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Run for the Sun (1956)

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15 comments in total

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Widmark and Greer racing through the jungle..., 31 January 2002
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

I tuned into this one on TCM and heard Robert Osborne refer to it as a remake of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME--BUT in my opinion, only in vague outline. Like GAME, it ends with a chase through the jungle with the bloodhounds on their trail and leads to their final escape. But there are several novel twists and turns along the way and the suspense is in high gear once the chase begins.

Jane Greer appeared in so many B&W film noirs of the '40s that it's surprising to see her in technicolor. She looks great and has good chemistry with Richard Widmark's adventurous writer. Both of them appear to be having a tough time physically as they trudge through swampy waters and slash their way through thick jungle. Trevor Howard is the villain of the piece, not quite as menacing as Charles Laughton in the original.

Gripping suspense yarn will keep you glued to your seat as you wonder how it all turns out. Give it a chance, as it starts slowly before the plot thickens.

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Little known remake of "Most Dangerous Game" worth seeing, 30 October 2002

Author: funkyfry from Oakland CA

Thrilling suspense in this jungle adventure with fantastic stars Widmark and Greer. some good dialogue, but the story doesn't really convince; it's just a vehicle for the situational suspense and romance. Widmark is a Hemingway-style author and Greer a journalist who finds him in hiding and tricks him into revealing his confidence (which, disappointingly, involves nothing more than a cliched love drama).

Nice direction, very effective photography in sharp color. Greer was never lovelier and, except in the incomparable Robert Mitchum, never found a better leading man. It's a shame that Hollywood allowed Mr. Howard Hughes to throw her into a ditch (figuratively, of course), because this lady had real talent.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Lord Haw Haw as Count Zaharoff, 6 August 2005

Author: theowinthrop from United States

This is a first rate remake (redesigned) of Richard Connell's classic suspense short story, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. If you are lucky, read the story. If you can't find it, see the 1932 movie with Joel McCrae, Leslie Banks (as the mad Count Zaharoff - General Zaharoff in the original short story), Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong. It captures the best aspects of the short story, but not all the clever details. Also, the sets were reused by the same production group (along with Fay Wray, Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot) for KING KONG shortly afterwords.

Basically the story goes like this. The hero is sole survivor of a shipwreck, and finds himself on an island owned by the villain. The villain, a master hunter, is insane, and has found there is only one game worth hunting - "the most dangerous game" or man, the only animal that one knows can think. He gives his "guests" (he has caused the shipwrecks) a good dinner or two, and then they proceed to run for their lives or until he kills them. But Rainsford (the hero in the original short story) is a trained hunter too. So for a change, Zaharoff really has a worthy opponent. The ending of the tale I will leave to the lucky reader.

But this 1956 film is an interesting version of the original. The scene shifts to an isolated jungle area of Mexico. Richard Widmark and Jane Greer are in a plane crash, and are rescued by Trevor Howard and Peter Van Eyck, both of whom are far from welcoming. Widmark is not sure, but he keeps thinking he knows Howard, although he's never seen him. Then he realizes it's Howard's voice - he heard it in World War II, as a Nazi propaganda figure (a British traitor). In short, Howard is a version of William Joyce, "Lord Haw Haw" (see SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR). Van Eyck is Howard's brother-in-law.

Howard and Van Eyck have been less than willing to help Widmark and Greer get back to civilization before, because they did not want to have them report them to the authorities - they are wanted for war crimes (at least Van Eyck is). Widmark, when he makes the mistake of discovering who his hosts are, suggests that if they help him and Greer get back, he can take a message to Howard's loved ones about their safety. Unfortunately, Howard explains, his wife and children were killed in the war by bombing. As it is apparent that Van Eyck wants to see the strangers dead, Widmark and Greer take off to try to get to safety. And then the story follows the lines of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

But ironically there is one more switch. Howard has been connected to Van Eyck only by the marriage - personally he has no liking for the man. As it turns out, he would not mind if he could get out of the jungle - away from this remnant of a bloody, horrific past. And so the film actually goes onto a somewhat different conclusion. But I leave it to the viewer to see what it is.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Not a rip-off, 7 February 2001

Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) from The Underverse

Many film-critics said that this was the first re-make of the most dangerous game. While I can see some similarities I can safely assume that this film was the product of the writers own imagination.

TMDG was about a Count on a Pacific Island who hunted men who became shipwrecked on his beach. In this movie Richard Widmark and his honey (Jane Greer) crash land on Trevor Howard's island when his plane's navigation screws up. At first Howard seems hospitable but Widmark soon learns (and remembers) that Howard is a Nazi avoiding war-crime charges in the US. And he is even taking advantage of the natives.

Soon Widmark and Greer are on the run thru the jungle with Howard and his goons on their heels. This does bare some resemblance to TMDG but only by coincidence. There are some cool moments in this film, such as Widmark firing a bullet with a hammer and the scene where his is creeping all over Howard's plantation is quite tense.

Greer was also surprisingly attractive. I'm not really into 50's fashion but she had a nice body and ass. She was also quite tough. She didn't moan and whine either, which made her character cooler and unlike most other female characters of the time.

If you can catch this movie I reckon that you should watch it because it is quite enjoyable. And it is only slightly similar to The Most Dangerous Game.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Solid, 27 September 2004
Author: Dilophosaurus from United Kingdom

A solid little exotic thriller that boasts good location photography and that great staple of pulp yarns: ex-Nazis hiding in the jungle!

It's a mistake to regard this film as a remake of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. In that movie, plus films like TURKEY SHOOT and HARD TARGET, the plot is about antagonists who like to hunt down people like game animals. In RUN FOR THE SUN, however, the chase at the end is not a planned hunt on the part of the Nazis: they simply want to keep their whereabouts a secret from the world outside.

It's a nice touch to have bad guy Howard actually WANT Widmark to hang around the place because he stops jungle life from being so dull.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
exciting jungle film, 12 December 2005

Author: blanche-2 from United States

I had the privilege of seeing Richard Widmark in person a few years ago when he appeared at the Lincoln Center Film Society. Nearing 90 then, he had recently remarried after the death of his wife of many years. His appearance was remarkably unchanged: ruggedly handsome, that same, strong, rough speaking voice, and one of the best pairs of cheekbones in the business - right up there with Jack Palance, Loretta Young, and Elvis.

Widmark gets to show his stuff admirably in "Run for the Sun," which costars Jane Greer. He plays a writer a la Hemingway who has given up his career and is living in oblivion in Mexico. Greer plays a reporter who finds him with the intention of doing a story about him. She doesn't reveal her intentions, instead deciding to return to New York, and Widmark offers to fly her to Acapulco. They crash in the jungle and wind up at the compound of Trevor Howard.

This is supposedly a vague remake of "The Most Dangerous Game," which I haven't seen, so I can't make any comparisons. This film, though a little too long, is very exciting, particularly the last section, and will really hold the viewer's attention. Both Widmark and Greer are excellent. Greer is in her early thirties here and finally in a color movie, and she's beautiful despite a couple of frumpy hairdos and outfits. Trevor Howard underplays as the villain and is an introverted menace.

Very enjoyable.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Couple crash-land in Mexican jungle, encounter Nazis in-hiding, 9 October 1998

Author: bux from Tecumseh ok

Widmark is the 'ever-popular-tortured-novelist', Greer the tabloid writer sent to Mexico to get the scoop on him. The two crash-land in Widmark's plane and are taken in by Nazis avoiding war trials. When the couple escape into the jungle, the chase begins. Great adventure, fore-runner of Indiana Jones-type stories. Howard is great as the heavy, running through the jungle screaming "LAT-TEE-MORE, OH, LAT-TEE-MORE!" Easily one of the best adventure movies of the '50s.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Run With Dick and Jane, 21 October 2005

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Richard Widmark, a Hemingway type writer who craves the solitude of J.D. Salinger, is found in an obscure Mexican village by Jane Greer. Jane's a reporter for a tattletale magazine, but Widmark doesn't find this out till they've started kanoodling. He offers to fly her back to Mexico City.

While enroute they go off course and crash in the jungle. They come upon an Englishman and a Dutch archaeologist, so they say. In reality it's a diplomat who was a member of the pro-Nazi Cliveden set and who defected during World War II. The Dutchman with him is really a former Wehrmacht high officer and his brother-in-law.

Trevor Howard and Peter Van Eyck don't want word of their secret to get out so Widmark and Greer have to die. Now starts the chase through the jungle like The Most Dangerous Game.

Of course this is a remake of that film, but the characters are a bit more complex. Widmark's an alcoholic writer who craves his privacy as much as Howard and Van Eyck do. Greer's a reporter who's gone after Widmark's story and now has an even bigger one potentially.

In the original film it was more of a morality play. Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks were certainly classical hero and villain respectively and Fay Wray was not the independent woman that Greer is.

Still this is a good remake helped a lot by the outdoor locations instead of RKO's backlot jungle.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Name in the Bullet, 19 November 2006

Author: ragosaal from Argentina

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

+++++++ THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS +++++++

I saw "Run for the Sun" when I was a bit more than a kid in the middle 50's. Though I haven't had the chance of seeing it again since, for some reason I remember its plot most clearly. Nazis hidden in a remote jungle (Trevor Howard and Peter Van Eyck) are discovered by chance by a couple of Americans (Richard Widmark and Jane Greer) after their plane crashes nearby. When they find out who their hosts are Widmark and Geer are chased through the jungle in a sort of deadly hunting game.

There was also a most unusual sequence when Widmark unarmed is hiding behind a sort of wooden wall and sees Howard coming towards him with a rifle; so he places the only bullet he has in a small hole in the wall and hits it hard with a rock shooting Howard down. I don't think this could really work mostly because it would be impossible to aim at anything but nevertheless the idea is most original and besides: what has Widmark to loose in trying? (in a "The Avengers" TV series episode Patrick MacNee uses exactly the same trick to get rid of a menacing villain).

I know the story of humans hunted by humans has been in movies before ("The Most Dangerous Game") but "Run for the Sun" stands as a real little big colorful adventure film in my opinion, most entertaining and enjoyable. As I remember this movie it couldn't be less than a 7 out of 10.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Film to View, 24 September 2006

Author: whpratt1 from United States

Viewed most of the films that Richard Widmark starred in, however, I finally discovered this film being shown on TV in the wee hours of the morning and found this to be a great film Classic. Richard Widmark, (Mike Latimer) and Jane Greer gave an outstanding performance together, sometimes fighting like cats and dogs and struggling to get away from Trevor Howard, (Browne) who plays a very wicked character who will stop at nothing to get just what he desires in life. This entire cast of actors all gave an outstanding performance, but Widmark and Greer really put their heart and soul into this picture. Jane Greer experience a spinal injury during the making of this film, and years later she became very ill and needed surgery, which corrected her problem. It was during a scene in this picture where Jane goes through swampy water which contains many dangerous viruses.

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