On T List of Movie Reviews

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)



Tortilla Flat (1942)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 2/21

TortFlat
2/21: You can forget about the cinematic version of Tortilla Flat because the book was way better.

It has none of the down-to-earth style that John Steinbeck worked so hard to create. Instead, the film is about white men pretending to be Hispanic while the real ones are portrayed as smiling morons. They couldn't get Anthony Quinn for the leading role or what?

It seems that "paisano" means a retarded Mexican. At any rate, all this group of shiftless, lazy alcoholics do is drink and engage in idle talk. Renting one of Danny's houses is fifteen bucks a month, but they refuse to put in eight to ten hours of work for five dollars? Why...it'll be three days to make the rent, and one month's worth of work will be enough to live in the house for half of the year.

I admit the first twenty minutes is great because of Spencer Tracy's glib talk. But it wears off as he turns out to be a con man with no redeeming values. Sheesh, the bronze makeup on his face...what a case of brownface with the phoniest Mexican accent ever.

Worse than Pilon is the creepy Danny Alvarez who's played by John Garfield. The way he behaved is akin to a ten-year-old boy who likes to throw a temper tantrum without consequences. Hedy Lamarr's character must be stupid after she agreed to the idea of marrying Danny. What exactly did she see in him besides his looks? It's a marriage that's doomed to fail. A vacuum cleaner? Ha! The piece of shit won't work without electricity.

Imagine my surprise when the first house caught fire and the characters acted as if it's no big deal. Then, the same thing happens to the second house at the end, and everybody has a gleeful time about it. What a stupid bunch of nitwits. If they're going to treat houses so casually, why not sell them to people who know the value of such properties? This way, the bums can use the money to drink themselves to death.

The cinematography is terrible and fake. It's obvious they used rear projection for the wharf while the rest was done on a sound stage. Ditto for the "town." Of course, they filmed some of the cast just once in front of the Monterey coast. Many viewers had good things to say about Frank Morgan as the Pirate, but I'm sorry to say I didn't feel anything.

All in all, filled to the brim with racial stereotypes and boring times, Tortilla Flat is an embarrassment.