The Jerk (film)

Navin Johnson, responding to a sniper trying to shoot him and hitting oil cans: "He hates these cans!". There was a 1991 made for television version of Night of The Hunter, staring Richard Chamberlain as Powell. It depresses me.". well after four decades (.)" [1] (http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/night_of_hunter.html). "There's something about that music (in reference to blues music). Roger Ebert has written of the film, "It is one of the most frightening of movies, with one of the most unforgettable of villains, and on both of those scores it holds up .. "I was born a poor black child.". Despite its initial lack of success, Night of the Hunter later found a cult following, and has since been praised as a masterpiece, and one of the finest of films noir.

However, the stereotypes are so blatant that their inclusion in the film could be considered as the filmmakers' ironic comment on the evils of stereotyping. Stanley Cortez' striking cinematography has been noted and imitated, and Mitchum's chilling and sinister performance has been especially praised. The characters include a variety of ethnic stereotypes: simple-minded rural blacks, redneck whites, Hispanic con men, greedy Jews. Caligari, and some sequences are very dreamlike. Navin Johnson (Martin) is the adopted white son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of the fact of his adoption, then goes into the world to make his fortune. Laughton drew heavily on the harsh, angular look of 1920's expressionist films, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Reiner has a cameo appearance and his son Rob Reiner has an uncredited bit part. This response is probably a reason that the film was the only one Laughton ever directed.

Emmett Walsh, Jackie Mason, and Trinidad Silva. Upon its release, Night of the Hunter was not a success with either audiences or critics. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M.
. Steve Martin stars. The children--especially John--resist Powell, and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper (Gish). The Jerk (1979) is Carl Reiner's rags-to-riches film comedy of belated self-discovery. A famed scene shows the dead Willa, seated in a Model T at the bottom of a river.

He woos and marries Harper's widow, Willa (Winters) in order to obtain the robbery money, and eventually kills her. Upon his release from prison, Powell masquerades as a preacher. Harper is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery, but hid the money from the robbery, and trusted his children John (Chapin) and Pearl (Bruce)--about ten and five years old, respectively--with the money's location. Mitchum portrays Harry Powell--one of his hands tattooed with "LOVE" on its knuckles, the other tattooed "HATE"--who shares a prison cell with Ben Harper (Graves).

The film is set in the Midwestern United States (the Ohio River is mentioned as being fairly close by); the era is never explicitly stated, but seems to be during the Great Depression.
.
. Laughton would also direct the film that has since been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

It was adapted for the screen by James Agee and Charles Laughton. In 1955 a motion picture in the film noir style was made from the novel. The book was a national bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award.
The Night of the Hunter is a 1953 novel by American author, Davis Grubb.

Now watch 'em! Old brother left hand, left hand he's a fighting, and it looks like love's a goner. But wait a minute! Hot dog, love's a winning! Yessirree! It's love that's won, and old left hand hate is down for the count!". Those fingers, dear hearts, is always a-warring and a-tugging, one agin t'other. Now watch, and I'll show you the story of life. The right hand, friends, the hand of love.

Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. "Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Bruce Springsteen's "Cautious Man": "On his right hand Billy'd tattooed the word 'love'/ and on his left hand was the word 'fear'/ And in which hand he held his fate was never clear". The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare" features Sideshow Bob with tattooed knuckles, however, "Since he's a cartoon character with only three knuckles, his tattoo reads 'L-U-V-' and 'H-A-T,' with a line drawn over the middle 'A,' to get that 'long a' sound." [2] (http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/mitchum/hunter.html).

In Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, the character Radio Raheem delivers an-almost verbatim version of Powell's famed monologue about his tattooed hands (see below), only with brass knuckle rings replacing the tattoos. The Coen Brothers The Man Who Wasn't There features a shot directly inspired by Night of the Hunter, only with Jon Polito dead in a car at the bottom of a river, in imitation of Shelly Winters. The Clash's "Death or Glory" from 1979's London Calling includes the line, "Love and Hate tattooed across the knuckles on his hands". The narrator of Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" from his Tender Prey album seems to be a man very similar to Powell facing his execution: "My kill-hand tattooed 'Evil' across its brother's fist/That filthy five, they did nothing to resist".

Gloria Castillo  : Ruby. Sally Jane Bruce  : Pearl Harper. Billy Chapin  : John Harper. Don Beddoe  : Walt Spoon.

Peter Graves  : Ben Harper. Evelyn Varden  : Icey Spoon. James Gleason  : Birdie Steptoe. Lillian Gish  : Rachel Cooper.

Shelley Winters  : Willa Harper. Robert Mitchum  : Harry Powell.