{"id":32655,"date":"2024-02-11T21:59:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T03:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/?p=32655"},"modified":"2024-02-11T21:59:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T03:59:27","slug":"amb-the-penalty-1920","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/amb-the-penalty-1920\/","title":{"rendered":"AMB: THE PENALTY (1920)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Penalty (1920): Breakdown by The Hestinator (Brandon)<\/span><\/h3>\n

[THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THEIR BADASSITUDE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

THE HEROES:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ethel Grey Terry as Rose<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s this? A pulpy silent mob movie with a woman as the lead hero? You better believe it! You see, Rose is one of the feds\u2019 top undercover agents, and she\u2019s tasked with infiltrating the bad guy\u2019s den of sin to figure out just what his deal is. The motion picture builds her up as fearless and competent, but she has a tendency to leave evidence of her snooping at the sites she\u2019s investigating. Her character sort of suffers the longer the film goes on, but her appearance is surprisingly feministic in its early showings. She reports to the cigar-chomping federal police officer Lichtenstein (Milton Ross).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Charles Clary as Dr. Ferris<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

World\u2019s worst doctor. Calling this clown a \u201chero\u201d is a bit of a stretch, as, in his early days as a physician, Dr. Ferris (as in the wheel) sawed off both of a child\u2019s legs for having a head contusion. He gets a bit cleverer as The Penalty goes on, but come on, man. He also thinks that his daughter\u2019s \u2013 Barbara Ferris (Claire Adams) \u2013 career as an artist is a bunch of bullshit, preferring that she get a real job\/husband.<\/p>\n

THE BAD GUY:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lon Chaney as Blizzard<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Hell yeah! Now we\u2019re talking! One of the first great tough guy actors in cinema history, Lon Chaney (the Man of a Thousand Faces), plays a legless mobster who goes by the nickname \u201cBlizzard.\u201d To play a double amputee, Chaney performed in a special leg harness that tucked his lower legs behind his upper legs, allowing him to walk around on his knees. This damaged Chaney\u2019s knee muscles for the rest of his cut-short life. Tragically, Lon would die of throat cancer and eating artificial snow in 1930 at age 47. It\u2019s a crying shame that this badass was robbed of more movie appearances. Chaney\u2019s performance in The Penalty is one of the very best of the silent era. His tortured, agonized sneers are unforgettable. He would later return to missing-two-limbs territory in The Unknown (1927), where he played a circus knife-thrower without either arm. Is there anything he couldn\u2019t do?<\/p>\n

[THE SEX AND VIOLENCE]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lon Chaney\u2019s character, Blizzard, has a thing for man-legs. He loves man-legs. Having no lower legs himself, Blizzard likes to verbally compliment dudes on their walking limbs. Blizzard briefly rides a fireman\u2019s pole and a fight between two guys in an alley looks like they\u2019re trying to dry-hump each other.<\/p>\n

EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blizzard keeps a small army of woman in his house to serve as hat-makers\/sex slaves. If you try to escape from his liar, you get the knife. Blizzard has a bizarre sex act he plays with his gals where he plays the keys of a piano and the female works the pedals with her hands. It\u2019s kinda creepy. If nudity is your thing, we see the bare ass of a female model in an art studio. Cheers.<\/p>\n

MURDER BY NUMBERS: [ 5 ]<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The body count for The Penalty isn\u2019t too high, with five souls being extinguished. One of Blizzard\u2019s former hookers \u2013 Barbary Nell (Doris Pawn) \u2013 is stabbed by jittery, drug-addicted mob enforcer Frisco Pete (Jim Mason) in a dancehall. Later, Frisco Pete knifes a federal agent in a back alley after a short scuffle. Two cops are shot by anarchist\/communist insurgents during a fantasy sequence where Blizzard outlines his plan to wreak havoc on San Francisco. The fifth, and final, kill goes to Frisco Pete again, but I won\u2019t spoil the nature of it. The violence is all bloodless, so gorehounds better beware.<\/p>\n

MOST SATISFYING ASS-KICKING AND\/OR DEATH:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To be honest, as great as this flick is, none of the death scenes are really that spectacular. However, for this category, I\u2019ll go with Barbary Nell biting the dust at the hands of Frisco Pete in a dancehall\/saloon. She just wants to turn her tricks independently of Blizzard, when that vile dope fiend shows up and gives her the blade through his overcoat (not sure why he doesn\u2019t just take it out of his pocket). It sets a grim, nasty tone for the rest of the crime-thriller to follow.<\/p>\n

[THE BEST OF THE REST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

EPIC MOMENT:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blizzard\u2019s Plan to Pillage<\/span><\/h3>\n

Interestingly, the best action scene in The Penalty never really takes place. Blizzard\u2019s secret plan of vengeance is to unleash a crime wave in San Francisco with an army of foreign-born \u201cReds,\u201d allowing him to move against the banks in the inner city. This plot, which starts with a big explosion somewhere in the city, is shown in a fantasy montage. Swarms of bad guys, wearing the hats that Lon Chaney\u2019s sex slaves were manufacturing, take to the streets, lighting fires and murdering at least two police officers. This sequence is notable for actually showing Chaney orchestrating the mayhem, while having a full set of legs. This violence is never actually unfurled, but it is a cool part of the movie.<\/p>\n

BEST LINE:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After harassing some of his female hat-makers, Lon Chaney turns to them before leaving and informs them that one of their flock has gone to the Big Brothel in the Sky.<\/p>\n

Blizzard (Lon Chaney): \u201cBy the way, Barbary Nell, who strayed from us, now sleeps on a marble slab – – – – in the morgue!\u201d<\/p>\n

Chilling shit.<\/p>\n

[THE EXECUTION]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Penalty is one of the very best movies of the silent era. This macabre gangster tale is so lurid and morbid that it often gets categorized as a horror film. I love it, but I wouldn\u2019t classify it as one. It\u2019s definitely no action movie, or even action-adjacent, but it\u2019s such an important building block of Badass Cinema that it requires an Action Movie Breakdown. This was the breakout role for iconic screen star Lon Chaney, although he had previously attracted a great deal of attention for his role in The Miracle Man (1919), a flick that now considered mostly lost. Chaney would make a career playing grotesque, haunting figures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s limited physical action here, this picture makes up for it with thick atmosphere. The San Francisco criminal underworld is wonderfully captured here. The locations are often grimy and seedy, and the violence can come from anywhere. One of the most remarkable sets is Chaney\u2019s character\u2019s underground liar, which is complete with an arsenal, a fully-equipped operating room, and what appears to be a mine of some kind (this one isn\u2019t really explained in the runtime).<\/p>\n

The Penalty is deliciously pulpy, being based on a pulp novel of the same title from 1913 written by Gouverneur Morris (not the American Founding Father). Hollywood would later try to recapture the magic of this movie by making another starring Chaney, directed by Wallace Worsley, and based on a Morris pulp novel (The Purple Mask). The result was the film The Ace of Hearts (1921), about a secret society of assassins. It\u2019s a good movie, to be sure, but The Penalty, it ain\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This flick taps into the United States\u2019 fear of anarchism\/communism, the labor movement, and foreigners\/immigrants at the time of its release. This was the time of the First Red Scare, after all. In fact, the same year as The Penalty was released (1920), there was a massive bombing done by anarchists on Wall Street in New York City that resulted in 40 fatalities. The far-left was certainly on many Americans\u2019 minds during this period.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anchored by a twisted, sadomasochistic performance by Lon Chaney that\u2019s so intense that it practically burns holes in the film, The Penalty is essential viewing for fans of ancient Badass Cinema. Overall, I\u2019d give it an eight-outta-ten, because it kinda fails to stick the landing. The ending, which I won\u2019t spoil here, concludes on a preposterous note that will have you scratching your head. It\u2019s definitely not enough to sink the entire production, but it is weird, and not in a good way. Still, please watch this one.<\/p>\n

[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

For the love of all things holy, don\u2019t amputate both of a child\u2019s legs for having a bruise on his head!<\/p>\n

[THE AOBG ACTION CHECKLIST]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

[] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[] Crotch Attack
\n[X] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket, Or A Towel
\n[X] Factory\/Warehouse\/Castle*
\n[X] Giant Explosions
\n[] Heavy Artillery
\n[] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
\n[X] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[X] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[] Shoot-Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[] Stupid Authoritative Figures
\n[X] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[] Unnecessary Sequel
\n[] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[] Vigilante Justice<\/p>\n

[TOTAL: 7 outta 25]<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE] The Penalty (1920): Breakdown by The Hestinator (Brandon) [THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THEIR BADASSITUDE] THE HEROES: Ethel Grey Terry as Rose What\u2019s this? A pulpy silent mob movie with a woman as the lead hero? You better believe it! You see, Rose is one of the feds\u2019 top undercover agents, and she\u2019s … Read moreAMB: THE PENALTY (1920)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":32656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32660,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32655\/revisions\/32660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}