Hate crimes against Jewish American are on the rise, ranging from vandalism to physical harm.
Antisemitism has been with us for a long time as documented in American Cinema.
I wrote a post on February 5, 2023 about a 1947 Oscar winner for Best Picture about antisemitism called Gentleman's Agreement.
But that wasn't the only film from 1947 that centered on antisemitism. From that same year, here is Crossfire.
The film opens with... murder. A murder most savage. A man is beaten to death.
The victim: Joseph Samuels, a man last seen alive in hotel bar with his female companion and a group of demobilized soldiers, "Monty" Montgomery, Floyd Bowers and "Mitch" Mitchell.
Police officer Capt. Finlay suspects one of the soldiers of the murder and that suspicion narrows on Mitch who is currently missing.
Monty tells Finlay that three soldiers met with up with Samuels in his hotel room. Not feeling well from having too much to drink, Mitch leaves Samuel's room alone, then Monty and Floyd leave a minute or so later. And Samuels was still alive.
Sergeant Keeley, a former commanding officer of this group of soldiers, is concerned because Mitch just isn't the sort of guy to beat someone to death so he does his own investigating.
Keeley finds Mitch who has a wrinkle to add to Monty's version of events. Yeah, Mitch left early but as he exited the hotel room, he heard Monty arguing with Samuels. (The reason Mitch went missing is wound up spending the night with a call girl which will not go over well with Mitch's wife who is due in town soon. Ouch!)
Keeley tracks down Monty and Floyd to an apartment. Keeley questions Floyd about the killing while Monty hides. After Keeley leaves, Monty blows up at Floyd for not sticking to their story and beats Floyd to death.
Finlay brings in Keeley to compare notes and agree that Monty killed Joseph Samuels and they know why. Monty killed Samuels for being Jewish.
Finlay sets up a trap that will incriminate Monty. Monty tries to escape, but Finlay shoots him dead.
So there are three people dead:
- Joseph Samuels is murdered because Monty doesn't accept Jewish people as people.
- Floyd gets killed by Monty because Monty refuses to accept that some people aren't down with lying to cover up the sins of others.
- And Monty gets killed because he refuses to accept the consequences of being caught.
Put Monty in a MAGA hat and you could sadly still make this movie in 2024.
Crossfire was made as a B picture with a lower budget that say more prestigious films (like say Gentleman's Agreement) but that didn't stop the Oscar nods from coming in. Crossfire was the first B movie to receive a Best Picture nomination.
The three leads were all named "Robert".
- Robert Mitchum played Keeley.
- Robert Young was Finlay.
- Robert Ryan was Monty.
It's... The Three Bobs!
Crossfire functions as a perfectly serviceable crime noir but distinguishes itself with the motive for murder. Instead of the usual film noir motives of money, power and lust, we get a murder instigated due to one man's unreasoning and unrelenting hate, fear and ignorance.
Sadly in real life, other people met the same fatal fate as Joseph Samuels back in 1947,
And it remains a problem today.
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