On Dangerous Ground: Nicholas Ray

Some of my friends have expressed disappointment over Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground. Apparently, they take issue with the film's upbeat ending. While it's true that most of Ray's best films have tragic conclusions, I don't necessarily think that they have to be a-given. Ray was interested in character studies of violent, angry, and wounded individuals. Many such people meet tragic ends...but not all of them. On Dangerous Ground is one such story. Everything else about it is classic Nicholas Ray. The film centers on Police Detective Jim Wilson, a man who has let his job and hatred for criminals twist his mind into a raging ball of pain and fury. After assaulting a witness undergoing interrogation, Wilson is re-assigned to an unspecified area up North where he is ordered to assist in capturing a local killer. The victim was a young girl who got separated from her sister. During the investigation, Wilson pairs off with the girl's father. The father, having sworn to kill the murderer, is delirious in sorrow and righteous anger. During their investigation, I suspect that Wilson sees more than a little of himself in the father. But regardless, things change drastically when they discover a remote cabin inhabited by a beautiful blind woman. Though it's obvious that she's not the killer, they can't shake the suspicion that she's hiding something...or someone. On Dangerous Ground is a tight, taut thriller that proves that Ray could write and shoot a happy ending. I keep finding pleasant surprises as I dive deeper into Ray's filmography. On Dangerous Ground is one of my favorites so far.

7/10