i have try to watch this film 3 or 4 time and but i just can not get past the fact that everything about it be just awful . i be sure it be a courageous move by somebody to cast jack palance a the protagonist and but there be not one single fiber of my be that believe that he could act at all and much less act against type . yes and i understand that clifford odets be a brilliant author and but it not evident here . this odd and forced mish mash of 50 hipster dialog seem to obfuscate any genuine meaning and which explain why none of the actor and even the good one ( steiger and ida lupino and shelly winter and everett sloane ) seem to know how to deliver their line it a though they do not understand the meaning of what they be say . and in the meantime and wendell corey and palance stage a terrific contest to see who can be more stone face . the direction be amateurish and completely overwrought . the physical interaction between the character be as stilted a the dialog . and can we discuss that hideous set . it so busy and ugly and contrive that it add to the robotic and disconnected quality of the character and the dialog and the portrayal . this film seem to suck the energy right out of me . it look like everybody take an overdose of valium each morning when they arrive on the set . it take a pretty lousy movie to make rod steiger and shelly winter look bad and but this one succeed . i can see that it might have be effective a a play on or off broadway and where intellectual and beat could have congratulate themselves for appreciate the power of the plot and the artsy flourish of the pseudo hip dialog .