Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray (born
Raymond Nicholas Kienzle) (
August 7,
1911–
June 16,
1979) was an
American film director.
Coming out of a
radio background, Ray directed his first film,
They Live By Night, in
1947. It was released two years later due to the chaotic conditions surrounding
Howard Hughes' takeover of
RKO Pictures. An almost impressionistic, tender take on film noir, it was notable for its extreme empathy for society's young outsiders (a reccurring motif in Ray's films). It was influential on the sporadically popular sub-genre often called "love on the run" movies, concerning as it does two young fugitive lovers on the run from the law. (Other examples being
Gun Crazy,
Bonnie and Clyde,
Badlands, and
Robert Altman's 70's remake of
They Live By Night,
Thieves Like Us.)
For the next few years Ray made several contributions to the film-noir genre. Most notably the
Humphrey Bogart movie
In A Lonely Place about a troubled screenwriter, and
On Dangerous Ground, a powerful police thriller. The former is noted for, arguably, featuring Bogart's most complex performance.
Other minor film noirs he directed in this period were
Born to Be Bad and
A Woman's Secret.
Ray's most productive and successful period was the 1950s, although his sympathy for society's outsiders and rebels clearly predated the 1960s counterculture. It was in the mid 50's he made the two films he is best remembered for. 1954's
Johnny Guitar was an influential, proto-feminist western much loved by French critics (
François Truffaut called it "the beauty and the beast" of the western). In 1955, however, Ray directed the iconic
Rebel Without a Cause, its legendary status had much to do with its star
James Dean, whose premature death followed soon after the film's completion. Looking past its main attraction these days as a vehicle for the poster boy of a generation,
Rebel Without a Cause distilled much of the essence of Ray's cinematic vision: expressionistic use of colour, dramatic use of architecture and an empathy for those who struggle to fit in to mainstream society. (It has often been noted that Ray's virtuoso use of architecture was perhaps influenced by his early studies as an architecture student under
Frank Lloyd Wright.)
Ray's expressionistic use of framing and colour arguably reached it's apogee in his 1956 melodrama
Bigger Than Life starring
James Mason as a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of new wonder-drug
Cortisone. Like
Rebel Without A Cause before it, it can be seen a savage indictment of 50's American suburbia and it's materialistic values.
Alongside these acclaimed, influential works Ray also made many other films in multiple genres which, although made with professionalism and flair, were comparatively minor works, often suffering from unwanted studio interference. These ‘flawed' but fascinating films would include
Hot Blood,
Party Girl and
The Savage Innocents.
A
bisexual and heavy user of
drugs and
alcohol, Ray found himself increasingly shut out of the
Hollywood film industry in the early
1960s. After collapsing on the set of
55 Days at Peking (
1963), he would not direct again until the mid-
1970s. From 1971 to 1973, Ray taught filmmaking at Harpur College (part of the State University of New York at Binghamton) where he and his students produced
We Can't Go Home Again, an ambitious autobiographical film employing split-screen images. An early version of the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, but Ray, never satisfied with the project, continued editing it until his death in 1979. Shortly before his death he collaborated on the direction of
Lightning Over Water (also known as
Nick's Film) with
German director
Wim Wenders.
Nicholas Ray's immense influence on a younger generation of directors cannot be overstated. Certain French New Wave directors and critics (most notably
Jean-Luc Godard) held Ray in high-regard.
Wim Wenders' films are indebted to Ray, from the casting of
Rebel Without a Cause's
Dennis Hopper and the expressionistic use of colour in his own film
The American Friend, to the title of sci-fi film
Until The End of the World (which were the last spoken words in Ray's biblical epic
King of Kings).
Film director Philip Kaufman will tackle an untitled film about the life of Ray.
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Knock on Any Door (1949)
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A Woman's Secret (1949)
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They Live by Night (1949)
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In a Lonely Place (1950)
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On Dangerous Ground (1951)
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Born To Be Bad (1949)
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Flying Leathernecks (1951)
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The Lusty Men (1952)
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Macao (1952) (uncredited)
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Johnny Guitar (1954)
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Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
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Bigger Than Life (1956)
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Amère Victoire [
Bitter Victory] (1957)
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Party Girl (1958)
The Savage Innocents (1960)
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King of Kings (1961)
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55 Days at Peking (1963)
*Eisenschitz, Bernard : Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. Faber & Faber, 1993. ISBN 0571140866
*Frascella, Lawrence and Weisel, Al :
Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause. Touchstone, 2005. ISBN 0743260821
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Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
