Name a movie for me.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Can anyone think of a popular movie which involved a community that was complicit in a crime and they galvanized to keep it a secret? It would be "The Firm" but would involve more than just lawyers.

[Orrex]

1. Waking Ned Devine

That or "Mannequin," which was certainly a crime.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. I reworked the beginning.

It's kick-ass good. I think.

Now working on the proposal.

[Orrex]

36. Excellent news!

Let us know when you hear something!

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. "Wicker Man"

Preferably the original (which was excellent). And at least a third of the "X-Files" episodes.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Aaaaaah! I was ruined for life when I saw that movie, Wicker Man.

as a little girl. I couldn't take seeing the remake. When my hubby was watching it, I told him he would hate himself for it, later. And, indeed, he did.

[TechBear_Seattle]

23. The original was excellent, especially considering the history of its making

British Lion, once one of the UK's most prestigious movie studios, had been bought out by a businessman known for buying failing companies and stripping their assests. The Wicker Man was green-lighted as a cutting-edge horror/drama to bring in quick revenue and to show the filming unions that British Lion would remain intact. Alas, the company was in fact stripped of its assets while the film was in production and much of the original footage has been subsequently lost.

Most of the headliners agreed to work on spec rather than salary; they would get paid only if the movie did well. Because of the need to produce the film quickly, it was done in October and November. All the spring blossoms and leaves on the trees? Paper, and glued on to bare branches by hand. The nude dancing and summer clothes? Late autumn in Scotland meant it never got above 40 degrees fahrenheit.

The final scene, when Sergeant Howie starts frantically reciting the Shepherd's Psalm as the Wicker Man goes up in flames, was named #45 of the 100 scariest movie moments by Bravo TV.

If you can still find it, a special edition came out in 2001 which has the US theatrical release and a reconstruction of the director's cut. The extra footage was taken from a telecine copy of the movie which had been circulated in order to find a US distributor. According to the Wikipedia article for The Wicker Man (1973 film), only 50,000 of these special editions were produced. I'm happy to say that I have one of them.

[msedano]

3. the Ox-Bow Incident

Hang 'Em High
Town Without Pity

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Do you know if it's in movie form?

Time is of the essence.

[sarge43]

20. It is. Netflix has it.

It's an essential. Fonda was never better.

If you can find the novel, it's worth reading, too.

[Tesha]

45. "Hang 'Em High"? Not so much. Now "High Plains Drifter", that fills the bill! (NT)

[msedano]

52. poster's parameter / my fuzzy memory

poster wants a flick where the townspeople are in cahoots with the assholes.

as i recall, hang 'em high has clint eastwood surviving a lynch gang whose malefactors are local honchos, so the sheriff hangs back from lending a hand. not entirely down the pike of what the poster wants, the whole town turns its back on justice.

similarly, in high plains drifter, the placer miner and his punk son are driven to persecute the panning miners, other townsfolk, like the general store man, offer support to the hapless crowd.

then there's the more recent Free Range. the Irish bossman has the whole town cowed until robert duvall and kevin costner show up to right a grievous wrong and romance the doctor's spinster sister.

how 'bout High Noon. lawman faces the bad guys with no support whatsoever from the townspeople? are they in cahoots?

[sarge43]

4. I think The Oxbow Incident would qualify. n/t

[KansDem]

38. As I recall, there was one member of the "community" who killed himself...

...when he discovered he was party to the death of three innocent men. In fact, I believe he oversaw the lynching, but the shame and remorse were too much.

I don't see any shame or remorse coming from the present gang.

[atommom]

8. There was a made for TV movie about how townspeople killed the town bully

in Skidmore, Missouri. They changed some details of the story, though, and had the vigilantes turn against the townspeople, which never actually happened.

McElroy escaped conviction for any of the crimes (despite 22 indictments) often by intimidating witnesses. In a town of less than 450, McElroy would park outside an accuser's house perhaps 100 times brandishing his guns. His Kansas City attorney Richard "Gene" McFadin was called in repeatedly to handle the legal matters.

On one occasion a highway patrolman pulled McElroy over following the rape of a 12-year-old school girl, only to find himself retreating as McElroy emerged from his pickup truck and leveled a sawed-off shotgun at the officer. No warrant was ever issued for McElroy's arrest over that incident.

McElroy had a penchant for young girls and many bore him children. He escaped a rape charge with Trena McElroy by marrying her.

The entire town lived in absolute fear, with anyone who crossed McElroy (and usually their relatives, as well) sure to get phone calls, night visits, and death threats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Rex_McElroy

[Clark2008]

10. Well, heck... if that's the case, then "A Nightmare of Elm Street"

would fit that genre.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Well, in this case, the town would be the town bullies.

[Clark2008]

9. The Stepford Wives

:shrug:

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Yep. That one was top on my list.

But it needs something else. Something that says if not sleepy, the people are downright corrupt.

[Andy Canuck]

11. The Nasty Girl

[Andy Canuck]

13. NG is a German film

about a girl who uncovers the nazi past of her village and tries to bring out into the open and everyone denies they ever particpated. it is very prescient.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Oh, that's good.

[Cerridwen]

12. "High Plains Drifter" - genre, Western.

Stars Clint Eastwood.

I think it has a "twisted" version of that. Link to a "full" synopsis" with spoilers

If I remember correctly, it's been some years, the town was complicit in their inaction rather than their action.

[Tesha]

46. "High Plains Drifter" was designed as a vision of where "High Noon" could have ended up. (NT)

[Cerridwen]

50. Interesting. I didn't know that. n/t

[Tesha]

51. This isn't an authoritative citation, but it will give you some idea of what I was referring to...

http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/highplainsdrifter.htm

Tesha

[Cerridwen]

55. Interesting stuff. Thank you.

I took a class in college about the history of the US as viewed through the western. I thought I'd hate it; not a huge western fan; but I took it because my family had watched a lot of westerns as I was growing up. The professor was a huge Eastwood fan (I think Eastwood's characters more than Eastwood himself) so we watched A Fistful of Dollars and sequel and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and High Plains Drifter as part of our in class viewing then discussion.

The viewpoint you just presented wasn't discussed in class which is too bad. It would have brought a great new dynamic to the mix.

Thank you again.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Not a popular movie, but a book: Our Guys. n/t

[jobycom]

18. Hot Fuzz.

[grantcart]

31. lol spot on

[terrya]

19. Wasn't that the theme of "Bad Day at Black Rock"?

With Spencer Tracy.

[CBGLuthier]

29. Yes

One of the best of this genre and probably the first american film to depict the use of martial arts.

[Adsos Letter]

32. and by a "one-armed" Spencer Tracy!

One of my absolute favorite movies...I have it on DVD!

[Echo In Light]

21. The Dark Secret of Harvest Home

[BlueIris]

22. I kinda think "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" had a complicit town.

Not to the degree that you're talking about, maybe, but at least a little.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. I think you zoned in on what I was looking for.

Thanks!

[ozymandius]

24. Bethany's Sin

It is a novel by Robert R. McCammon that was made into a movie. I forget the name of the film.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Does a Twilight Zone episode count?

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

[aikoaiko]

27. Mississippi Burning?

Maybe.

[BlueIris]

34. This is the other suggestion I was going to make.

Not everyone in the town is involved in covering up the murders, but without the woman who confesses to knowing that her husband and other KKK members were involved, the investigators would never have solved them.

[noiretextatique]

42. rosewood

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120036/

[Adsos Letter]

28. "Bad Day at Black Rock"

Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Anne Francis, Walter Brennan...

Directed by John Sturges.

EXCELLENT MOVIE!!!

Townspeople conspire to cover up murder of Japanese-American WWII veteran; Spencer Tracy arrives to visit said veteran, and a great movie ensues.

Filmed in the desert on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's...1954.

[yardwork]

30. "The Secret of Santa Vittoria" only the "crime" they commit is against the Nazis

so really the town are the good guys, because the law is unethical.

[The Backlash Cometh]

40. I'll keep this one in mind,

[yardwork]

43. It's a very heartwarming story.

[The Backlash Cometh]

44. Well, the point is, the community THINKS, they're the good guys.

[Nye Bevan]

33. "Murder on the Orient Express" springs to mind

[jus_the_facts]

35. The Village...n/t

[Wiley50]

37. Announcing the World Premere of the new movie "The Backlash Commeth"

now if we can just get Mike Moore to write, produce and film it

[The Backlash Cometh]

41. If I really feel good about the draft, he may be one of the first ones

to get a chance to reject it.

[rucky]

39. The Star Chamber?

[lame54]

47. Dogville...

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/dogville.htm

[Ilsa]

48. I'm thinking about The Godfather. So many people in a community

under the protection of a don, all participating in strong-arm techniques, blackmail, etc.

[dysfunctional press]

49. crowhaven farm.

a tv movie from 1970.

[doublethink]

53. American Werewolf in London ..... well at least the people in the tavern ...

wanted to keep things hushed up. Hell I don't know I'll get back to you. Why do you ask anyway?

[doublethink]

54. OH oh I know ..... "The Backlash Cometh" 1964 from Warner Brothers ....

;) ..... kidding no such movie, far as I know. :rofl:

[DailyGrind51]

56. "Harvest Home", a Betty Davis film about a farm town that chose a

"Harvest Lord" from its male population to sacrifice, following sexual intercourse with a "Harvest Queen", each year, to guarantee a bountiful harvest. The details of the actual ritual were only known to the adult women of the town, families of those who refused participation were "shunned", and men who attempted to witness the ritual would have their eyes put out and their tongues cut out. Pleasant "family" film.

[The Backlash Cometh]

57. I'm really impressed with the way my fellow DUers are throwing themselves into this thread.

Giving me lots to think about.

[Venus Dog]

58. The Village

by M. Night Shyamalan 2004 with Joaquin Phoenix and an excellent cast. The elders of the village really do believe they have done the best thing for the younger generations. It's got an interesting twist at the end. Sort of reminds me of a metaphor for our world. I always viewed the film as a sociological thriller.