Word: garfields
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...story was scripted by Director Huston and Peter Viertel from an episode in the novel Rough Sketch by Robert Sylvester. It concerns the hard-jawed heroics of a young Cuban-American revolutionist (John Garfield), who recruits a handful of assistant revolutionaries, including a slant-eyed girl named China Valdes (Jennifer Jones). Garfield puts his crew to work digging a tunnel from the cellar of Jennifer's home to a nearby cemetery. His lurid plan: to blow the dictator and his cabinet to smithereens as they stand about the family tomb of a bigwig senator whom Garfield has already earmarked...
Strangers' occasional virtuosity cannot conceal its flaws. As a Cuban Gestapo man, Pedro (The Pearl) Armendariz gives a fine performance. But when he starts making bestial passes at Jennifer Jones while Garfield hides in the cellar, he is only one jump ahead of old-fashioned horse opera. Another kernel of corn: Garfield's big death scene, highlighted by Gilbert Roland's brokenhearted requiem in calypso rhythm and some highfalutin dialogue delivered by Miss Jones. Never for a moment a dull movie, Strangers is often too facile or too far away from strict artistic honesty. Coming from...
...story focuses on a small and successful part of the revolution. Garfield leads a band of Cubans in an intricate maneuver aimed at blowing up the president, vice-president, cabinet, and all the key officials with one bomb. The audience is constantly reminded that the government is extremely evil and that dynamiting its leaders is indeed an act of glorious patriotism...
...movie is hampered by occasional Hollywood cliches. There is the gangster type: the sinister leer over the villain's left shoulder and the final gun battle with the police surrounding Garfield and his girl; and the gay ending type: bells tolling and people dancing in the streets...
Except for her way of speaking, Jennifer Jones does a fine job as the young Cuban girl aiding the revolutionaries. John Garfield hasn't changed from any of his other pictures. Pedro Armendariz is a sufficiently frightening villain as the Chief of Police. All except Garfield try to show that they are Cubans by talking without slurs or contractions, but this is more annoying than convincing...