small-time smuggling for a living. When their cargo on one trip turns out to be Rita Hayworth, Lemmon falls for her, but Mitchum is able to see that this is a mismatch made in Heaven. Lemmon is all Ga Ga and wants to marry her and Hayworth, a lady with no country but lots of history, is desperate enough to accept. Mitchum short circuits the plan through devious means. The direction is sometimes misguided. Lemmon and Mitchum have a fist fight aboard the boat, which Jimmy Jean interprets as "working off some steam," but it's too brutal. In the end, Lemmon is trapped aboard a small freighter about to blow up and is saved by Mitchum. The incident is anything but typical Hollywood heroism -- and those last twenty minutes are genuinely gripping. The denouement in the tavern is simply unbelievable. The screenplay is by Irwin Shaw and, though some of the dialog is surely from the novel, it has its felicities. When Lemmon first proposes marriage, Hayworth tries to explain to him why it wouldn't work. It's a cue for a dull speech, but it's very neatly done, and with aspirations. "I've been debased," she tells him. "Armies have marched over me." It doesn't make a dent in Lemon's erotic mania, a nice college kid from Indianapolis. The narrative ribbon occasionally scintillates with such almost subliminal sequins. The location shooting is expertly done. This isn't Montego Bay with its meticulously placed palms and pina coladas served by native girls in flowered dresses. This is the seamier side of Trinidad and Tobago, where the houses are slapped together of weather-beaten boards, the streets are littered with banana peels, and the beds in the seedy hotels are probably harboring bugs. The T shirts are dirty and soggy with sweat. You want a drink? Fine -- here's a bottle. It's a long way from the old studio productions with the men in white suits and panama hats and colorful but sanitary interiors veiled by beaded curtains. This isn't one of Mitchum's more impressive performances but he seems sober and hits his marks and says what he's supposed to, even while bleary eyed with rum and listening to a 78 record of Mozart on a wind-up phonograph. In life, Jack Lemmon was a nice guy, not erratic like Mitchum, but I've always thought he was better at comedy than drama. Rita Hayworth's performance is a blank. Her expression seem pasted on like a postage stamp. This must have been one of her last movies before she began to self destruct. The supporting players are just fine -- Bernard Lee as a quietly empathic doctor, Edric Connor with his jumbo baritone. Mitchum asks Connor, "Do you want to quit, Jimmy Jean?" And Connor stares back intently for a moment before replying, "I do believe I do."

No-one would ever accuse "Fire Down Below" of being a good film but photographed in Cinemascope and Technicolour on location in the Caribbean it's certainly a handsome one, Throw in Robert Mitchum, Rita Hayworth and Jack Lemmon and it becomes a film with star quality as well. The plot is as old as the hills as pals Mitchum and Lemmon fall out over Hayworth, the woman they are transporting 'from nowhere to nowhere'. The film generates a little excitement, (though not much), when Lemmon gets trapped in a ship that is about to blow up. The terrible dialogue is courtesy of Irwin Shaw from a book by Max Catto and director Robert Parrish was hardly the man to turn a pig's ear into a silk purse.

Several commentors over the years have remarked on the folding between what's in this movie regarding Rita and her life outside the film. It barely needs mentioning here. She was a lovely woman with little talent. Appeal outstripped reach and produced much the same frustrated resignation in her that her character has here. She's too old to carry the charms she's used. Here, it is all explained as from "bad men," but its a question of striving toward failure — something we recognize as viewers more than the Disney business of some transcendent realization of self and possibility. It matters here and in life because she is one of our anchor redheads. The one that got us through the war, perhaps denoting what got us into it (so far as the Pacific). She's the redhead that entangled the greatest filmmaker of the era and wove a confusion that cost us plenty. (Suppose she had been a real partner or muse to Orson? Suppose he had resolved to actually FINISH films? Suppose he embodied what he thought he sought in a redheaded dancer? Suppose it had worked, and we didn't end with two broken souls.) Anyway, that's half of the story. The other half is about two men fighting for possession of the virtual corpse. It was a powerful thing in its day, I think because of the cinematic centrality of the setup: a ship with Lemmon trapped in the front and a seething firebomb in the back. Men trying to free him and giving up. His hated rival, saving him (did we EVER doubt this would happen?). A wise black observer. Also in its day, the ending was considered "mature." A crisis unresolved. The tragedy in the walking wounded. I think this is worth watching because of the history of film it gives us. (I suggest that you follow this with "Calypso is Like So" for a continuation on the theme. It gets what this movie means.) Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

A delightful film albeit relatively unknown (most people think the title belongs to the later Steven Seagal film). One of those unexpected pleasures to watch as everything gels so that you end up with video moments in your head that stick with you for years. This film could be dismissed as just a love triangle in the Caribbean but it is one of those rare films where the sum is greater than the parts. Fine acting every where. Very nice photography. And while it seems to slow down in the middle to the obvious where the 2 stars, Mitchum and Hayworth, end up together stay with it. The unexpected twist in the final act is a grabber.Forget the all star cast and the expectations that go with that. Sit back, relax and let yourself be pulled into a really good movie that just moves you along into a marvelous final act. When its over you'll sit back and say to yourself: Now that's a movie -let's watch it again.

Rita Hayworth was 40 at the time this film was made. Rather interesting. She still looked lovely. Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon are both vying for her attention; Mitchum wins out momentarily. Toward the end the story shifts as Lemmon is trapped in a ship, there is a fire, and Lemmon becomes a more sympathetic character. Mitchum and Hayworth feel guilty. This story would seem ripe for a re-make; it is a good story; rather a curiosity. The Technicolor oranges and greens are prevalent; it is always interesting to watch films from this period. It would seem the stars themselves were fabricated to coordinate with the surroundings. The scenes at the carnival event are colorful and wild. Worth seeing as a commentary on the times.

If you've read the IMDB plot summary for this film, you already know more than I did before I watched it. Which is a shame, because ... boy oh boy, I did not see where this movie was headed, although the title should have given me a clue. Two rascals with a tramp steamer (top-billed Robert Mitchum, with Jack Lemmon) agree to ferry a shady dame (top-billed Rita Hayworth) from island to island. But, as shady dames are wont to do, she comes between them. One of the surprises was that this was Jack Lemmon's movie, mostly due to the weird but compelling plot turn that takes the movie in a completely different direction about halfway through. Fantastic chemistry between Mitchum and Hayworth, who get all the good lines: "What are you waiting for?", "For someone to touch me with kindness." Both Mitchum and Hayworth are deeply flawed, and exude exquisite boredom, injury and weakness. Jack Lemmon, as the "kid" Tony is decent, happy-go-lucky, fearless and lovestruck, all at once. The love triangle plays out with betrayal, world-weariness, and a big sinking ship (not the Titanic). I say: Worth seeing (4/5).

You can't go wrong seeing a movie with the three stars that are in this one. But the real feature of this film is the location shooting in Trinidad/Tobago. If this doesn't make you want to choose that as your next vacation you are a hopeless stick-in-the-mud. The song was also a big hit in 1957. It's a great melody and you hear it and you can't get it out of your mind. Two men whose friendship his tested by a woman they both have the hots for. And when that woman is Rita Hayworth, who can wonder. She's older now, but still incredibly beautiful. See a great story and appreciate Trinidad, make those vacation plans.

You'd sure think that with Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth this would be an exceptional film--but it isn't--at least in a good way! Despite all this talent, Mitchum and Hayworth are essentially wasted--especially Mitchum who is given very little to do during the film other than to act grumpy! In addition, mid-way through the film, the entire flow of the movie stops and it's almost like an entirely different film for 45 minutes. At the end, it unconvincingly returns back to the original and far inferior story. The plot involves two partners who live in the Caribbean--making money taking people on fishing trips or doing a little smuggling. When a guy pays them to transport Miss Hayworth secretly out of the country, Mitchum responds with some nonsense about "hating women like her" and other such nonsense. To the well-trained ear used to bad movies, this obviously means "I'll act like I hate her through most of the film, but soon we'll be slobbering all over each other!". What a horrid cliché--and so predictable. Later, when Mitchum is treating Hayworth badly, Lemmon assumes the role of Sir Galahad and defends her. Eventually, he even decides he wants to marry her and take care of her. However, Hayworth knows that she's just no good and won't commit. In the interim, Lemmon goes on a very dangerous smuggling mission without Mitchum. He wants to get money for Hayworth to smuggler her into the United States, so he feels it's worth the risk. Things go poorly, however, and Lemmon's boat is destroyed. He hops aboard a freighter and makes for the island where Hayworth is waiting. However, completely out of the blue, there is an accident on board and Lemmon is trapped and the boat is about to explode (gosh) and there's a very limited amount of time to save him. However, all attempts fail and it looks like Lemmon will be blown to smithereens. This part of the film is actually very tense and interesting--and DOESN'T star Mitchum or Hayworth but a whole new cast of characters!! As I said, it's like a movie within a movie. In the end, Hayworth and Mitchum return to help out good 'ol Jack, but by now (no surprise), Hayworth and Mitchum have discovered that they don't hate each other but are in love (gag me). The film is poorly constructed, clichéd, stupid and failed to do anything with the only good part of the film (Lemmon trapped on the boat). What a waste of good talent.

It's interesting that the things that make this film weak would have made it great if only it had been made in the late forties or early fifties and had been made in black and white. The setting is some exotic never-never land where life is cheap and morality is a rare and expensive commodity somewhere in the Caribbean. The acting is stylized. The characterizations are two-dimensional. The story is one of an overheated romance and acts of heroism involving people who are not worthy of respect except that ultimately they do the right thing. Rita Hayworth is a bad girl with a heart of gold, a faded version of Gilda. Robert Mitchum is doing his usual Robert Mitchum imitation, i.e. he's just too tired and bored to give the really good performance of which he was capable. Jack Lemmon is the idealist romantic who is willing to lay everything on the line and winds up learning a bitter lesson about people. As I said earlier, if only this film had been made earlier and in black and white it would have been an archetypal example of film noir. Personally, I like film noir but the genre was highly stylized and too often the actors were required to strike poses rather than develop the personalities of the parts they were playing. Unfortunately this film was made too late to be considered a part of that form and therefore deserves scorn instead of being lauded in Saturday afternoon showings at Parisian film societies.