It stars Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan with support from Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, John Ericson, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin.

In the plot, a one-armed stranger (Tracy) comes to a small desert town and uncovers an evil secret that has corrupted the entire community.

The film is based on a short story called "Bad Time at Honda" by Howard Breslin, published by The American Magazine in January 1947.

In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Hastings, the telegraph agent, tells him that there are no taxis, the hotel desk clerk, Pete Wirth, claims that he has no vacant rooms, and Hector David threatens him.

The veterinarian and undertaker, Doc Velie, advises Macreedy to leave town immediately, but lets it slip that Komoko is dead.

After Smith and Hector leave, Macreedy reveals that the loss of his arm had left him wallowing in self-pity, but Trimble's attempt to kill him has reinvigorated him.

[11] Bad Day at Black Rock originated as a short story by Howard Breslin with full-color illustrations by Robert Fawcett.

[13][14] It was adapted into a script by Don McGuire and pitched to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production head Dore Schary, who was known for championing films that addressed social problems.

The producers were worried about the title because "Bad Time at Honda" was similar to Hondo, recently made with John Wayne.

[18] John Sturges was hired as director in June 1954, and shooting began the following month near Lone Pine, California, where the small town set had been quickly constructed.

Bad Day at Black Rock was Tracy's final film for MGM, with the exception of How the West Was Won (1963), for which he supplied the narration.

[19] Budget for the film was $1.3 million and it was shot in color using Cinemascope because Schary thought that widescreen would emphasize the menace of the isolated town.

[1] The plot of the movie—a small western desert town hiding a guilty secret, or protecting a local person from outside law enforcement officers—was borrowed many times by US television crime shows.

Detective and crime series as diverse as Cannon, Kojak, The A-Team and Remington Steele, among others, each had an episode similar to the plot of Bad Day at Black Rock.

[21]Although essentially a crime drama with revisionist Western overtones, the film is one of the first to recognize discrimination against Japanese Americans in World War II.

In her 1991 documentary film History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige, Rea Tajiri uses footage from Bad Day at Black Rock to illustrate prevailing attitudes toward the Japanese.

[22] When Bad Day at Black Rock was released, the reviews were almost universally positive, with, for example, John O'Hara in Collier's hailing it as "one of the finest motion pictures ever made".

[14] Many reviewers noted the film's Western-like elements, comparing it favorably with High Noon, and cinematographer William C. Mellor was widely praised for his use of widescreen.

[14] Film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "Slowly, through a process of guarded discourse, which director John Sturges has built up by patient, methodical pacing, an eerie light begins to glimmer.

"[26] Variety magazine's reviewer wrote, "Considerable excitement is whipped up in this suspense drama, and fans who go for tight action will find it entirely satisfactory.