"Blowing Wild" showed unexpectedly the other day on cable. Seldom seen these days, this film reunited once again Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Alas, they are not as effective in it as they were in either "Ball of Fire", or "Meet John Doe", two of the best comedies of the 40s, bar none. The film was directed by Hugo Fregonese.
The setting is an unnamed Latin country, which must have been Mexico. It focuses on the people that wanted to get involved in the oil business because of the wealth it generated. There is a sequence that parallels Henri-Georges Cluzot's "The Wages of Fear" as Jeff Dawson and Dutch Peterson are asked to transport a crate full of dynamite to a nearby oil drilling site. It's a rustic route full of dangers and local bandits. Probably this was purely coincidental since both films came out in the same year in two continents apart.
Gary Cooper, who appears as Jeff Dawson, a wildcatter, seems to be acting on auto pilot. He was always a minimalist actor. He was not too expressive a man on the screen. Playing opposite Ms. Stanwyck, whose character showed an explosive nature, he did not show any emotion to speak of. Barbara Stanwyck, in contrast shows a talent for impersonating an ambitious Marina Conway, who had a romance with Dawson in the past. She is now married to a Paco Conway, a man she feels disgust for. She tries to rekindle whatever they shared in the past with bad results.
Anthony Quinn makes an impression with his Paco Conway, the man that had the good fortune of striking rich with the oil he found. Mr. Quinn has a great scene at the local watering hole where he dances with a young woman and later pretends to be a matador with another. Ward Bond is also seen in the movie as Dutch Peterson, Dawson's partner. Ruth Roman has an important supporting role and she does well. Ian McDonald, who was in "High Noon" with Mr. Cooper has a small part.
It's easy to see why the film has kept its appeal. The copy shown was of superior quality. Sidney Hickox's cinematography was memorable, and the same can be said about Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score. Frankie Laine is heard with the theme song throughout the movie.
The setting is an unnamed Latin country, which must have been Mexico. It focuses on the people that wanted to get involved in the oil business because of the wealth it generated. There is a sequence that parallels Henri-Georges Cluzot's "The Wages of Fear" as Jeff Dawson and Dutch Peterson are asked to transport a crate full of dynamite to a nearby oil drilling site. It's a rustic route full of dangers and local bandits. Probably this was purely coincidental since both films came out in the same year in two continents apart.
Gary Cooper, who appears as Jeff Dawson, a wildcatter, seems to be acting on auto pilot. He was always a minimalist actor. He was not too expressive a man on the screen. Playing opposite Ms. Stanwyck, whose character showed an explosive nature, he did not show any emotion to speak of. Barbara Stanwyck, in contrast shows a talent for impersonating an ambitious Marina Conway, who had a romance with Dawson in the past. She is now married to a Paco Conway, a man she feels disgust for. She tries to rekindle whatever they shared in the past with bad results.
Anthony Quinn makes an impression with his Paco Conway, the man that had the good fortune of striking rich with the oil he found. Mr. Quinn has a great scene at the local watering hole where he dances with a young woman and later pretends to be a matador with another. Ward Bond is also seen in the movie as Dutch Peterson, Dawson's partner. Ruth Roman has an important supporting role and she does well. Ian McDonald, who was in "High Noon" with Mr. Cooper has a small part.
It's easy to see why the film has kept its appeal. The copy shown was of superior quality. Sidney Hickox's cinematography was memorable, and the same can be said about Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score. Frankie Laine is heard with the theme song throughout the movie.