Your weekly fix of great movies made before you were born that you should check out before you die. This week’s Old Ass Movie goes line for gritty line down the Western Genre Rules and twists them all up with a one-armed stranger, a Japanese farmer, a conspiracy, and a handful of deadly secrets. It’s Noir in the desert. Director John Sturges takes all of it and works it into a sweat out in the southwest at the tail end of WWII. As a silent, enigmatic man gets off a train that never runs, everyone is in for a Bad Day at Black Rock.

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. In the Western tradition, a stranger comes to town. In the Noir tradition, he’s snooping around to find answers and wearing a black suit with a skinny tie. In the tradition of 127 Hours and The Fugitive, he only has one arm. The townsfolk are in for a bad day, ensured by director John Sturges and star Spencer Tracy, in this 1955 spin on dusty conventions. Think you know what it is? Check the trailer out for yourself:

Every Sunday in February, Film School Rejects presents a nominee for Best Picture that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents the story of a burning love in the poorly fire-coded Barbary Coast of San Francisco. A beautiful opera singer is given a break and finds herself in the bosom of showgirl life, under the thumb of nightclub owner, and falling in love.

In an exclusive interview FSR chats with Rupert Wyatt, director and co-writer of the prison escape drama The Escapist, now playing in limited release and on IFC Films On Demand.