Day 7: “In a Lonely Place”

Director: Nicholas Ray 1950
Bogart as an embittered, hot-tempered screenwriter suspected of killing a hat-check girl. As the cops investigate, he and neighbor Gloria Grahame fall in love, but Bogart can’t shed his anger, which borders on the murderous at times. While innocent of the hat-check girl’s murder, it’s clear Bogart is capable of killing. He just hasn’t done it yet.
The ending is downbeat (although the Dorothy B. Hughes novel on which the film is based is even darker)—as is the view of Hollywood. The relationship between Bogart and Grahame is adult. A remarkable movie for its time—and as fresh today as “Breathless.”