Slattery's Hurricane
| Slattery's Hurricane | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Andre DeToth |
| Produced by | William Perlberg |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | Herman Wouk |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Gary Merrill |
| Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| Cinematography | Charles G. Clarke |
| Edited by | Robert Simpson |
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Production
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,650,000 |
Slattery's Hurricane is a 1949 drama film directed by Andre DeToth starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Veronica Lake. It is based on a story submitted by Herman Wouk, who also coauthored the screenplay and published a novel of the film in 1956.
The film begins with:
"...This is a hurricane. Hurricanes are windstorms of great violence several hundred miles in diameter, with a dead calm at the center called the eye. Like whirlpools, they spin rapidly, hurling great destruction in their paths. They're spawned in the doldrums, their father the heat of the sun, their mother the moisture of the sea. From July to December every year, the Caribbean crawls with these evil offspring of the elements..."
Slattery's Hurricane thus begins with this narrative by Gary Merrill. Will Slattery (Richard Widmark), a former World War II Navy pilot still on inactive reserve, forcibly takes his employer's Grumman Mallard from the estate in Miami and heads for an incoming hurricane. He obtains his bearings from a Navy control tower by pretending to be a weather patrol flight. Despite a threat of court martial when the Navy discovers the ruse, Slattery flies into the storm, reviewing his life in flashback for the next hour...
Disgruntled with the service, in part because he was disciplined instead of decorated for a hazardous mission, Willard Francis "Will" Slattery left the US Navy and became a private pilot for candy manufacturer R.J. Milne (Walter Kingsford) on the recommendation of his girlfriend, Dolores Grieves (Veronica Lake), Milne's secretary. He lives an easy life, until the day he literally bumps into "Hobby" Hobson (John Russell), an old Navy buddy. Amused that Hobson stayed in the Navy, he nonetheless accepts an invitation to fly along on a weather flight into the heart of a hurricane. Slattery is disturbed to find that Hobby is married to Slattery's former lover, Aggie (Linda Darnell), who ended their unhappy relationship years before. At dinner for the two couples, he pretends to have just met her, but Dolores immediately suspects their past attachment. Slattery invites Hobby to fly with him the next day, maneuvering Aggie into coming along, to show off his lifestyle, and introduces them to Milne and his shady partner, Gregory (Joe De Santis).
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Wikipedia