...and took nothing for himself....
This Aline McMahon's last line will haunt you long after watching this extremely moving work by William Wellman who was ,along Frank Borzage,America's finest director of the early talkies.Both were fighting for the dignity of men,both made movies which -it's all over nowadays,with the possible exception of perhaps Clint Eastwood's work- can help us become better men and women.
THere are similarities between "Heroes for sale" and "I'm a fugitive from a chain gang" .In the latter,Paul Muni tries to sell his medals but in the shop,they already got too many of them,so he 's got to steal.In "heroes for sale" ,Tom ,who lost all the honors to a coward who shamelessly walked away with the glory,has to cope with everyday's life in the years of depression.
Wellman ,although his films were heartfelt pleas for the human being ,was not optimistic.Happy ends were not for him: Tom (Heroes) ,Gilda ("Safe in hell") and Lilly Turner in the eponymous film are victims of the war,of fate or of men.They want to keep their promise (it's obvious in Gilda's and Tom's case) ,even if it costs them their life or their happiness.And let's not forget "the oxbow incident",the saddest of all westerns ,a scene of which shows Dana Andrews writing a letter to his wife he knew he was not to see again.
When I watch these Wellman oldies ,I'm amazed by this:the really happy moments are so few and far between I wonder how a man or a woman at the end of a hard earned day find some reason to believe.But they are here: the restaurant where Aline McMahon takes in the last lonely and wretched and gives to the poor for free ;Loretta Young's smile which lightens up the seediest of the rooms;the boy saying :"when I grow up,I want to be like him".
A masterpiece that should not missed.
This Aline McMahon's last line will haunt you long after watching this extremely moving work by William Wellman who was ,along Frank Borzage,America's finest director of the early talkies.Both were fighting for the dignity of men,both made movies which -it's all over nowadays,with the possible exception of perhaps Clint Eastwood's work- can help us become better men and women.
THere are similarities between "Heroes for sale" and "I'm a fugitive from a chain gang" .In the latter,Paul Muni tries to sell his medals but in the shop,they already got too many of them,so he 's got to steal.In "heroes for sale" ,Tom ,who lost all the honors to a coward who shamelessly walked away with the glory,has to cope with everyday's life in the years of depression.
Wellman ,although his films were heartfelt pleas for the human being ,was not optimistic.Happy ends were not for him: Tom (Heroes) ,Gilda ("Safe in hell") and Lilly Turner in the eponymous film are victims of the war,of fate or of men.They want to keep their promise (it's obvious in Gilda's and Tom's case) ,even if it costs them their life or their happiness.And let's not forget "the oxbow incident",the saddest of all westerns ,a scene of which shows Dana Andrews writing a letter to his wife he knew he was not to see again.
When I watch these Wellman oldies ,I'm amazed by this:the really happy moments are so few and far between I wonder how a man or a woman at the end of a hard earned day find some reason to believe.But they are here: the restaurant where Aline McMahon takes in the last lonely and wretched and gives to the poor for free ;Loretta Young's smile which lightens up the seediest of the rooms;the boy saying :"when I grow up,I want to be like him".
A masterpiece that should not missed.