Author Mrb1980 is in the right direction, but this film is a small masterpiece. It remains rare in dealing with the tragedies of consumerism as a way of life ruthlessly led by the nose by the big companies and the advertising industry.
Though it's subject is a serious one, No Down Payment has more narrative drive and excitement than most thrillers. I still remember the shatteringly moving central performances of Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell nearly 50 years later. The film was - and is - revelatory about what intelligent popular cinema could and can do. It made a tremendous evening at the pictures.
As I think about it, I could weep for the state of America film now. Far worse than McCarthyite blacklisting (which presumably caused one scriptwriter to be credited under a false name) is Hollywood's effective blacklisting of writers and directors with any true perceptions of real life, so that modern equivalents of No Down Payment such as Groundhog Day are a rarity and cynically connected feel-good rubbish is the norm.
NOTE to IMDb: your scale of marks up to Excellent is not good enough. Some films are more than Excellent
Though it's subject is a serious one, No Down Payment has more narrative drive and excitement than most thrillers. I still remember the shatteringly moving central performances of Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell nearly 50 years later. The film was - and is - revelatory about what intelligent popular cinema could and can do. It made a tremendous evening at the pictures.
As I think about it, I could weep for the state of America film now. Far worse than McCarthyite blacklisting (which presumably caused one scriptwriter to be credited under a false name) is Hollywood's effective blacklisting of writers and directors with any true perceptions of real life, so that modern equivalents of No Down Payment such as Groundhog Day are a rarity and cynically connected feel-good rubbish is the norm.
NOTE to IMDb: your scale of marks up to Excellent is not good enough. Some films are more than Excellent